Costing and Reporting Accountant

Job Purpose

To co-ordinate and support the day to day running of the Trust's costing related work streams. Having specific responsibility for providing costing support to services across the Trust, ensuring robust controls are in place to provide a good standard, linked to accurate, timely, and relevant financial information.

Ensuring financial information is processed in accordance with procedures through completion of own work and through the coordination of the work of others.

Investigating highly complex enquiries, providing assistance and advice as required, contributing to corporate reporting, and providing business planning advice.

Co-ordinating and delivering training across the organisation in relation to the costing workstream. This includes providing training courses to non-financial managers to enable greater understanding of financial issues.

Managing, supporting and developing the costing objectives to ensure delivery of an effective and efficient costing service facilitated by building good relationships and linking in with key stakeholders to ensure integration of costing & reporting throughout the Trust.

Duties and Responsibilities

The post-holder is responsible for planning and preparing accurate and timely National Cost Collection (NCC) submissions and benchmarking returns for the Trust.

Responsible for the production of the Trust's Service Line Reporting (SLR) and Patient Level Information Costing System (PLICS) outputs, linking with numerous stakeholders to maintain the accuracy and timeliness of the data and to ensure the utilisation of the outputs for decision making.

Preparing to completion any NHS returns, including supporting the statutory accounts process as relevant.

Ensuring all work is completed in line with financial timescales and technical requirements interpreting these where necessary.

Supporting the development and production of costing information across the Trust and promoting the effective use of costing outputs to support operational and financial decision making. Ensuring members of the Central Management Accounts Team are equipped with the skills and knowledge needed to undertake their roles and developmental opportunities are identified so that all staff are motivated to deliver an effective and efficient costing support service across the Trust.

Line management of the Costing and Finance Sustainability Assistant including the allocation and supervision of work. As part of this ensuring efficiencies are maximised by the automation of systems where appropriate, generic tasks are identified and efficiently managed, and resources are appropriately allocated effectively and efficiently. Alongside this, ensuring robust controls and checks are in place, so timescales are met and work produced is of a good standard.

Ensuring there are procedures for costing in place to support all processes across the Trust in all aspects of supplying information required. This will include meeting budget managers on a periodic basis, discussing budget position, variance analysis, analysis of pay and non-pay, evaluating a range of options, supporting business cases, directorate performance reporting etc. This will involve providing and receiving complex and contentious information, some of which may be sensitive.

Reporting on a regular basis to the Management Accountants and Senior Management Accountants to ensure they are fully aware of processes, procedures and systems in relation to costing items, timescales of reporting and final sign off to meet costing requirements.

Supporting and developing the annual costing processes of the Trust to ensure resources are managed as effectively and efficiently as possible and timescales are met in line with agreed timetables.

Understanding complex, sensitive, financial, clinical and operational issues to support management decision making and service planning.

Working together with Operational Managers and relevant financial colleagues across the Trust to ensure the supply of financial information meets the needs of Directorates, is accurate, relevant and within the timescales set, and identifying areas of significance.

Supporting the development and maintenance of business intelligence (BI) reporting tools and the suite of reports provided to stakeholders, providing advice and training as appropriate.

Proactively reviewing, supporting development of, and improving financial procedures, systems and processes to continuously improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the service, in conjunction with the National NHS Group Accounting Manual, Standing Financial Instructions, Standing Financial Orders and Scheme of Delegation. This may require working with other staff, both internal and external (i.e. IM&T) to seek solutions for improvement. Supporting this, by producing an annual work plan with the involvement of staff at all levels which will be monitored throughout each year.

Supporting financial aspects of annual business planning processes ensuring any capital requirements are separately identified.

Supporting the production of business cases for new projects as required.

Developing financial and benchmarking information to identify where potential benefits can be realised and making appropriate recommendations.

Attending various meetings and committees such as Finance & Investment Committee to report on costing programmes and costing related financial performance.

Attending appropriate national events, regional events and other costing groups, and reporting back key messages.

Attending meetings on behalf of senior finance colleagues and other finance colleagues as required.

Deputising for colleagues within the Finance Team as and when required.

Communication and Working Relationships

Provide and receive complex information. Persuasive, motivational, negotiating, and training skills are required, as is the ability to work flexibly and remain calm under pressure.

The post-holder will be required to discuss complex costing queries with finance staff, senior directorate and budget managers both verbally and in writing to assist in the development and management of their areas of responsibility.

The post-holder will be required to discuss costing issues which may be contentious and deal with performance, feedback, coaching, training and counselling issues relating to staff.

Where appropriate, the post-holder will provide advice on complex costing and corporate issues to non-financial managers, which may be contentious.

The post-holder will provide cover for specific costing and reporting activities during periods of absence and support colleagues across the Finance Team as required and will be responsible for the line management of the Costing and Finance Sustainability Assistant.

Analytical and Judgemental Skills

The post-holder will be required to analyse complex problems relating to costing, business case production requiring analysis, interpretation and comparison of a range of options.

Analyse and interpret financial queries and detailed data to identify errors and discrepancies.

The post-holder will have a multiplicity of targets/objectives and will be required to make judgements regarding allocation of potential resource support, and prioritising work streams.

Planning and Organisational Skills

The post-holder will be required to participate in the planning and organisation of costing objectives including the planning of work and projects which impact across the organisation. This will include allocation of work and management of the Costing and Finance Sustainability Assistant.

The post-holder will act as a specialist finance resource for costing activities and support delivery of the Trust's annual costing programme.

The post-holder may be required to contribute to the Trust's long term financial model (LTFM) in particular advising on specific business issues relating to costing.

The post-holder will be required to participate in the planning of a range of project improvements, prioritising implementation to improve the costing systems, processes and procedures across the Trust. The post-holder will be responsible for co-ordinating and planning activities in relation to costing.

Plan and manage own work within weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual financial timetables.

Responsibility for Policy and Service Development Implementation

• Propose policy or service changes, impacting beyond own area.
• Support the Head of Strategic Finance in ensuring that the Trust's financial procedures and policies associated with costing are in place, communicated to other staff and adhered to at all times.
• The post-holder will need to be aware of national guidance and ensure that the financial reports are in line with NHSE requirements and be proactive to ensure that any changes are communicated across the Directorate(s) or escalated as appropriate.
• The post-holder will contribute to the review and improvement of financial procedures, systems and processes and make recommendations to senior colleagues where appropriate which will have an impact on the systems and costing service provided to the Trust.
• Create and develop reports and documents, particularly financial spreadsheets.
• For further detail see the attached job description.