Management Accountant

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.

After applying via NHS Jobs, your submitted application will be imported into our preferred Third-party recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs. You will not be able to track the progress of your application or receive messages through the NHS Jobs website, and furthermore, as an employer, we will not be able to respond to any e‑mails sent to us via the NHS Jobs website. By applying for this post you are agreeing to "name of trust" transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are appointed to a post information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

Job overview

An opportunity has arisen for the role of Management Accountant, playing a key role in managing and reporting the financial position of the organisation.

We are looking to recruit a motivated and an enthusiastic individual who is ready to develop their career in an acute healthcare provider with strong track record of delivering five star quality care for its patients.

The post holder will provide expert financial advice to operational colleagues and play a key role in providing an effective financial management and reporting service. They will support and work closely with the Senior Financial Management team to generate, analyse and report financial information to stakeholders internal and external to the Trust.

The successful candidate will hold a CCAB or CIMA qualification, with financial management experience in a large organisation and knowledge of the NHS finance regime. They will have excellent I.T. and communication skills and experience of managing and developing staff. They will have demonstrated the ability to deliver timely and accurate financial reporting.

Please note the Job Description and Person Specification are subject to AfC review

Main duties of the job

The Management Accountant’s main duties will be to:

• Provide expert financial advice and oversight of financial management for their areas of responsibility
• Lead aspects of the month end reporting process, ensuring timely and accurate reporting of the monthly financial position both internally and externally to the organization.
• Monitor financial performance against agreed budgets, analysing and reporting on variances and assisting in formulating corrective actions.
• Co-ordinate the budget setting and forecasting processes for their areas of responsibility.
• Ensure the provision of high quality financial reporting to budget holders and other non-finance managers in order to support delivery of the Trust’s strategic, corporate and financial objectives, including delivery of Cost Improvement Programme (CIP) efficiencies.
• Establish and maintain strong working relationships to enable effective working. The post holder will be expected to liaise with both internal departments and external bodies.
• Manage and develop staff

Working for our organisation

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.

We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.

Our Services

Acute Care

Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.

Primary Care

Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.

Community Services

Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.

Specialist Regional Services

We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.

Achievements

• Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
• Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
• National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please ensure you have read through the attached Job Description and Person Specification before submitting your application.

Proposed Interview date: 25th September 2026

Please note, this post may close earlier than advertised if a sufficient number of applications are received.

Person specification

Qualifications

• CCAB/CIMA Qualified or equivalent experience
• Demonstrable evidence of continuous personal and professional development

Knowledge

• Expert theoretical knowledge of accounting, NHS accounting and Public Sector accounting policy.
• Knowledge and experience of strategic and business planning and investment appraisal process
• Experience within a finance function of a large organisation
• Knowledge and experience of performance management techniques
• Specialist knowledge of capital, expenditure and revenue budgets
• Experience of budget setting to prepare plans for financial and human resources
• Experience of managing and developing finance staff
• Experience of formulating and developing long term strategic plans, often involving uncertainty that may impact on the whole organisation
• NHS Finance experience
• Experience of contract monitoring and reporting
• Experience of the Oracle General Ledger System

Skills

• Ability to analyse, investigate and interpret financial information and queries
• Analytical and problem solving skills
• Ability to report and present financial information to both finance and non-finance individuals (internal and external)
• Ability to provide and receive highly complex, sensitive and contentious information
• Well organised, able to prioritise own workload to deliver tight deadlines
• To be able to carry out business ensuring all accounting treatments are adhering to Generally Agreed Accounting Principles (GAAP) and International Accounting Standards (IAS)
• High level of ability in designing, developing, managing and maintaining complex computerised financial systems, spreadsheets and databases
• Proven high level of communication skills using a range of methods e.g. Written, verbal presentation to Executive Management Team as well as budget holders of all levels
• The ability to manage conflicting priorities
• The ability to formulate arguments and express them clearly to lay people and to persuade clinicians and senior management over a course of action
• The ability to deal with highly complex facts or situations including those relating to business case development
• The ability to make judgements where there is no precedent and where other leading opinions conflict
• Ability to influence, command respect and establish credibility quickly. Ability to work effectively with directors. To display good negotiation skills
• Ability to plan and organise a broad range of highly complex plans and adjust these through time
• ECDL or equivalent is essential – i.e. experienced in the use of financial systems/spreadsheets/databases/word processing. Advanced keyboard skills essential

Other

• Team Player
• The ability get on with others and build good relationships with a wide variety of both internal and external to the organisation
• Evidence of continued professional and personal development and learning through the PDR process
• Willingness to travel. Self motivated and able to work to tight deadlines
• Concentration required for effectively multi-tasking, analysing data, writing detailed reports etc.
• The post holder has to be able to work successfully under pressure of time and resources

The Trust may contact you during the recruitment process for your feedback on your experience. We always aim for continuous improvement in our practice.

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. We are grounded in the belief that diversity enhances our collective strength, fostering innovation and excellence within our workforce. We welcome all applications irrespective of people’s race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion/belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity and in particular those from under‑represented groups.

As a Disability Confident Leader, we commit to offering an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.

If you are having difficulty completing an online application, or require any disability reasonable adjustments, to the application process, please contact Recruitment@merseywestlancs.nhs.uk

We also commit to offering an interview to all armed forces veterans who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.

The Trust operates anonymous shortlisting where no personal information about you, including your name, or personal details are shared with the recruiting manager. No equality information is shared at any time during the recruitment process with the recruiting manager or other people involved in the decision-making process.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Following the recent update on UK immigration policy for those on a Health and Care Visa or Skilled Worker Visa, please check your eligibility before applying for this post as we may be unable to provide sponsorship.

eVisa Update

For successful candidates on selected work and study visa routes, who have completed and paid for their applications will no longer receive a visa vignette in passport as evidence of their permission to enter the UK.

Instead, you will be issued with an eVisa only, which is accessed by creating a UKVI account.

Before travelling to the UK, we advise applicants to:

• Understand how to generate an eVisa share code

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

If this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 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.

Please note if applicable, applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check. Costs are deducted from salary following appointment.

If you have not already done so, you are therefore encouraged to enrol for the DBS Update Service to which a small annual fee of £13 per year applies.

Flexible Working

We actively support flexible working patterns throughout MWL. Changes made to the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook mean that:

• All employees have the right to request flexible working from day one of employment.
• There is no limit on the number of requests they can make.
• Employees have the right to make requests, have them considered, regardless of the reason.

At Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, we will consider requests for flexible working. We would also encourage you to also discuss flexible working options at interview stage.

Working for Team MWL

Staff recognition is especially important to us; as well as performance reviews and appraisals, we recognise staff through Employee of the month. Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services.

The Trust is a non‑smoking across all our sites. Failure to follow this rule could lead to disciplinary action. For more information, see the Smoke Free NHS website.

You will be expected to undertake the Trusts' commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults.

You must ensure that your application, including personal statements and behaviour examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Please note plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.

The Trust will not accept applications which are found to be AI generated and will check all applications against AI detection software.

Additional Information

Before applying, we encourage you to review the Trusts Values and Behaviours which are We are KIND, We are OPEN, We are INCLUSIVE, which can be found here .

An applicant guide to help and support you with your application and what to expect during your recruitment journey can be accessed in the supporting documents.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.