SGH Finance Manager - Financial Accounts

Job overview

Job Summary – Finance Manager, Financial Accounts (Band 7)

St George's Hospital, Tooting | Finance Directorate*

This role leads the Financial Accounting function, ensuring accurate financial reporting and compliance with NHS standards and statutory requirements. The Finance Manager oversees month-end and year-end processes, prepares annual account disclosures (including VAT returns, remuneration disclosures, and WGA schedules), and manages control account reconciliations. The postholder acts as lead technical accounting specialist, providing expert guidance on complex transactions, and manages junior finance staff to ensure timely, high-quality reporting.

Ideal candidates** will hold a degree and be CCAB part-qualified (or fully qualified), with a minimum of five years' NHS financial accounting experience at a senior level, strong knowledge of IFRS/IAS standards, and proven team management skills.

Main duties of the job

Key responsibilities include coordinating external audits, managing cash flow and treasury functions, overseeing salary sacrifice schemes, and leading the Trust's annual stock count. The role also requires supporting continuous improvement in financial processes and maintaining robust internal controls.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To develop and maintain an expert understanding of the Trust’s processes and procedures and the accounting system relating to financial reporting and control, including an operational understanding of other Finance functions, e.g. Income, Accounts Receivable, Payroll, Procurement, etc.
• To have a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of national accounting standards applicable to the trust and an awareness of the NHS Finance framework, e.g. NHS manual for Accounts, Treasury guidelines.
• To prepare the year-end accounts timetable in consultation with other sections of the Finance department (Management Accounts, Accounts Payable, Income and the Systems team), the Procurement department, and Trust budget holders to ensure that all relevant internal and external deadlines are achieved.
• To review and co-ordinate the stock count of the Trust’s stocks of drugs, engineering and building materials, high-value radiology and dental stock at year-end.
• To liaise with Trust senior managers, including Directors, regarding the disclosure of their remuneration and benefits in the Annual accounts as required by the Greenbury report.
• To prepare a comprehensive working papers file fully cross-referenced to supporting documentation for the Trust’s external auditors and to investigate, explain and resolve potentially highly complex and technical accounting and financial queries raised by the external auditors.
• To review the year-end process after completion to identify areas for improvement and implement the required changes in working practices to improve the process for the following year.
• Responsible for carrying out the Agreement of balance exercise
• Responsible for preparing the monthly VAT returns, proposing adjustments or corrections on input VAT, and coordinating the COS review with the Trust’s VAT consultant.
• Coordinate the payables and expenditure side of the NHS balance agreement exercise, liaising with other NHS bodies and Finance staff as required. Reconcile and agree creditors’ balances with statements issued by other NHS bodies and prepare relevant draft WGA schedules as part of the FTC returns.
• Investigate and respond to any queries raised by the External Audit during the year-end accounts process. Support the implementation of internal audit recommendations within the department.
• Responsible for preparing a monthly creditor analysis report to be incorporated into the FIC Board report.

Cash flow:

• To manage the cash management function of the Trust, reviewing the cash flow forecast and the investment of short-term cash surpluses with the National Loans Fund daily and ensuring that the assumptions underpinning the forecasts are appropriate.
• To perform the treasury management role in the absence of the relevant finance officer.

Monthly Work:

• To ensure that all Financial Accounts control accounts are reconciled on a timely basis and that all errors are corrected promptly
• To prepare the monthly financial return of the Trust’s performance against its targets for income and expenditure, capital, cash flow, cost reduction programme and Better Payment Practice Code to NHS Improvement
• To calculate the performance figures for the Better Payment Practice Code each month and for inclusion in the returns.
• To investigate and understand the reconciling differences between the valuation of pharmacy stock per the pharmacy JAC system and the financial system.
• To manage the calculation and input of highly complex financial accruals of significant expenditure lines, including purchase order creditor accruals, invoice registration accruals, agency and /bank staff accruals / ensuring accurate reconciliation of source data and timely completion.
• To manage the preparation of highly complex income accruals to ensure the reporting of trust income is complete and accurate, and that invoices for services provided by the trust are raised on a timely basis and in accordance with the credit policy.
• To develop improved processes to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of the highly complex accrual methodologies applied to account for expenditure.
• To manage the administration and accounting for the various salary sacrifice schemes operated by the trust, ensuring accurate reconciliations are performed of deductions and payments.
• To provide advice and support to the Head of Technical Accounting and Site Chief Financial Officer in improving transaction workflows and accounting procedures within financial services
• To supervise cashiering staff in the completion of their responsibilities
• To ensure that written procedures are in place for all key processes performed by the section and to maintain the internal controls over those key processes
• To maintain departmental storage and retrieval systems
• Oversee the preparation of reports of transactions exceeding £25,000 for publication on the Trust website, and provide accurate and timely information in response to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.
• Provide support to the other members of the Financial Accounts team in carrying out tasks related to financial and capital accounting, ensuring alignment with departmental objectives and priorities, and assisting as required by the Line Manager, Head or Deputy Head of Technical Accounting, Chief Financial Officer, or Finance Director. 29.

Lead Specialist:

• To provide general technical accounting advice to other sections of the Finance department, including Income, Payroll and Management Accounts.
• To perform project work as requested by the Head of Technical Accounting  and Site Chief Financial Officer
• To advise on the VAT status of certain transactions and, on occasion, refer to the Trust’s external VAT advisers.

Management:

• To manage own workload and the work of junior staff to achieve agreed annual objectives set by the Head of Technical Accounting, working within broad professional policies.
• To prepare the monthly timetable for the Financial Accounts team to ensure its deadlines are met.
• To prepare and monitor the monthly reconciliation checklist to ensure all control accounts are reconciled and all errors are cleared on a monthly basis.
• To authorise the positive reporting for cashiers and financial accounts.
• To ensure that work is performed in accordance with Trust policies and procedures without direct supervision
• To ensure that Trust cheques and BAC passwords are securely stored and generated in accordance with Trust procedures.
• To provide supervision and training to Finance trainees and other team members.
• To develop and maintain Financial Accounting practices and procedures in response to changes in national accounting standards and Trust policy