Finance Manager jobs in United Kingdom

Job Summary

The successful candidate will be a highly motivated and enthusiastic CCAB/CIMA qualified accountant, who has extensive experience in effective financial management, possesses strong management and communication skills, as well as excellent analytical, technical and IT skills from within the Public or Private sector. You will have the ability to operate at a strategic level, work under pressure and manage multiple and conflicting deadlines.

As a Financial Management team, we offer a dynamic, diverse and developmental environment in which to nurture and enhance your career within the NHS. We have embedded a culture of strong teamwork, ensuring quality time together to build and enhance inter-team relationships.

The Finance Directorate actively promotes training and development within the team, having developed a comprehensive finance education strategy and holding Level 3 accreditation in Towards Excellence and Future Focused Finance. We are an active member of the FSD (Finance Skills Development) Network, Future Focused Finance, and Towards Excellence scheme.

Main duties of the job

The Finance Manager role is accountable to a selection of Divisions including Education, GM Cancer Alliance and the Joint Ventures, managing a small team and reporting into the Divisional Finance Manager. In addition to working closely with other areas of the Finance Directorate.

The role provides high quality, accurate and timely professional financial management advice, monitoring and reporting services to a range of divisions.

You will be the lead Finance contact for a number of Divisions, being the key point of contact for budget holders and managers.

You will also provide support and input to projects, business cases and service developments.

We recognise the importance of modern working practices to enable our employees to maximise their performance and productivity while maintaining an excellent work-life balance. Therefore, we have adopted a hybrid office/home working approach, allowing employees to work either from home or flex their time between both.

About Us

The Christie is one of Europe's leading cancer centres, treating over 60,000 patients a year. We are based in Manchester and serve a population of 3.2 million across Greater Manchester & Cheshire, with around 15% of patients referred to us from other parts of the country. We provide radiotherapy through one of the largest departments in the world; chemotherapy on-site and through 14 other hospitals; highly specialist surgery for complex and rare cancer; and a wide range of support and diagnostic services. We are also an international leader in research, with world-first breakthroughs for over 100 years, running one of the largest early clinical trial units in Europe with over 300 trials every year. Cancer research in Manchester, most of which is undertaken on the Christie site, has been officially ranked the best in the UK.

Job Description

Job responsibilities

Duties And Responsibilities

• Provide support to the Assistant Director of Finance (ADoF), Head of Financial Management (HoFM) and Divisional Finance Manager/Reporting & Financial Planning Manager (DFM/RFPM) in providing an effective monitoring and reporting service to the trust in accordance with the agreed timetables, procedures and standards prescribed within the trust.
• Act as lead accountant and contact point for a range of clinical and non-clinical divisions.
• Provide support and input to projects within finance or across the Trust as assigned.
• Produce annual budgets for division(s), calculating the annual budget from information provided by budget managers, the financial management and wider finance teams, and taking account of external factors.
• Produce accurate forecasts of the year-end financial position on a monthly basis, in agreement with the division(s).
• Responsible for producing the financial position for the division(s) in accordance with the agreed timetables, procedures and standards prescribed. This will include updating the Trust's financial ledgers on a monthly basis and investigating any anomalies within the division(s) to resolve these in line with audit guidance.
• Ensure that all relevant financial data, including all necessary income and expenditure accruals and budget adjustments, has been uploaded in line with the monthly reporting timetable and that all inappropriate transactions are recoded to reflect the true financial position.
• Proactively review accruals for accuracy in conjunction with budget holders on a monthly basis and liaise with other organisations to ensure invoices are sent and received in a timely manner.
• Investigate material variances within the division(s) and analyse expenditure/income trends to inform the production of divisional year-end financial position forecasts.
• Produce detailed monthly budget statements, summaries and variance reports for the division(s). This will include a written commentary on the financial position to explain the underlying reasons for significant variances and incorporate recommendations for corrective action.
• Support the HoFM/DFM/RPFM in coordinating and inputting to central processes as required within the Financial Management section, particularly regarding the annual plan, NHSI returns and workforce information.
• Deputise for the DFM/RPFM as appropriate, lead on specific areas, and be an integral part of the divisional management team(s) working with senior managers and other budget holders, including attendance at divisional board and other meetings when necessary.
• Provide high quality professional financial management advice to budget holders and other staff including informal and formal training.
• Provide advice to a range of clinical and non-clinical divisions in accordance with the agreed timetable, procedures and standards (e.g. SFIs and SOs) within the Trust and in accordance with financial and legal requirements to relevant bodies external to the Trust (e.g. Charity Commission).
• Maintain an ongoing working relationship with divisional managers to develop an understanding and knowledge base of the division(s) to aid the production and presentation of information to inform decision making.
• Organise and attend regular budget meetings to advise on costing of service changes, budgetary queries, forecasting, savings plans and provide other general financial guidance.
• Provide financial and operational input into the production of business cases including accurate costs and critical analysis to support service developments that consider all financial implications of a scheme, revenue and capital, the effect the scheme has upon activity and the impact on other services. This will entail liaison with service managers to ensure the cost of delivering the scheme and its activity targets are reflected within the Trust's strategic plan.
• Provide information for business and service delivery plans for budget holders within the Trust, and provide analysis which would facilitate easier interpretation of financial data leading to resolution of problems.
• Monitor and evaluate cost savings identified within the divisional action plans including input into Project Initiation Documents.
• Be the link accountant between the Financial Management section and the Financial Services Manager in respect of the preparation of year-end accounts.
• Develop an understanding of income, commissioning and activity. Work alongside the Income and Commissioning team where appropriate.
• Produce, where appropriate, trading accounts relevant within the division to reflect the financial position of these trading functions.
• Work cooperatively across the finance function to ensure that common standards of accounting practice are maintained within the Trust and to share information and best practices to achieve more effective use of resources or enhance productivity; this will be encouraged through rotation of areas of responsibility.
• Contribute to and where appropriate lead on identified corporate financial projects, for example internal and external monitoring returns including the preparation of elements of the Annual Accounts process.
• Utilise report writing software with the department to create a tool for more detailed analysis, enhancing the proactive nature of the finance function. This involves the design/development of complex crystal reports and the interrogation of such information through the use of database pivot tables.
• Develop an understanding of Service Line Reporting and Patient Level Information and Costing systems and provide information to support the refinement of cost apportionments.
• Act corporately, upholding the professionalism, position and focus of the Finance Directorate, while also being an integral and trusted member of the divisional team(s).
• Provide cover for other financial management team members' absences, including supporting other divisions.
• Responsible for prioritising own work and ensuring the achievement of work within prescribed timescales.
• Exercise judgement and initiative within the scope of the role when problems arise by providing possible solutions for resolution to the DFM/RPFM, HoFM or ADoF. Alert the DFM/RPFM, HoFM or ADoF to any areas of concern.
• Responsible for the management, supervision, development and appraisal of the Assistant Divisional Finance Manager and ensuring that there is standardisation of tasks carried out by the Financial Management Assistant including month-end working papers.
• Responsible for own development and the creation of a personal development plan, proactively identifying development opportunities and maintaining an awareness of local and national agendas. Work with the DFM/RPFM to agree personal objectives.
• Ability to demonstrate the Trust values and behaviours.
• To be accountable for own attitude and behaviour.

Person Specification

Qualifications Essential

• CCAB/CIMA Qualified Accountant with the associated membership.
• Demonstrate Continuing Professional Development.
• A comprehensive secondary education (5 GCSEs or equivalent including Maths and English Language).

Desirable

• Degree.
• Willingness to develop through internal and external sources.

Experience Essential

• Significant experience of management accounting, working as a middle manager within a complex finance department, with a strong understanding of financial management and financial accounting principles.
• Experience of managing, motivating and developing staff.
• Experience of computerised financial systems.

Desirable

• Experience of working with a range of different stakeholders.
• Experience in the preparation of the statutory annual accounts process.
• Experience in working in a multi-agency and disciplinary environment.

Skills Essential

• Excellent analytical and reasoning skills.
• Ability to prepare and present financial information to non-financial people.
• Planning, monitoring and influencing skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills to people at all levels within the organisation.
• Proficient in the use of computerised and manual financial systems, including spreadsheets and database packages, with the ability to develop systems to maximise benefits to users.
• Robust understanding of financial and activity systems, with the ability to extract, interpret, manipulate and present information in a meaningful way.
• Ability to manage, motivate and develop staff.
• Ability to prioritise and deliver to agreed deadlines.
• Ability to work with minimal day-to-day supervision.
• Ability to be both a team leader and a team player.
• Ability to lead change and have a positive influence on others.
• Evidence of past achievements and ability to deliver.
• Ability to provide effective and professional financial input into business cases.

Knowledge Essential

• An advanced understanding of financial management and financial accounting principles.

Desirable

• Understanding of the NHS Cancer Plan and Trust performance targets, and the impact these have on the Trust.

Values Essential

• Ability to demonstrate the organisational values and behaviours.

Other Essential

• Significant use of computer VDU screen/keyboard.
• Frequent requirement for concentration when inputting data, checking and reconciling information, making calculations and answering queries from staff, managers and clinicians.
• Often required to switch tasks at short notice.
• Frequent requirement for prolonged concentration when analysing complex data and preparing reports.
• Workload and content can be unpredictable.
• Minor lifting and handling in an office environment (files, boxes, etc).
• Ability to manage time effectively, prioritise and deliver to agreed deadlines.
• Enthusiasm, determination, motivation, and positivity.
• Confident approach, hardworking, committed and reliable.
• Open, honest and fair.
• Treat colleagues with dignity and respect.