Senior Management Accountant – Psychology

Job overview

Please note ICB at risk employees will be prioritised.

To provide a comprehensive financial management service to corporate managers within one or more directorates. This will involve working closely with budget managers to provide financial management advice and support using information produced by the management accounting team. The role involves the production of timely and accurate management information, and requires both technical knowledge of accounting procedures and an understanding of the operational business of the Trust

The senior management accountant is part of a team providing support to one or more Executive Directors. Within this larger team, each Senior management accountant works with a management accountant providing financial management information and advice to a defined group of budget holders.

Previous applicants need not apply

Main duties of the job

To produce monthly budget reports for services within one or more directorates. Understand the key drivers of the underlying financial position and communicate these effectively to budget holders. Meet regularly with budget holders to discuss financial performance and to understand the reasons for any variances. Identify areas of concern and communicate these to the budget holders and, where appropriate, senior finance team and service directors. Attend Directorate Senior Management Team meetings with senior management and clinical staff and present the financial information clearly. Undertake costings for new developments and service enhancements within the service area supported. Provide support and advice on the revenue implications of business cases, service developments and proposed service changes. Support managers to develop an annual budget to ensure services are planned within available resources and accurately reflect the expected cost of the service. Assist budget holders in identifying their Cost Improvement Programmes, and monitor delivery of cost reductions and achievement of any CIP targets set. Provide support to the Senior Finance Manager in monitoring contract income.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

- To produce monthly budget reports for services within one or more directorates, ensuring that the monthly reporting timetable is achieved, the data within the reports is accurate and correctly takes account of all appropriate accruals and pre-payments. This will include reconciling budget movements, monitoring savings plans and identifying and investigating variances. - Understand the key drivers of the underlying financial position and communicate these effectively to budget holders. Through knowledge of the service and dialogue with the budget holder prepare robust forecast income and expenditure estimates to feed into the organisational monitoring returns and performance reports. - Meet regularly with budget holders to discuss financial performance and to understand the reasons for any variances. Provide challenge, support and advice to ensure that variances are dealt with and financial control is maintained. - Identify areas of concern and communicate these to the budget holders and, where appropriate, senior finance team and service directors. Provide advice to managers to take corrective action, including identifying opportunities for cost reduction or income generation. Follow through on agreements for corrective action and provide appropriate level of challenge where performance does not improve. - Attend Directorate Senior Management Team meetings with senior management and clinical staff and present the financial information clearly. Be able to explain and discuss financial performance in detail and deal with any queries arising. - Undertake costings for new developments and service enhancements within the service area supported. Attend relevant meetings with operational managers and commissioners as required. - Provide support and advice on the revenue implications of business cases, service developments and proposed service changes. - Support managers to develop an annual budget to ensure services are planned within available resources and accurately reflect the expected cost of the service. This will include costing an approved staffing establishment, assessing the level of non pay expenditure, understanding income flows and identifying cost pressures. - Assist budget holders in identifying their Cost Improvement Programmes, and monitor delivery of cost reductions and achievement of any CIP targets set. - Provide support to the Senior Finance Manager in monitoring contract income, ensuring that contract variations are recorded in the ledger in a timely fashion and any payment issues are highlighted immediately. Responsible for ensuring that monthly block invoices for defined contracts are raised and income reconciled on a monthly basis. - Ensure that all directorate income is invoiced correctly and regularly. Provide appropriate and clear supporting information for charges and liaise with debtor organisations to resolve any queries. - Provide training and advice to budget holders on trust financial and purchasing systems and interpretation of the financial statements provided to them. - Ensure that budget holders understand and comply with key financial procedures and policies including Trust Standing Orders, Standing Financial Instructions and purchasing procedures. Provide advice and clarification as required. - Contribute to the production of the Trust Annual Accounts, completing working papers, analyses and returns as directed. - Responsible for the management, development and training of the Management