Senior Management Accountant in Knowsley

We want talented and enthusiastic people from all backgrounds to join #TeamMWL, with us you can learn, grow and develop yourself and your career, realising your true ambitions and aspirations. Whatever you’re looking for in your career, you’ll find it here at MWL.

An opportunity has arisen for the role of Senior Management Accountant, acting as the Financial Management lead for one of the Trust’s clinical divisions and playing a key role in managing and reporting its financial position. The post holder will provide expert financial advice to operational colleagues and lead their staff in providing an effective financial management and reporting service.

The successful candidate will be a fully qualified CCAB or CIMA qualified accountant with significant financial management experience in a large organisation. They will have experience of managing and developing staff and will have demonstrated the ability to build effective working relationships and deliver timely and accurate financial reporting.

Main duties of the job:

• Provide expert financial advice and oversight of financial management across their division.
• Influence investment decisions and priorities for the division, including providing financial input into business cases and informing management decisions.
• Support operational teams with addressing budget variances and delivering challenging efficiency targets.
• Lead the month end process for their area of responsibility, ensuring timely and accurate reporting.
• Co‑ordinate the budget setting and forecasting processes.
• Manage and develop Management Accountants and other support staff.

KEY DUTIES:

• Establish and maintain strong working relationships with both key internal and external individuals to ensure effective working.
• Provide advice to the Assistant Director of Operations, Directorate leads and Clinical Leads over financial issues of all aspects of service provision of the Care Group/ Corporate Function.
• Influence investment decisions and priorities of several departments within the Division.
• Develop and evaluate formal business case proposals from the Division including presenting financial information to the senior management team.
• Support the commissioning process of any service provision to external organisations including costing of such proposed service.
• Ensure all aspects of the Trust’s financial policies are adhered to; value‑for‑money secured and financial stability achieved.
• Provide training to non‑finance managers and Clinicians as and when required.
• Contribute to the accuracy and production of the corporate financial reporting including statutory returns, final accounts and Reference Costs submission.
• Co‑ordinate the annual Budget Setting process.
• Ensure financial reports to the Division are developed and amended to meet the evolving information requirements.
• Monitor the financial performance (both income and expenditure) of the Divisions, identifying and reporting variances.
• Maintain and monitor the Trust’s General Reserves.
• Utilise information streams such as SLR / PLICS / IPR / SLAM / PCB / Qlikview within the Division.
• Assist the Head of Financial Management with the completion of the Trusts financial plan.
• Support service units within own area of responsibility to develop, assess and implement a cost improvement plan (CIP).
• Promote greater financial management and financial control amongst the divisional management team.
• Maintain the integrity of the financial ledger and other financial systems.
• Prepare final accounts working papers in accordance with procedures and timescales.
• Ensure that all communication with others is conducted in a professional and competent manner.

CLINICAL & PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Maintain Professional Registration.
• Adhere to relevant Code of Practice of Professional body.

ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Update financial management reporting timetables.
• Ensure working procedure notes exist for the post holder duties.
• Maintain all filing systems both paper based and electronic.

TEACHING & TRAINING RESPONSIBILITIES:

• All staff are required to be appraised by their line managers at least once a year.
• Provide training to non‑financial managers on budgetary control and financial management.
• Manage the staff within the Management Accounts Team.
• Act as a mentor for junior staff undertaking accountancy training.

LINE MANAGEMENT/SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Directly manage and develop the Management Accountant and other support staff.
• Ensure staff objectives are reflected through personal development plans.
• Recruit and select staff for the Management Accounts team effectively.
• Deputise for the Head of Financial Management or Assistant Director of Finance where necessary.

FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY:

• Continuously look to improve by implementing new ways of working.

RESEARCH & AUDIT:

• Contribute to the Trust’s internal & external audit processes.

PERSON SPECIFICATION:

• Fully Qualified CCAB or CIMA accountant and significant equivalent experience in a relevant management accounting role.
• Significant recent financial management experience within a large organisation.
• Experience of managing and supervising staff within a Finance department.
• Strong working knowledge of all aspects of management accounting.
• Knowledge of accountancy policies & procedures, understanding of the NHS Financial framework.
• Strong IT skills, experienced with Microsoft Office suite.
• Experience supporting service lines in developing and evaluating business cases.
• Experience in the identification and monitoring of divisional cost improvement plans.

SKILLS:

• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Ability to advise and influence others.
• Demonstrate being well organised and having the ability to prioritise own workload.
• Able to work under pressure, meet objectives and produce high quality work.

EQUALITY, DIVERSITY, AND INCLUSION:

We actively cultivate a professional environment of fairness, equality, dignity, and respect for all individuals. We welcome individuals from all backgrounds and value the unique skills, perspective, and experience you bring.