Senior Finance Analyst – AR

Department: Resources

Section: Finance

Grade: PO8

Reports to: Head of Finance

Staffing Responsibility: Typically line management of 3 staff including: Finance Analysts, Finance Officers, Payroll, Pensions and MI staff, and Trainees and Apprentices.

Job Purpose:

• Responsible for providing specialist and senior financial and accounting support to a substantial area of the council’s business, typically a major part of the budget for an overall department or a substantial defined technical area of the corporate accounting and control arrangements.
• Support all officers within their service area, providing them with high level professional advice on a very broad range of financial issues and their relation to the council’s corporate and managerial objectives.
• Provide significant and senior input to corporate financial processes such as coordinating major elements of the annual accounts or budgeting processes.
• Advise on and maintain appropriate financial controls and challenge senior managers as necessary in this regard.
• Be an appropriate professional role model to junior staff in the department and foster and champion professional development.

Principal Accountabilities and Responsibilities:

• Make a positive contribution to the delivery of the service, working flexibly and positively to achieve the objectives of the council.
• Manage and lead staff to achieve high performance and effective operational delivery, including developing and improving staff capability.
• Manage a customer focused service and the effective use of resources.
• Ensure that the council’s overall vision, values and ethos are central to the requirements of the service.
• Support effective working relationships and act as an ambassador and advocate with external organisations.
• Stay up to date with developments in service delivery and best practice to ensure the service performs effectively and to the highest standards.
• Act as a professional role model to junior staff in the department and to senior managers across the council, keeping expert professional knowledge up to date at all times.
• Mentor and support apprentices and lead professional training for the department within own area of responsibility.
• Supervise day to day work of junior staff and lead project teams within the department and across the council.
• Be the senior professional financial advisor in respect of a significant area of the council’s budget (e.g. gross budgets in excess of £100m).
• Carry out, independently, unit costing exercises and value for money reviews to improve financial performance and play a significant role in the setting and monitoring of substantial budgets.
• Be the council’s professional accounting lead for a major area of technical financial accounting complexity and coordinate complex corporate financial processes for the council.
• Appoint and manage specialist financial advisers as necessary for particular projects.
• Lead in statutory financial reporting within own area of responsibility, ensuring that annual accounts, government returns and similar statistical submissions are completed promptly and accurately.
• Draft financial implications for formal committee reports and brief senior managers and Directors accordingly.
• Attend committee meetings as required.
• Advise on and maintain effective systems of financial control and intervene as necessary to prevent breaches of financial control.
• Manage operational/transactional functions, for example payroll, pensions and HR management information.
• Advise managers on the implications of audit reports and actions to be taken in response.
• Provide senior financial analysis to support commercial and contract activities, including advising on contract terms, commercial negotiations and contractors’ financial position.
• Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility; all employees are required to act in such a way that safeguards the health and well-being of children and vulnerable adults.
• Carry out duties with due regard to the council’s customer care, equal opportunities, information governance, data protection and health and safety policies and procedures.
• Undertake any other duties commensurate with the general level of responsibility of this post.

Job Context:

Operates within a framework set by Corporate and Departmental Management Teams, but with freedom to influence the shape of services. Leads financial strategy within own area of technical expertise. Deals with a wide range of internal and external partners, stakeholders and contractors. Significant supervisory and professional accountabilities.

PERSONAL SPECIFICATION:

Job Knowledge, Skills & Experience:

Knowledge and Qualifications:

• CCAB Qualified Accountant with significant post qualification experience.
• Evidence of significant relevant Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

Experience:

• Experience of providing financial advice and leadership in a large and complex organisation, working with a high degree of professional independence and integrity.
• Experience of advising on managing all aspects of large and complex budgets, delivering significant improvements as a result.
• Experience of preparing accounting statements and statutory statistical returns.
• Experience of contracting for services, providing financial and commercial advice to inform procurement strategy and negotiations.

Skills and Abilities:

• Manage people, performance and budgets.
• Contribute to the longer term development of the service area.
• Ability to analyse, interpret and report upon large amounts of complex financial, accounting and output information.
• Excellent communication skills including the ability to explain complex financial issues to non-financial managers, Directors and Members.
• Excellent interpersonal, negotiating and influencing skills.
• Ability to analyse and interpret legislation and regulation, and to develop strategic policy responses accordingly.
• Strong leadership skills, capable of motivating and inspiring junior staff and building effective working relationships at senior levels across the organisation and with partners.
• Able to organise resources and plan work to meet individual, team and departmental objectives.