Senior Assistant CSU Accountant (XN06)

Job description

Job responsibilities

a) Business planning, business cases and value for money

To clearly communicate to the business unit management team the Trusts financial strategy and policies with support from their Senior CSU Accountant.

With direction from their Senior CSU Accountant, provide financial support to managers in developing and reviewing expenditure, income and activity plans to meet financial and other targets that are in accordance with the Trust strategy, including:

Identifying the financial impacts of cost pressures, savings schemes and income generation opportunities

Modelling and appraising the impact of different scenarios

Risk assessing plans

On-going challenge, refinement and adaptation of plans in response to changing circumstances

To support the Senior CSU Accountant in calculating detailed budgets in line with business planning schedules, and incorporating agreed rules and principles that reconcile to agreed allocations

To provide the necessary financial analysis in respect of business cases for service change within and across business units as directed by their Senior CSU Accountant. This will include the identification of options and overt risk assessment and ensuring consistency between financial, activity and efficiency projections

b) Performance reporting and management

To work with the Senior CSU Accountant to help them:

Provide accurate, timely and comprehensive financial reports for the business units

Develop appropriate non-financial indicators to support understanding of the financial position

Analyse and review the monthly activity and Service Agreement information, making connections with expenditure and resolving issues with the Service Agreement team

Prepare the financial aspects of forecasts for expenditure, income and activity based on discussion with operational and clinical managers

Produce consolidated information

Support the business unit management team in delivering sustainable performance improvement. This will include ensuring that their financial performance is monitored and reviewed on an on-going basis and plans are developed for any necessary remedial actions. It will also include the production and development of:

Appropriate internal and external benchmarks

Productivity analysis

Skill mix analysis

Support managers in discharging their financial management responsibilities, through the development of new ways of reporting and analysing financial and non-financial data.

c) Providing the finance support to ad hoc initiatives and policy change:

To assist in the provision of finance support to ad hoc initiatives, being assigned tasks which are deemed to be complex and may involve comparing and interpreting a range of options.

To identify, collect, manipulate and interpret data and information to support the development agenda of the team.

d) Year-end accounting

To support the production of the statutory Annual Accounts carrying out year-end accounting tasks in line with year-end timetables.

e) Setting budgets

To assist in the setting of budgets and the development of annual and longer-term financial plans in accordance with the Trusts guidelines and timetable.

f) Governance, compliance and quality assurance:

To ensure that day to day work is carried out in line with the agreed policies and procedures and quality standards and that appropriate financial controls are met.

To maintain audit trails and appropriate records including accruals files, variance analysis, back-up information to budget virements and general working papers.

To monitor the key risk areas relating to own area of work and that of others, referring issues which need to be highlighted to senior staff.

g) Human Resources &Training

To promote awareness to finance and non-finance colleagues, so that they understand the role and responsibilities of the post and how it interacts upon their own, ultimately contributing to a seamless service being provided by the Finance Team as a whole.

To regularly provide training to staff throughout the Finance Team and other closely associated functions on income, expenditure and comparative data and reporting issues relevant to the post holders area of expertise.

h) Policy and service development:

To develop and adapt systems used in the role to consolidate, monitor and reconcile key information in order for them to meet new developments and changing needs, both of own area and the wider one.

To support the Assistant Director of Finance & Finance Business Partner in developing improved ways of reporting information to business units, the Board and external customers making best use of the reporting tools available, for example the financial ledger and, spreadsheets.

To contribute to the development agenda facing the Finance Department.

Person Specification

Skills & behaviours

Essential

• Creative and innovative, with the ability to propose and develop solutions to problems and changes to working practices and procedures.
• The ability to identify current performance issues and forecast future ones, taking responsibility for ensuring that the necessary communications and actions are triggered
• The ability to analyse and interpret very detailed financial information and perform complex calculations and reconciliations in an environment of ever changing priorities and demands
• Ability to set up and maintain accurate and efficient systems which will consolidate, monitor and reconcile key information, developing and adapting them to meet new developments and changing needs
• A confident, pleasant approach with a willingness and ability to build excellent working relationships and networks and to engage with a wide range of colleagues both internal and external confidently

Qualifications

Essential

• 5 GCSE/O levels or equivalent, to include Maths and English
• Education and knowledge equivalent to the postgraduate diploma level of a professional accountancy qualification

Desirable

• Part qualified status (of CCAB or CIMA) or AAT qualification

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working within a finance discipline which has included experience of a range of accounting areas and financial systems.
• The provision of management accounting information and advice to managers and other staff.
• Setting up and maintaining comprehensive systems to monitor expenditure and income, and liaising with stakeholders to discuss and address associated issues.

Desirable

• Experience of working within the NHS

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Employer details

Employer name

Leeds Teaching Hospitals

Address

St. James's University Hospital

Beckett Street

Leeds

LS9 7TF

Employer's website

https://www.leedsth.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)