Assistant Financial Accountant

Job description

Job responsibilities

Accounts Receivable/Debt Management

Leading debt management calls between the Trust and NHS Shared Business Services and agreeing action points.

Negotiating with customers to recover debt in a timely manner.

Preparing management reports/analysis for Accounts Receivable to help with communicating information at a higher level and aid decision making. This will involve the use of advanced Excel skills such as lookups and pivot tables.

Making suggestions on debt write-offs in line with debt management policy.

Potential to have to deal with upset customers who may be struggling financially to pay an invoice.

Planning workload with the team, setting key performance targets.

Providing performance feedback, coaching and training to the team.

Assisting with Freedom of Information requests.

Supporting both Internal and External audits ensuring data requests and any recommendations are acted upon.Balance sheet reconciliations

Reconciling control accounts of the Trust on a monthly basis. Following up on queries and also monitoring control accounts done by other staff to ensure they are being managed in an accurate and timely fashion. This involves the use and understanding of both internal and external data resources.

Assisting in the preparation of reports and information for year-end accounts including ensuring evidence for auditors is available.

Answering queries raised by finance colleagues, other staff members and sometimes the public, regarding issues relevant to the position. If unable to deal with then pass on to the correct person/department.

Clinical and professional responsibilities

Maintaining professional registrations as necessary.

Adhering to relevant code of practice of professional body.

Administrative responsibilities

Ensuring all relevant procedure notes and associated forms are completed and adhered to in line with departmental policy and audit requirements.

Teaching and training responsibilities

Actively participating in the annual performance development review to identify personal needs.

Teach and train Accounts Receivable staff and other staff members as necessary.

To attend Trust statutory and mandatory training sessions.

Line Management/Supervisory responsibilities

Deputising for the Deputy Financial Accountant as and when required.

Undertaking annual performance development reviews of Accounts Receivable staff.

Day to day management of Accounts Receivable Staff eg sickness recording, approval of annual leave

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) Level 4 Diploma in Professional Accounting and/or education or significant experience to degree level

Knowledge and Experience

Essential

• Supervisory experience
• Evidence of planning and organising tasks required to achieve a specific outcome within a specified timeframe without direction from line manager
• Experience of analysing, interpreting and presenting complex data and producing robust forecasts
• Highly computer literate including MS Word, Excel, able to extract data, create and manipulate complex spreadsheets

Desirable

• Significant Financial accounting experience
• Experience of working in NHS finance
• Experience of the Oracle General Ledger System including Business Intelligence
• Experience of providing training and support to others in own specialist area

Skills

Essential

• Good standard of communication skills including the ability to effectively communicate complex financial information to nonfinance managers
• Acts professionally in all dealings with colleagues and in liaising with external bodies; must be able to adapt style appropriately to deal diplomatically with senior personnel
• Good standard of written communications
• Excellent problem solving and analytical skills
• Well organised, able to plan and prioritise own workload
• Good negotiating, persuasive, motivational, influencing skills
• Ability to work under pressure and to meet tight deadlines
• Ability to support change
• Ability to handle a range of emotive situations
• Ability to manage conflicting priorities
• Requirement to concentrate for long periods when inputting data and when analysing data/statistics

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.

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

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Address

Knowsley Community College

Stockbridge Lane

Huyton

L36 3SD

Employer's website

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