Job summary
Following the external promotion of the current post holder after many years we are looking for a new Head of Financial Services, someone who has a very strong technical NHS Finance background and who is also people-focused and cares about the work HPFT does.
In return we will offer you a friendly, supportive environment both within finance and the wider Trust, varied experience and opportunities, and significant scope to develop your skills further.
Main duties of the job
- Take lead responsibility in coordinating the Trust's transactional services and financial control activities, providing support to the Financial Controller and Deputy Director of Finance.
- Hold and maintain status throughout employment in role as a fully qualified accountant and member of a CCAB body (or CIMA).
- Act at a senior corporate level of responsibility within the Trust and act as Deputy to the Financial Controller as necessary.
- Responsible for co-ordinating and performance managing against a range of financial targets and assurance processes.
- Responsible for submission of all statutory and NHSE-mandated financial returns including those submitted to the ICB. To include responsibility for the Annual Accounts submission and process.
- Interpret national finance guidance/policy/legislation including accounting standards and advise the organisation on how to take forward implementation or action.
- Oversee and proactively contract manage the Trust's outsourced financial services including (but not exclusively) the main Shared Financial Services (currently ELFS, and including Advanced Finance System/Ledger), payroll and procurement.
About us
Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (HPFT) is an outstanding organisation with ambitions to match. We are one of just five mental health trusts to achieve an overall rating of 'Outstanding' from theCare Quality Commission, and our aim is to be the leading provider of mental health and specialist learning disability services in the country.
Our family of over 3500 members of staff provide health and social care for over 400,000 people with mental ill health, physical ill health and learning disabilities across Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Norfolk, delivering these services within the community and several inpatient settings. We also deliver a range of nationally commissioned specialist services including Tier 4 services for children and young people, perinatal services, plus medium and low secure learning disabilities services.
The care we provide makes a fantastic difference to the lives of our service users, their families and carers - everything is underpinned by choice, independence and equality, with our Trust values embedded throughout.
Our Trust values are:
Welcoming. Kind. Positive. Respectful. Professional.
These values are at the core of who we are, everything we do, and how we do it!
Job description
Job responsibilities
- Lead responsibility for the production of Trust and Charitable funds year end accounts including liaison with auditors and with the Company Secretary on finance aspects of production of the Annual Report.
- Liaison with auditors on a year-round basis including (but not exclusively) work on the mid-year Interim Audit and proactively raising issues of discussion or potential contention in advance.
- Lead responsibility for the annual development of the Trusts detailed Cash Flow and Statement of Financial Position, and the production of forecast information to form the basis of the Annual Plan submission to NHS England.
- Lead responsibility for the production of all monthly cashflow and working capital reports, related financial key performance indicators, and monitoring of variances against plan, and reporting thereof to the Board of Directors and associated sub-committees.
- Lead responsibility for coordinating, managing and delivering all statutory and NHSE-mandated finance reporting on a timely basis, whether regular or adhoc. To explicitly (but not necessarily exclusively) include monthly PFR submissions and returns to the ICB.
- Lead responsibility for the Trusts Car Leasing Scheme and all salary sacrifice schemes.
- Lead responsibility for VAT reporting and liaison with Trusts VAT advisers.
- Lead responsibility for property valuation and impact on the accounts, including liaison with professional valuers.
- Lead responsibility for pension arrangements including LGPS.
- Provide financial support and advice to business cases or service developments where required particularly where related to capital and/or estates.
- Provide regular and requested adhoc reporting as required for Chief Financial Officer, Executive Team, Trust Board or Committees of the Board such as Audit Committee and Finance and Investment Committee.
For a more detailed description, please see attached JD and PS.
Job description
Job responsibilities
- Lead responsibility for the production of Trust and Charitable funds year end accounts including liaison with auditors and with the Company Secretary on finance aspects of production of the Annual Report.
- Liaison with auditors on a year-round basis including (but not exclusively) work on the mid-year Interim Audit and proactively raising issues of discussion or potential contention in advance.
- Lead responsibility for the annual development of the Trusts detailed Cash Flow and Statement of Financial Position, and the production of forecast information to form the basis of the Annual Plan submission to NHS England.
- Lead responsibility for the production of all monthly cashflow and working capital reports, related financial key performance indicators, and monitoring of variances against plan, and reporting thereof to the Board of Directors and associated sub-committees.
- Lead responsibility for coordinating, managing and delivering all statutory and NHSE-mandated finance reporting on a timely basis, whether regular or adhoc. To explicitly (but not necessarily exclusively) include monthly PFR submissions and returns to the ICB.
- Lead responsibility for the Trusts Car Leasing Scheme and all salary sacrifice schemes.
- Lead responsibility for VAT reporting and liaison with Trusts VAT advisers.
- Lead responsibility for property valuation and impact on the accounts, including liaison with professional valuers.
- Lead responsibility for pension arrangements including LGPS.
- Provide financial support and advice to business cases or service developments where required particularly where related to capital and/or estates.
- Provide regular and requested adhoc reporting as required for Chief Financial Officer, Executive Team, Trust Board or Committees of the Board such as Audit Committee and Finance and Investment Committee.
For a more detailed description, please see attached JD and PS.
Person Specification
TRAINING & QUALIFICATIONS
Essential
- Qualified member of a CCAB or equivalent professional body
- Substantial post-qualification experience
- Evidence of commitment to own personal development through CPD e.g. attendance on courses, involvement with One NHS Finance and/or HFMA
- Evidence of commitment to technical CPD including (at least) keeping up to date on relevant Accounting Standards and on closure of yearend accounts
Desirable
- Masters or equivalent level of knowledge
- CQI Training
- One NHS Finance Value Maker or equivalent
EXPERIENCE
Essential
- Essential experience on closure of year end accounts from a technical financial accounting perspective
- High experience on submission of PFR, IFR or other similar NHSE/statutory returns
- Experience of managing staff including small teams
- Experience of working closely with both External and Internal Auditors
- Experience of presenting and/or delivering training to both finance and non-finance staff
SKILLS & KNOWLEDGE
Essential
- Expert knowledge of NHS/Local Government or equivalent financial regime
- Expert knowledge of International and NHS Accounting Standards
- Highly developed IT literacy including Finance ledger systems and Microsoft Office including expert level Excel skills
- Ability to work with detail and accuracy at high speed including highly advanced keyboard skills.
- Highly developed organisational skills and ability to plan and prioritise workload of self and others, particularly when competing priorities arise
- Highly developed influencing and negotiating skills with proven success at a senior level
- Judgement skills - able to use experience to resolve complex problems, where necessary in innovative ways
- Excellent communication skills - both spoken and written, including: ability to write board-level reports; ability to explain complex technical issues to a non-technical audience; ability to communicate effectively when the message may not be a welcome one
- High degree of accuracy and attention to detail / ability to work with data; as well as ability to extract the key messages from complex sources and summarise down
- Proactive and able to prioritise a diverse workload and consistently meet deadlines
Person Specification
TRAINING & QUALIFICATIONS
Essential
- Qualified member of a CCAB or equivalent professional body
- Substantial post-qualification experience
- Evidence of commitment to own personal development through CPD e.g. attendance on courses, involvement with One NHS Finance and/or HFMA
- Evidence of commitment to technical CPD including (at least) keeping up to date on relevant Accounting Standards and on closure of yearend accounts
Desirable
- Masters or equivalent level of knowledge
- CQI Training
- One NHS Finance Value Maker or equivalent
EXPERIENCE
Essential
- Essential experience on closure of year end accounts from a technical financial accounting perspective
- High experience on submission of PFR, IFR or other similar NHSE/statutory returns
- Experience of managing staff including small teams
- Experience of working closely with both External and Internal Auditors
- Experience of presenting and/or delivering training to both finance and non-finance staff
SKILLS & KNOWLEDGE
Essential
- Expert knowledge of NHS/Local Government or equivalent financial regime
- Expert knowledge of International and NHS Accounting Standards
- Highly developed IT literacy including Finance ledger systems and Microsoft Office including expert level Excel skills
- Ability to work with detail and accuracy at high speed including highly advanced keyboard skills.
- Highly developed organisational skills and ability to plan and prioritise workload of self and others, particularly when competing priorities arise
- Highly developed influencing and negotiating skills with proven success at a senior level
- Judgement skills - able to use experience to resolve complex problems, where necessary in innovative ways
- Excellent communication skills - both spoken and written, including: ability to write board-level reports; ability to explain complex technical issues to a non-technical audience; ability to communicate effectively when the message may not be a welcome one
- High degree of accuracy and attention to detail / ability to work with data; as well as ability to extract the key messages from complex sources and summarise down
- Proactive and able to prioritise a diverse workload and consistently meet deadlines
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.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Additional information
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.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Employer details
Employer name
Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust
Address
The Colonnades, Beaconsfield Road, Hatfield, Hertfordshire. AL10 8YE
Beaconsfield Road
Hatfield
AL10 8YE
Employer's website
https://www.hpft.nhs.uk/careers/ (Opens in a new tab)
