Management Accountant - Finance Office

Position Details

Finance Office

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £30,942 to £40,322, with potential progression once in post to £42,792

Grade 7

Full Time - Permanent

Closing date - 31st January 2021

Job Summary

Reporting to the Head of Management Accounting and working as part of a central support team to provide management information to a range of Colleges and Professional Services, the post holder is responsible for leading a team in the preparation and consolidation of monthly accounts and communication of that information to key stakeholders.

In order to deliver an effective and efficient financial service across a range of financial and management accounting activities the post holder has responsibility for ensuring that the data provided by their team is accurate, timely and consistent and that reports provided are clear and easily understood. The post holder will work closely with the business partnering teams to fully understand the business and to ensure the integrity of data so that the information provided can be used by budget holders to manage their budgets effectively and to support in financial decision making.

Main Duties

Management Accounts

• Responsibility for ensuring the income and expenditure for the budget area is reported accurately and consistently against the budget set and to agreed accounting principles.
• Responsibility for the preparation of accounts ensuring all deadlines are met and that budget holders are adhering to financial regulations and accounting practices.
• Ensuring spending is in line with budget or plans and advising on implications.
• Preparation of variance statements and commentaries of variances against targets.
• Liaising with budget centre contacts and Finance Office staff to resolve day to day queries or issues identified through monitoring.
• Undertake monthly balance sheet reconciliations.
• In support of the budget holders, key role in preparing budgetary and forecast information across a range of budget centres in line with assumptions agreed.
• Calculation and reporting of budget to date information considering agreed principles and assumptions.
• Ensuring that the financial information provided by the team is relevant and understood.
• Oversight and sign- off of monthly processes that are completed by his/her team.
• Producing ad-hoc financial data as deemed necessary.

Financial Monitoring and Reporting

• Reviewing the financial position of areas under his/her control, interpreting and analysing information and communicating these in a clear way to key stakeholders.
• Responsibility for ensuring the team undertake system reconciliations and data integrity checks prior to the publication of monthly reports.
• Understanding and interpretation of management information for use in business decisions related to finance level initiatives and reviews.
• Providing accurate and relevant information required by both the business area and Finance. This includes provision of annual accounts as well as budgetary and forecast information.
• Discussing and reviewing outputs and reports across Finance and relevant budget centres.

Process Improvement

• Delivering improvements to the monitoring of financial performance indicators to ensure targets are set.
• Identifying critical areas of financial performance and focussing time on those areas where improvements can be effected.
• Providing knowledge and advice on best practice relating to all aspects of accountancy, financial processes and management information.
• The ability to develop and propose solutions to problems for review by the Head of Management Accounting.

Person Specification:

Qualified Accountant with membership of one of the recognised accounting bodies and experience of working in a large and complex organisation.

Experience of managing people would be an advantage, as would an aptitude for challenging and changing existing practices and principles.

Specific Skills:

Communication

• Communication skills are essential as the post holder will deal with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders. This would include senior members of the Finance Office as well as budget managers within Colleges or Professional Services.

Analytical Skills

• Aptitude for reviewing and interpreting often complex information.
• Proven planning and analytical skills.

Contributing to change

• Adaptable and flexible when dealing with complex situations and the unexpected.
• Ability to generate innovative solutions in response to challenges to deliver change and to articulate these sharing both implications and benefits.
• Resilient and positive in response to changes.

Other

• Able to influence both formally and informally within an organisation.
• Excellent general computer skills with the aptitude to develop skills in specific areas such as reporting systems.
• The ability to work independently and to also manage and motivate a team.
• Ability to plan, organise, prioritise workload, and work to strict deadlines.
• Knowledge of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, and how to actively ensure in day to day activity in own area that those with protected characteristics are treated equally and fairly.

Informal enquires to Joanne McIlraith, email: J.H.McIlraith@bham.ac.uk

We value diversity at The University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community '

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