Title: Finance Business Partner
Reports to: Management Accountant
Responsible for: Assistant Finance Business Partners
Job Purpose
As Finance Business Partner, you will support and contribute to the provision of a high-performing management accounts team, driving a culture of reconciliation and control within the team to ensure the month-end accounts are produced accurately and on-time.
You will prepare concise supporting narrative and variance analysis which identifies the key challenges and opportunities for the business in a way that is easily understood by a non-finance audience.
The Management Accounts Team will adopt a business partnering approach that supports collaboration and drives financial results.
Dimensions
- Shared responsibility for 2 members of staff.
Key Result Areas
- Provision of financial advice and support to the Heads of Service
- Contribute to the provision of a high-performing Management Accounting team, delivering a first-class internal service that is valued by colleagues across the organisation
- Implement the month-end close timetable, providing high quality financial information to the Group’s budget holders as soon after the month-end possible
- Support and contribute to the pace of change within the Management Accounting Team, as directed by the Management Accountant
- Ensure the ways of working across the Management Accounts Team are standardised, adopting best practice across all activities to support the development of a high-performing team and the production of timely and accurate management accounts
- Contribute to the production of the annual budget for each Group entity, and a consolidated budget for the Group, within the specified timescales
- Produce the Management Accounts for services within the Group, ensuring they are delivered accurately and on-time every month – all management accounts and finance reports to include a forecast to the year-end
- Ensure income is recognised as it falls due, ensuring the monthly accounts are accurate
- Key financial health indicators - understand, review and report on the Group's key financial health indicators, developing an early warning approach across the Group
- Support the delivery of a true business partnering approach to the provision of finance support activities, supporting a culture of customer service and continuous improvement across the Management Accounts Team
- Through the development of a business partnering approach, support the Group's cost reduction agenda with Heads of Service and other budget holders, ensuring budget holders are accountable for delivering their financial targets
- Support the production of the year-end accounts for all Group entities, accurate, within deadline, and with a clean report from the Group's external auditors
- Support the delivery of high quality, system driven financial reporting that provides the key financial metrics for the organisation, and enables the budget holders to generate their own reports, supporting clear accountability and responsibility for budget management.
- Support a culture of reconciliation and control, both within the finance team and across the Group
- Lead and develop direct reports, ensuring they have the capacity and capability to deliver their roles in support of the Management Accounts Team objectives
- Outline direct reports' learning and development requirements, and put appropriate training and development support in place that allows them to operate to the required standard, and the team to deliver a high quality, forward focussed service
Please only apply if you meet the below requirements:
Person Specification
Experience:
- Demonstrable technical accounting experience
- Preparation of high-quality financial reports to budget holders, and supporting budget holders to understand/deliver their financial targets
- Evidence of working to tight deadlines
- Proven experience of working with and effectively influencing Senior Managers and Budget Holders
- Experience of management report development and monitoring/resolution of data quality issues
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
- Demonstrable knowledge of what a high-performing Management Accounting Team looks like, and able to translate that knowledge into action
- In depth insight into report design and development
- Understanding of data flows, data management and analysis
- Understanding of techniques to develop reports to support decision making
- Management - able to manage and motive a small team to deliver a high-quality management accounting service to the business
- High level of numeracy
- Analysis and judgement – able to use own judgement involving highly complex facts requiring interpretation and comparison of a range of options
- Communication - can work with a wide range of stakeholders including, staff across the organisation from different disciplines, Senior Management and Executive Directors, Internal and External Audit, Commissioners and other agencies
- Negotiation – can demonstrate ability to negotiate and use sophisticated persuasion skills
- Planning and organising – able to formulate plans involving uncertainty
- Relationships – Ability to understand, learn and use relationships to build networks to achieve goals
- Innovation – Provides new and innovative solutions for doing things
- Motivation and Resilience – the ability to maintain a high level of commitment and energy towards personal and team goals
Qualifications:
- CCAB Qualified/Part Qualified, and/or AAT Qualified, or equivalent
- CPD registration with professional body
This role is Field Based and involves travel within the northwest of England, we can only accept applications from residents of the northwest. With our extended flexible working options, you can also choose to work a 9-day fortnight or a 4.5-day week, supporting our employees with their work life balance.
This role is Band II as per our structure.