Deputy Business Accountant

Job description

Job responsibilities

To support the Finance Business Partner in the provision of comprehensive business and financial management information providing advice to the Division and to the Trust as a whole, working both as part of a team and independently as required.

To produce timely, accurate and relevant information for the completion of monthly board reports and provide management with relevant information and advice to take corrective action on under/overspent budgets where necessary.

PRINCIPAL RESPONSIBLITIES / COMPETENCIES

• To assist in producing accurate and timely financial performance reports for a number of directorates.
• To investigate any significant variances from budget and produce comprehensive financial analysis to be used by Budget Managers, Divisional Head of Operations, Clinical Directors and by the Chief Finance Officer for inclusion in regular reporting.
• To work with the budget holders to forecast year-end budgetary positions and to identify corrective action including possible cost improvements and income generation opportunities.
• To provide on-going financial advice and support and answer queries arising from the financial reports and to produce ad hoc reports and analysis as required.
• Manage the stock systems to ensure Omnicell is producing accurate Monthly statistics to report devices.
• To meet regularly with budget holders to discuss financial and other performance issues, including inter-disciplinary/departmental meetings.
• To assist with the maintenance of the financial integrity of the annual budget throughout the year by the operation of establishment control, virement, forecasting and other policies adopted by the Trust.
• To assist in the development of a financial planning model for each directorate that reflects the impact in future years of the current budgets and business plans.
• To assist with the submission of annual budgetary proposals in conjunction with budget managers and in accordance with the format and timetable agreed by the Chief Finance Officer. To maintain an audit trail and accurate working papers relating to the annual budgetary proposal.
• To support the finance team in the production of service costs for contracting, benchmarking and other performance management information needed to support business planning.
• To assist with the development of costing systems, supporting the Costing team in delivering Reference Costs and Patient Level Costing within nationally and locally agreed requirements.
• To provide training and support on financial issues to non-finance staff within the Division.
• To deputise for the Business Partner on all issues of financial reporting, planning and control within the Divisions.
• To supervise junior members of the Management Accounts team as and when required.
• To ensure all journals, virement documentation, budget meetings papers are logged and saved in the relevant monthly accounting files to be reviewed by senior team and auditors.

PROFESSIONAL

• Ensure that appropriate arrangements for financial control are in place and that Standing Orders, SFIs, financial policies and procedures are adhered to in line with Audit regulations.

• Manage own workload and time, organising and prioritising work in order of urgency and relevance. The role requires long periods of concentration which can be interrupted with urgent requests from managers, which are dealt with efficiently and effectively before continuing with previous tasks.

• To ensure that all communication with others is conducted in a professional and competent manner and is followed up in writing when required.

• Network with colleagues regionally and nationally.

QUALITY

• To maintain the integrity of the financial ledger and other financial systems to ensure that compliance with audit requirements is adhered to.

• To ensure Final Accounts working papers are prepared in accordance with procedures and timescales and comply with audit requirements.

• Comply with Internal and External Audit requirements and take action to address any risks arising from audit reports and reviews.

• Keep abreast of technical developments to ensure use of the most efficient and effective tools and software available for recording, monitoring and reporting.

• Active involvement with Future Focussed Finance and commitment to own personal development and Finance Skills Development (FSD).

• Commitment to finance training of non-finance staff across the Trust. In particular, to be responsible for designing and delivering relevant training to all Budget Holders within their directorates on an on-going rolling yearly basis.

• GENERAL STATEMENTS

CONFIDENTIALITY

All employees must adhere to policies and procedures relating to Information Governance, Confidentiality and Information Security.

RISK MANAGEMENT

The Trust is committed to approaching the control of risks in a strategic and organised manner.

The post holder must be aware of their individual responsibilities as detailed in the Trusts Risk Management, Health & Safety and Incident policies, and those under the Health and Safety at Work Act. This includes the reporting of any untoward incident, accident, potential or actual hazard identified.

SAFEGUARDING

All staff are required to be familiar with the arrangements for safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults and support the organisation in promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults.

Staff working directly with children, young people and vulnerable adults will have a responsibility to ensure safeguarding and promoting their welfare forms an integral part of their duties.

Staff who come into contact with children, vulnerable adults, parents and carers in the course of their work and/or have access to records will have responsibilities to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults.

Staff who come into contact in the course of their duties, with parents, carers or other significant adults or children, young people and vulnerable adults should always be mindful of safeguarding and promotion of the welfare of these individuals.

INFECTION CONTROL

In accordance with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, it is the responsibility of every member of staff to participate in the prevention and control of infection within the capacity of their role. In order to maintain high standards of infection and prevention control all staff are expected to comply with the relevant Trust policies, procedures and guidelines and report any concerns to their manager or to the infection prevention team.

HEALTH AND WELLBEING

The Trust is a Health Promoting Hospital. The Trust expects that when you are presented with opportunities to improve the lifestyle of our patients you seek help from appropriately trained clinical staff to ensure patients are supported and assisted in making the necessary lifestyle changes. This is in accordance with best practice as described in the DoH white paper Choosing Health Making Healthy Choices Easier.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

The Liverpool Heart & Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is committed to achieving equal opportunities. All employees are expected to observe this policy in relation to the public and fellow employees.

All staff are expected to adhere to, and act in accordance with, the values & behaviours of the Trust.

This document is intended to be used as a guide to the general scope of duties involved in this post. It is not exhaustive and should not therefore be used as a rigid specification. It will be kept under review and amended as required in consultation with the post holder.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Studying towards a CCAB or equivalent professional qualification.
• Degree or equivalent
• Educated to GCSE standard in English and Mathematics

Desirable

• Significant progress towards a CCAB or equivalent professional qualification- Preferably finalist level

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working in a financial management environment
• Strong IT skills with advanced working knowledge of Microsoft Excel
• Knowledge of NHS Finance policies and strategy
• Experience of analysing and interpreting detailed complex information for presentation and discussing to a range of users
• Experience delivering to tight deadlines.

Desirable

• Experience of SBS and Oracle Ledger
• Experience of managing teams
• Experience in managing change
• Experience in implementing process improvement

Skills & Abilities

Essential

• Good planning, organisational and time management skills
• Ability to clearly and effectively communicate to managers and budget holders
• A high level of analytical, problem solving and reporting skills
• Comfortable with long periods of concentration required when inputting and checking data
• Highly motivated, proactive and innovative
• Good presentation skills
• Ability to identify opportunities for efficiency and improvement
• Commitment to personal, team and Trust Continuous Development

Desirable

• Networking skills
• Ability to work with ambiguity
• Ability to work with incomplete data
• Cross functional working
• Successfully working with colleagues and stakeholders at a variety of levels
• Ability to coach and develop team members

Values & Behaviours

Essential

• Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital Values are:
• Patient and Family Centred
• Accountability
• Continuous Improvement
• Teamwork
• The Finance 4 Strengths:
• Im a Finance Expert
• I make Change Happen
• Im a Team Player
• I ensure Value for Patients and Taxpayers

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

Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital

Address

Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital

Thomas Drive

Liverpool

Merseyside

L14 3PE

Employer's website

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