Assistant Financial Accountant

An opportunity has arisen for an Assistant Financial Accountant to join the Finance Directorate on a full time basis. The team are currently operating a hybrid office-based and working from home model.

The role of the Finance Department is to provide support and advice to managers on all financial matters, ensuring that statutory and reporting requirements are met, financial controls are in place, and all financial transactions are properly accounted for.

The Assistant Financial Accountant will work as part of a team, contributing to the timely delivery of financial information relating to Capital and Cash.

To ensure you fully understand how the Trust, as a Data Controller, will process and store your data please read the attached document ‘Applicant and Staff Privacy Notice’ prior to applying for the role.

The role of the Assistant Financial Accountant is to produce accurate, reliable and timely capital accounting information in order to support managers and budget holders; provide financial support and monitor the Trust’ cash position.

This will involve working to strict deadlines and using a variety of software as well as liaising with a wide range of contacts.

The post holder will need to have experience of Microsoft computer packages including, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Microsoft Outlook and experience of finance ledger systems.

The successful applicant may be required to display a degree of flexibility in their weekly working pattern due to the variable needs of the post.

The qualification, training & experience requirements for the role are underlined in the Job Description/Person Specification.

We have a skilled and dedicated workforce of over 5000 colleagues working in a diverse range of services over 55 sites and within people’s homes. We strive to enable a welcoming workplace culture that builds and celebrates civility, inclusivity and diversity, while providing a sense of belonging and trust.

Annual staff surveys, regular Pulse surveys and other engagement opportunities provide our people with lots of opportunity to tell us about their experiences of working with us. In the latest staff survey, 61% of colleagues gave us their views. It was great to hear that:

72% of colleagues would recommend the Trust as a place to work, ranking us 1st for Provider Trusts in the South West region on this question.

76% would recommend the standard of care provided in our services if a friend or relative needed treatment, also ranking us 1st in the South West region.

81% said that care of patients and service users is the Trust’s priority, compared with an average in comparable NHS Trusts in England of 64%.

This high-level overview shows we are in a healthy position, with higher scores than average for comparable organisations, alongside a great response rate, indicating good staff engagement. However, we also know we have plenty of room for improvement in many areas. To that end, we continue to prioritise and invest in our commitment to genuinely becoming a Great Place to Work with consistent top-quartile performance in the annual staff survey and Pulse surveys.

Responsible for day to day maintenance of fixed asset and cash accounting

Carry out monthly analysis of capital transactions, preparing papers and appendices for the monthly Capital Management Group meeting

Responsible for daily cash reporting

Responsible for accounting for direct debits

Responsible for petty cash including training of the petty cash holders and reviewing reimbursement to ensure expenditure is in line with the petty cash policy and is correctly signed by budget holders

Responsibility for reconciling various balance sheet accounts

Post general ledger journals and assist in month-end close

Provide accounting advice to internal stakeholders, e.g. General Ledger Coding, capital bid process

Support the implementation of valuation changes to assets in the asset register and calculate the financial impact

Assist with the Financial Accounting Team’s monthly reporting processes

To support the Head of Financial Accounts & Financial Accountant carry out financial accounting duties

Liaise with external and internal auditors gathering evidence and providing audit working papers

Support the annual accounts process

Assist in the implementation of policies and work on projects within the department, contributing to the development of new or amended policies within the scope of responsibilities

Assist in the review of processes within the scope of responsibilities to identify improvement areas

Ensure that work is completed and in line with financial timescales and legal requirements

Help to ensure that information is processed in accordance with procedures and is available to support statutory returns and financial reporting requirements

Assist and provide cover where necessary under the supervision of the Head of Financial Accounts, for other members of the department as appropriate

* Write and maintain procedure notes for own area of responsibility, and support section as appropriate.

This role is not eligible for sponsorship as per the Government’s UK VISA and Immigration Rules and Regulations. For more information please visit https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/work-visas