Home / Finance Manager Roles / Finance Manager: Systems

Finance Manager: Treasury and Income Generation

£52,482 - £58,779 per annum

Reports to: Assistant Director, Investments and Innovation

Grade: L

Location: Colindale

Purpose of job

As a finance manager you are expected to be a professional lead within your respective area of finance, provide expertise and high quality financial services to senior stakeholders, proactively contribute to the achievement of the finance service’s vision, and contribute towards an innovative, high performance and continuous improvement culture.

This role will lead by example, modelling and embedding the council’s values and behaviours through working collaboratively with peers, service colleagues, partners and stakeholders. A finance manager is expected to make a significant contribution towards building a sustainable, highly effective service that delivers exceptional value for its residents through leadership on financial stewardship, insight and innovation.

Key accountabilities

Strategic Advisory:

Inform a strategic vision for the future development of the service that enables the council to meet its future challenges, fostering a culture of innovation and continuous improvement.
Contribute towards the development and implementation of the Council’s financial strategy, fundamentally ensuring sustainability over the medium term
Work closely with all stakeholders to ensure best use of limited financial resources, providing the strategic financial advice, insight, intelligence and support needed
Continually review, update and report on financial risks and opportunities, advising how the risks can be mitigated and the opportunities exploited
Proactively identify trends and changes in the operating environment (e.g. legislation, technology, policy, etc.) that could financially impact service delivery; provide advice and collaborate on potential solutions
Strategy development, supporting the business planning process for the department and contribute to the Council’s overall business plan in pursuit of its vision and values

Financial Management:

Promote a culture which empowers budget holders and supports the delivery of value for money services and knowledge of key cost drivers
Support the development of outcome based commissioning models to better ensure strong price competition and transfer of risks through contracts with third parties
Assist the Associate Director in managing performance indicators and relationships within service contracts towards continued service improvement, value for money and generating social value
Prepare and present informative, high quality reports to senior stakeholders that aid in informed service and corporate decision making

Treasury Management:

Provide guidance to the Council on all aspects of treasury management, governance and investment risk;
Ensure that the treasury management strategy does not expose the Council to undue financial risk without appropriate compensating returns
Prepare the treasury policies, annual treasury management strategies, quarterly
treasury performance reports and the annual out-turn reports for presentation to the relevant Committees
Ensure that elected members receive all of the necessary agenda items and reports
to enable them to fulfil their oversight, governance and decision making responsibilities in relation to treasury management
Ensure appropriate systems are in place to support the Councils’ treasury management activities.

Cash Management:

Take responsibility for the daily cash management processes, including proposing and executing (if approved) cash investment transactions
Ensure that investments secure the best rate of return within the policy guidelines whilst protecting the principal value at all time
Oversee the preparation, monitoring and challenge of the cash flow forecasts effectively managing interest earnings from cash investments and associated accounting entries
Undertake and oversee due diligence as appropriate on specified and non-specified investments advising the senior leadership team as appropriate
Ensure that the Council has sufficient funds to meet its financial obligations as they fall due;

Income Generation:

Instigate, develop and support the attainment of alternative sources of funding that contribute towards identified funding gaps
Identify alternative income streams and take responsibility for obtaining the necessary approval at chief officer and member level
Lead negotiations with a wide variety of external contractors, partners, government
departments and suppliers, investment banks and brokers and other organisations’ financial advisers
Lead on the development of financial and commercial models and agreements to secure funding for the Council
Investing innovative financing and funding approaches
Lead in reviewing, analysis and preparing key commercial documents for partnerships e.g. contracts, project agreements, payment mechanisms, output specifications etc
Together with the financial strategy and reporting team, identify income trends and implement preventative/corrective actions where performance variances emerge
Drive the development of demonstrable financial savings in the business partnering
teams through partnerships and commercial arrangements e.g. PFIs
Cultivate strong relationships with partner organisations using influencing and negotiation skills to create new commercial arrangements
Take lead responsibility for closely monitoring all aspects of the Council’s commercial income streams and other key financial drivers to identify opportunities, trends, issues, risks and opportunities as early as possible and to develop initiatives to take advantage of these trends
Drive commercial awareness across the Council
Drive, support the preparation of business cases throughout the organisation and the use of options appraisal and evaluation techniques (such as DCF, NPV, IRR, ROI) to provide information and outcomes

Customer Focus:

Act as a key financial advisor and service delivery partner, providing strategic support and constructive challenge through negotiation and influencing skills
Contribute to the delivery of a high performing, customer focused finance service that is proactive and creative, looking for ways to shape and influence service decisions and taking joint responsibility for the outcomes achieved
Engage, communicate and influence within the council, across partners and with the wider local and central government community towards a unified public service approach
Foster the development of social value and community-based organisations to reduce demand and help communities more independently support themselves

Compliance:

Make a contribution towards the closure of accounts
Support an effective system of financial controls across the organisation with adequate review and coverage within the annual internal audit plan

Leadership and management

Provide leadership that encourages staff to recognise their contribution to the strategic objectives the council has set
Foster a high-performance culture including carrying out internal service reviews to improve value for money and efficiency
Lead and effectively motivate staff by providing coaching, mentoring, training, professional development opportunities, and appropriate performance management
Develop credible and responsive assistant finance managers and finance officers who are respected for their knowledge base, expertise and customer focus
Deputise for a Head of Finance as required
Enable and encourage a flexible working environment

Change and improvement

Assist in the development, implementation and review of change management programmes to deliver continuous improvement
Proactively seek and identify commercial opportunities that generate income and provide innovative solutions to service delivery challenges
Proactively seek and take responsibility for implementing internal process improvements, demonstrating the business case for change and benefits achieved
Support opportunities for council-wide transformation and alternative service delivery models
Contribute towards a new digital culture within the service by embracing technology in every-day activities and actively seeking digital improvement opportunities in support of a service-wide digital strategy

Responsibilities

Staff:

Manage 1 staff member

Financial:

Indirect responsibility for managing the Council’s gross expenditure of approximately £982m shared with all members of the service

Health and safety:

Ensure safe and efficient delivery of service by achieving high standards of health and safety and reducing risk.

Promotion of corporate values

To ensure that customer care is maintained to the agreed standards according to the council’s values. To ensure that a high level of confidentiality is maintained in all aspects of work.

Flexibility

Work with a degree of flexibility required to perform work not specifically referred to above although falling within the scope of the post at the appropriate grade.

The Council’s commitment to equality

Work with a degree of flexibility required to perform work not specifically referred to above although falling within the scope of the post at the appropriate grade.

Person Specification

Essential Qualifications required

Professional qualifications/memberships:

• Member of CCAB, (preferably CIPFA), CFA, IRRV or ACT or eligible to qualify within 6-12 months (Essential)
• Evidence of significant relevant Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

Education:

Educated to degree level or equivalent (Essential)

Technical knowledge / requirements

Experience & Knowledge:

Knowledge of the major issues facing local government, understanding of the national policy context, requirements and future direction for relevant service areas
Significant experience of creating, leading and sustaining partnerships both internally and externally to achieve shared objectives and synergies
Experience in persuading stakeholders to work together, encouraging an organisational focus on the needs of the community
Strong interpersonal and communication and presentation skills, with proven ability to communicate effectively to a wide range of audiences both horizontally and vertically, financial and non financial
Evidence of successful resources management in a multidisciplinary environment, business planning, quality and performance management including formulating budgets and financial models, resolution of conflicting priorities, applying rigorous planning challenge and appropriate control procedures
Managing and successfully delivering projects, a knowledge of project management
Experience preparing business cases for investment decisions including the ability to apply options appraisals and evaluation techniques
Experience of working effectively in an area with competing demands and tight time-scales.
Experience of making high value investments within UK money markets.
Knowledge of the structure, drivers and working of the relevant financial markets and the way economic data influences it.
Familiarity with the Yield Curve, understanding its construction, the data that influences it and interpreting forward interest trends.
Demonstrable experience building good working relationships with financial market participants.
Demonstrable commercial ability to negotiate best market rates and to choose the most economic investment periods with reference to on-line market data, a personal assessment of the market, knowledge of the counterparty and daily economic information

Skills & abilities:

Able to lead, inspire and motivate employees and generate a
positive working environment
Ability to think critically, apply innovative and creative thinking to
address complex service challenges
Committed to corporate and collegiate working across the service
Well-developed IT skills (MS Office suite, financial systems, data isualisation tools (e.g., Power BI, Tableau)
Resilience, not easily deterred in the face of challenges
Demonstrate the ability to communicate, both written and oral, complex financial issues to both financial and non-financial managers, senior officers and external organisations

Behavioural Competencies

Communicating and influencing:

Ability to clearly communicate with and influence staff members and external stakeholders
Delivers professional and persuasive presentations to internal and external stakeholders
Ability to develop effective relationships with internal and external partners at senior levels, to secure results
Strong interpersonal skills and able to challenge, support, influence and engage senior management and peers.
Strong influencing and negotiation tools and techniques to achieve positive contractual outcomes for the Council

Respecting others:

Champions a culture that values equality and diversity, and ensures these are built into the delivery of services

Striving for excellence:

Demonstrates a high level of personal drive and energy that sets an example to others
Fosters a dynamic, achievement orientated culture

Political awareness:

Ability to work effectively in a political environment and establish positive relationships with councillors, senior managers, staff, external partners and interest groups in a way that establishes confidence, credibility and trust.

Setting direction:

Lead the organisation in regard to all financial matters
Ensures there is a culture of continuous improvement and responsiveness to change
Promotes a vision for the future that inspires others

Managing performance:

Managerial experience with a track record of high performing teams

Developing talent:

Promotes a culture that values continuous personal and professional development

Change management:

Track record of supporting transformational change in a complex organisational environment.

Project Management:

Effective user of consultancy and project management tools and techniques

Team working:

Work collaboratively with peers and stakeholders
Creates a positive team spirit where team members work together to achieve shared goals
Constructively uses conflict as an opportunity to generate innovative solutions

Cross Barnet working:

Identifies opportunities for co-operation and interdependency across groups and delivery units
A solid understanding of the relevant legal, commercial, political, operational and social community aspects of a similar diverse and complex environment.

Partnership working:

Practical evidence of developing and maintaining good working relationships with a wide range of customers/stakeholders, developing a positive personal and organisational profile and building partnerships

Customer service:

Delivers service objectives with professional excellence, expertise and efficiency, taking account of diverse customer needs.

Critical thinking:

Analyses information objectively, considering the facts and differing perspectives to reach a sound, logical conclusion.

Problem solving:

Highly developed problem solving and analytical skills
Ability to analyse data , identify current and future trends to produce meaningful reports
Ability to interpret reports in order to produce findings and recommendations for actions/areas of improvement

Delivering at pace:

Takes responsibility for delivering timely and quality results with focus and drive.