Senior Management Accountant

A rare opportunity has arisen to join our award winning Financial Management team at CDDFT. We are seeking a motivated and ambitious Senior Management Accountant who wants to make a real impact, support high quality patient care, and contribute to the Trust’s strong financial leadership. You will be joining us at a constructive and forward‑looking moment. As part of our continued commitment to excellence, we are strengthening our finance function. This is a stable, supportive team with experienced leaders, clear direction, and a strong focus on staff development. You will support the delivery of high quality financial insight, analysis and reporting that informs decision making and helps ensure strong financial stewardship. You will benefit from an inclusive and welcoming environment, ongoing professional development and the flexibility of our agile working approach.

We are proud to be the first organisation in the North East to achieve Level 3 accreditation under One NHS Finance, and to hold CIMAPremier Partner, ACCA Approved Employer (Gold) and AAT Employer Scheme status reflecting our commitment to developing our people and building a vibrant, forward‑thinking team.

Main duties of the job

• Work closely with the Care Group Accountant and wider finance team to deliver high quality financial insight, advice and support to Clinical Care Groups.
• Play a key role in ensuring services understand their financial position, make informed decisions and deliver within their allocated resources.
• Lead elements of the monthly reporting cycle, support planning and budgeting processes, and provide clear analysis to budget managers that highlights risks, opportunities and required actions.
• Supervise and develop colleagues within the financial management team, helping to maintain high standards of accuracy, timeliness and professional practice.
• Prepare and distribute monthly financial reports.
• Monitor Income & Expenditure variances against budget.
• Create spreadsheets as required and input data into existing spreadsheets.
• Input into the Oracle Financial Management System (i.e. journals, budgets and data from feeder systems).
• Collate basic information from a number of sources required to produce the monthly financial reports.
• Lead on the initial preparation of annual budgets, and support Associate Care Group Accountant through to final sign‑off.
• Ensure all General Ledger input is correctly coded and reported.
• Provide ad hoc costing information as requested by budget managers.
• Ensure that departmental standards and agreed deadlines are met.
• Ensure that invoice‑able activity is accurately captured and raised on invoices in a timely manner.
• Attend monthly budget manager meetings and encourage/raise the awareness of the need for cost efficiencies throughout the division.
• Assist the Associate Care Group Accountant in the day‑to‑day management, supervision and organisation of the team.
• Contribute to the continuous review and improvement of financial procedures to drive efficiency and quality.
• Perform any other duties as may be delegated from time to time.

Person Specification

• A commitment to the continuous development of the finance department to be innovative and to constantly seek new ways of working/improving performance.
• Ability to travel throughout the Trust area.
• Minimum of 5 GCSEs / O Levels (A* - C) including Maths and English.
• Degree or equivalent knowledge or experience.
• Experience of working within a NHS finance function.
• Evidence of continuing personal and professional development.
• AAT Level 4 with a view to working towards a professional qualification.
• Excellent communication and relationship skills.
• Ability to plan and manage the workload of yourself and junior staff.
• Excellent organisational skills and ability to cope with rapid and sustained change.
• Knowledge and understanding of current NHS financial developments and initiatives.
• Experience of Oracle and Microsoft Office.
• An understanding of NHS finance structure and the financial requirements of a business case.

Experience

• Experience of working within a finance function.
• Experience of using computerised finance systems; General Ledger & report writing software.
• Experience of working within NHS finance.
• Experience of using Oracle.

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 to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Employer name: County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust