Chief Accountant

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£57,501 - £67,257 per annum*

Management Group: Finance and Corporate Services

Department: Finance and Property

Section: Financial and Technical Accountancy Team

Reports to: Deputy Director of Finance and Property

Responsible for: This role has overall responsibility for managing staff up to 10 FTE and the staffing budgets of up to £500k.

Functional links with: Director of Finance and Corporate Services, Deputy Director of Finance and Property, Heads of Finance Business Partnering, Head of Strategy, Treasury and Pensions, Senior Management Team, Service Directors, Internal and External Auditors

Download Finance team structure chart

Main purpose of the job

To be the primary expert on financial accounting regulations and be the primary advisor on this subject matter to the Council’s statutory section 151 Officer.

To hold the day-to-day responsibility for the Council’s system of financial controls, ensuring that all key reconciliations are produced monthly, quarterly or yearly depending on their importance and the regularity.

To regularly liaise and manage relationships with the External Auditors at a senior level.

To manage the production of the Council’s Single entity and Group accounts.

To manage the end of year capital and asset accounting processes.

To manage the financial accounting function and present to directors and councillors on the matter, where appropriate.

To ensure that the team provide specialist financial accounting advice to budget holders and officers in other parts of Finance to support decision-making and financial modelling of major business cases.

Major duties and responsibilities

The post holder will be expected to manage officers who will work unsupervised on their specific area of specialism but also manage the support on a wide range of Project based financial issues and provide suggestions for the resolution.

The role requires a very high level of financial accountancy skills, as the primary technical accounting expert for the Council. They will need to develop specialist models based on continuing accounting changes in legislation and regulation.

To report and update regularly directly to the Council’s General Purposes and Audit Committee and other relevant committees in relation to the Council’s Accounts.

To manage the production of the Statement of Accounts, Group Accounts and other related statutory returns.

To manage the completion of VAT returns and corporate advice on VAT issues.

To ensure that the Chief Accountant’s team is forward looking and prepared for changes in financial regulations.

To ensure that all key reconciliations and forecasts are updated in line with the Council’s Financial Regulations.

To advise on the impact on the Council’s budgets from changes in accounting regulations.

To have overarching responsibility for the Balance Sheet.

To manage system improvements in the Council’s core financial systems and improve reporting capabilities, as the day-to-day system owner.

To propose and deliver solutions that have a major impact on the Council’s financial position with limited support for complex accounting and budgetary problems.

Pro-Actively seek opportunities to improve the financial support provided to the Council to deliver efficiencies including through the implementation of system improvements and increased automation.

Attendance at evening meetings will be required

Job activities

Example outcomes or objectives that this role will deliver:

Completion of the annual draft Statement of Accounts within the statutory deadlines

Member approval of the final externally audited Statement of Accounts within the statutory deadlines

Completion of other corporate statutory returns including WGA, RO’s etc

Completion of monthly VAT returns

Maintaining an overall financial procedure manual detailing financial processes and procedures to support the financial regulations of the authority and ensure appropriate consistency and control of transactions within the corporate finance system

Person specification

Key: Essential (E), Desirable (D), Application form (A), Interview (I)

Education & Formal Training

Full member of CCAB or equivalent accountancy body (E, A)

Post qualification experience (E, A)

Participation in formal Continuing Professional Development (CPD) (E, A)

Knowledge & Experience

Detailed understanding of local government regulations and financial accounting knowledge (as the role will include Company accounting, Group Accounts and technical accounting, not solely local government specific) (E, A/I)

Senior management experience (E, A/I)

Knowledge and significant experience of managing the annual closure of accounts process, and to have the confidence and ability to train and develop others including non finance staff (E, A/I)

Tax Knowledge in SDLT, VAT and Corporation Tax (D, A/I)

Knowledge of the major issues facing local government, understanding of the national policy context, requirements and future direction for local authorities (E, A/I)

Excellent 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, throughout the organisation (E, A/I)

Extensive knowledge of technical accounting principles and standards (E, A/I)

Experience of attending Member Committees and/or other corporate/board meetings (E, A/I)

Management of projects involving innovation and the management of change (D, A/I)

Ability to analyse, interpret, understand and disseminate complex and detailed technical information in a professional and easy to understand way to members, non-financial managers, and senior officers (E, A/I)

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 (E, A/I)

Managerial experience with a track record of high performing teams. Lead and effectively motivate staff by providing coaching, mentoring, training professional development opportunities and appropriate performance management (E, A/I)

Strong influencing and negotiation tools and techniques to achieve positive outcomes for the Council (E, A/I)

Advanced IT skills in Excel, PowerPoint and Word, including the ability to design, construct and interpret complex spreadsheets. (E, A/I)

Extensive experience of working with integrated financial systems in a large organisation. (E, A/I)

Other Additional Requirements

To deliver the service effectively, a degree of flexibility is needed, and the post holder may be required to perform work not specifically referred to above. Such duties, however, will fall within the scope of the post at the appropriate grade.

Work in an agile way in line with a paperless and flexible work environment.

Commitment to maintain professional and ethical standards

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