Job summary
- Main area
- Finance Systems
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 7
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 334-NCL-6423756-TA
- Employer
- South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Jeanette Wallace House
- Town
- Croydon
- Salary
- £49,178 - £55,492 per annum inclusive of HCAS
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 14/07/2024 23:59
Employer heading
Finance Systems Analyst
NHS AfC: Band 7
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has a rich history, well-established community links and an international reputation. We deliver specialist services in the London boroughs of Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Wandsworth and Richmond.
We are committed to provide a high quality and specialist care to our service users and we are recognised for our care and treatment we provide. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as ‘good’.
We launched our five-year strategy, Aiming High; Changing Lives in 2021 together with Our Care Improvement System as our quality management system methodology to make a positive impact on patient care, outcomes and staff experience. By joining SLaM, all staff will get the opportunity to be part of this exciting improvement journey supported with learning and development to harness everyone’s potential as change makers.
The trust recognises the unique and valuable contribution that people with lived experience of mental illness can bring to a role. We therefore welcome applications from people with lived experience and consider them as an asset to the Trust.
Our Values
We take pride in providing specialist care to our service users where our Trust values and our promise to be caring, kind, polite, prompt, honest, listen and do what I say I’m going to do is at the heart of everything we do. When you join us, you’ll be part of something special.
As a Trust we are happy to talk flexible working.
Job overview
Within the Finance Directorate, the Deputy Head of Finance Systems is a highly developed position that requires specialist system skills and works as a lead specialist in providing the department with a comprehensive and high-quality service and support with freedom to develop all areas of finance. This post investigates highly complex financial and non-finance systems issues and makes a significant contribution to finance systems maintenance, financial analysis, process automation and financial reporting
Main duties of the job
To ensure that timely and accurate financial analysis and reports are provided to the Trust Board, Service Directors, budget holders and all senior finance officers in the Trust
Support the Head of Finance Systems in the day to day routine jobs within the department
Financial systems and accounting procedures are established, developed and maintained within the Directorate and that finance staff are adequately supported & trained to enable them to utilise the systems in the most effective manner
The post holder’s in-depth specialist knowledge of financial systems and finance information within the Trust is utilised for the completion of analysis and problem solving in all areas within Finance
Sytems work and expert analysis is regularly undertaken in line with the requirements of the Director of Finance, Deputy DoF or Assistant DoF, and reported & presented with a very high degree of accuracy and clarity to internal and external stakeholders
The post holder will play a significant role in systems support and guidance in all departments within Finance and other departments within the Trust using Finance Systems
The post holder will contribute to projects acting as the Finance Lead and will be able to represent the finance department at a senior level in multi professional project groups, and work without the need for significant input from senior finance officers
The post holder needs highly developed specialist knowledge which is underpinned by theory and experience
Working for our organisation
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) provide the widest range of NHS mental health services in the UK as well as substance misuse services for people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol. We work closely with the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London and are part of King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre. There are very few organisations in the world that have such wide-ranging capabilities working with mental illness. Our scope is unique because it is built on three major foundations: care and treatment, science and research, and training.
SLaM employ around 5000 staff and serve a local population of 1.1 million people. We have more than 230 services including inpatient wards, outpatient and community services. Currently, provide inpatient care for approximately 5,300 people each year and treat more than 45,000 patients in the community in Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark; as well as substance misuse services for residents of Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
1. To provide in depth specialist advice and expertise on finance applications and play a lead role in managing finance systems. provide professional leadership
2. To act as the trust lead for reporting and monitoring of bank and agency costs, forecasting bank and agency financial spend and providing in depth trend and spend analysis for borough leads and the SLaM Board.
3. Using specialist skills in Oracle, Unix, Excel and BOXI, maintain and improve the automated processing of approximately 500k records (annually) of bank and agency data received by the trust. Load the data to a relational database, interface, validate and post to the accounting system.
4. To devise and lead on the delivery of specialist training programs for both finance and non finance staff.
5. To act as system administrator and developer for all finance systems.
6. To provide appropriate, accurate and timely financial information, analysis and specialist advice to the managers and other finance colleagues so as to enable them to fulfil their responsibilities. This will involve working to tight deadlines and presenting highly complex information from differing data sources in a clear and persuasive manner to a range of stakeholders with different interests and differing competencies.
7. To analyse and interpret highly complex data received from other departments and external organisations.
8. To be a proactive member of the Finance Department management, taking collective responsibility for decision making.
9. To assist in the planning, implementation and monitoring of complex financial projects and initiatives impacting across the finance department and wider.
10. To assist building and maintain effective and collaborative working relationships throughout the Trust and with external partners and stakeholders.
11. To create highly complex spread sheets from a range of data sources and, where possible, automate any manual processes. Using expert knowledge to enable best practice throughout the department.
12. To act as an approver for finance system related purchases ensuring correct specification, appropriateness and consistency.
13. To develop or enhance and be responsible for bespoke features, reports and programmes to enhance applications and databases to meet the needs of the department, either in-house or in conjunction with external software providers.
14. Together with the Head of Finance Systems, the postholder is responsible for proposing, developing and implementing policies, procedures and service development in relation to own areas of work and ensuring compliance with these as they relate to the finance department and the Trust.
1. To learn and assist in writing and designing the Finance Intranet web site and on-going maintenance. Using this knowledge to assist and develop sites for other departments.
15. To provide expert advice on information being reported, at all levels including board directors.
16. Monitor the performance of finance applications using expert knowledge on a daily basis and take the appropriate action with regard to any systems problems including direct involvement with third parties to ensure the problems are resolved in a timely manner.
17. To ensure daily and monthly systems routines and reports are scheduled to maximise effective utilisation of the system resources.
18. To responsibly handle complex, sensitive information in areas around Finance, patient and employee information.
19. To assist the Finance Department with the research and development of any software for local requirements. For example Patient Level Costing and Service Line Reporting.
20. Developing processes to undertake surveys, the collection and analysis of its data and disseminating appropriately.
21. To ensure complete and accurate procedures are provided, in accordance with Standing Financial Instructions and Audit requirements for the administration of all systems applications.
22. To ensure system security, application security and data integrity of finance systems security is in place and adhered to.
23. To assist in representing the finance department at application user group meetings, promoting the Trust’s requirements discussing complex systems issues, problems or queries at the groups and advising the finance department as to the outcomes of the meetings, implementing any changes as needed.
24. Prepare data and help where necessary for any statutory Finance returns.
25. To support Head of Finance Systems with any systems upgrades, fixes or enhancements ensuring adequate testing prior to promotion to the Live environment.
26. To ensure that all finance staff are trained in the use of finance systems and financial applications and to help them achieve their objectives by developing new methods to help to improve efficiencies.
27. To ensure that all Finance staff have the system support to enable them to work efficiently and effectively.
28. To establish and maintain processes for effective communication with other departments and across multidisciplinary teams. Clearly communicate highly complex financial analytical data to finance management and trust wide stakeholders up to board level and required to attend or host presentations on this data.
29. To demonstrate a commitment to continuing Professional Development and training to enable the role to be fulfilled successfully.
30. To support corporate financial issues and Trust wide projects and plans as required, including acting as finance representative on committees and working parties.
1. To support Head of Finance with monitoring s budgets for projects and contribute to costing budgets for finance systems and developments
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- • Educated to degree level with evidence of further professional development in the field of system and informatics or equivalent in-depth knowledge and specialised technical skills in the field of system and informatics
- • Detailed knowledge of NHS Financial policies
- • Highly developed specialist knowledge of finance & accounting procedures with a strong understanding of its application within an NHS environment across a wide range of practices and procedures.
- • Sound intellectual skills with a general education and equivalent experience
Desirable criteria
- • Evidence of continuous personal and professional development
Experience
Essential criteria
- • Minimum 4 years experience in a finance role.
- • Experience in Business Objects or equivalent report writing tool.
- • High level and understanding of Excel
- • Highly developed skills in analysing and evaluating highly complex data and information.
Desirable criteria
- • Experience of working collaboratively with other departments within an organisation
- • Negotiating, persuading and influencing experience on a range of issues
- • Experience of maintaining and developing complex financial management systems.
- • Experience and an understanding of SQL to a highly complex standard.
- • Experience in UNIX with the ability to maintain and write UNIX scripts.
Knowledge/Skills
Essential criteria
- • Able to express highly complex and technical issues, both orally and written in a coherent and persuasive manner to a range of audiences.
- • To devise and lead on the delivery specialist training programs for both finance and non finance staff.
- • Able to initiate, introduce and manage new developments / systems / reports that seek to continually improve the financial management of the Trust
- • Self motivated and able to manage individual performance with a freedom to act effectively based on own decisions and judgement so that efficient and effective performance is achieved and targets are met
- • Able to work with minimal supervision and manage and prioritise own workload under competing objectives, concentrate for long periods of time on detailed information and carry out necessary maintenance tasks to tight deadlines.
- • Able to demonstrate a strong commitment to equal opportunities and fair access.
- • Able to demonstrate a strong commitment to the development of staff in the department and throughout the organisation.
- • The post holder will be required to spend prolonged periods of time at a desk and is required to use a PC/VDU almost continually on most days. Excellent keyboard skills required.
Desirable criteria
- • Able to establish credibility and good relationships with internal management, staff, external agencies and partners and manage those relations with sensitivity and diplomacy.
- • Exceptional computer system skills, including Excel at macro level, ability to write SQL database queries and manipulate & transfer data to and from a variety of IT systems.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Clive Witchell
- Job title
- Head of Finance Systems
- Email address
- [email protected]
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