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Senior Finance Lead - Business Partner (Corporate)

£43,815 - £51,903 per annum*

Job Family: Policy & Advisory Professional Knowledge

Grade: 9

Directorate: Resources

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*£43,815 - £51,903 per annum (£53,946 achievable through performance related progression in line with our annual appraisal process)

This role is supporting the Corporate Finance team within the Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames to provide strategic financial information for the Medium-Term Financial Strategy and regular monitoring of financial performance. Therefore a sound knowledge of accounting, finance systems, spreadsheets and other IT systems is essential.

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The post holder will be responsible for the production of regular monthly monitoring reports for the Senior Leadership Team and Quarterly monitoring reports for the Finance Committee. This requires good IT skills and communication skills. A knowledge of how financial systems work, spreadsheets, and presentations is essential to this task. You will be working with the Senior Finance Business Partners in the production of these reports so good communication skills are also required.

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In the initial stages of the Medium-Term Financial Strategy the post holder supports the Strategic Finance Business Partners in identifying and recording savings opportunities, growth areas and inflationary pressures. As the MTFS progresses the post holder is responsible for ensuring that the budget changes feed into the finance system and control totals are kept as well as supporting the production of the Council's annual Council Tax report.

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In addition to these key responsibilities the post holder has a number of day-to-day roles ensuring that specific budget areas are managed efficiently and effectively. One key area, the Managed Supply Fund is the management of fund for a group of schools therefore requires sound financial knowledge and an ability to communicate with external stakeholders. 

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Brief Description of job role and department

The Shared Finance Service ambition is to add value, inspire success and this role is part of the Shared Finance Service (SFS) collectively responsible for delivering SFS activities to realise this ambition. The role provides support to the Strategic Finance Business Partners to deliver financial support and advice to budget managers and support corporate financial planning processes.

 

The post holder will provide financial business partnering support to the corporate core and front line service areas of the Council.  The post holder will be required to act as a critical friend to the Council, delivering insightful financial analysis to support business improvement and change. Working closely with the Strategic Finance Business Partners and the Head of Financial Planning and Business Partnering, you will provide financial management support and advice to service areas across the core financial cycle of budget setting, budget monitoring and closing of the accounts. The post holder will support the management of financial risk to protect the financial health of the Council and to ensure financial planning is robust and aligned to Council priorities as well as driving improvement across the Financial Planning & Business Partnering Team.

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Representative accountabilities

  • Deliver advice and guidance in a broad area of expertise to ensure customer needs are met.

  • Identify and implement improvements in own work area in order to deliver continuous service improvement and improved outcomes to customers.

  • Regularly communicate with internal customers to share information and build working relationships to support collaborative working.

  • Keep up to date with changes in relevant policy and legislation to ensure delivery in own work area is effective and complies with appropriate regulations/statutory guidance.

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Budgetary accountabilities

  • Support and advise budget holders in high risk budget areas across Sutton or Kingston Council in day to day financial management of revenue and capital budgets

  • Support and advise budget holders across Sutton or Kingston Council in day to day financial management of the delivery of the capital programme and revenue savings programmes

  • Support and advise senior budget holders to manage financial risk and protect the financial health of the Council

  • Challenge and support budget holders to manage within limited and reducing resources

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Specific accountabilities

  • Support the Strategic Finance Business Partner (SFBP) in the development of the Medium Term Financial Plan and production of required working papers that support this.

  • Lead on the creation of detailed budget estimate working papers including inflation calculations and reconciliation.

  • Lead on the production of Council budget book, service budget summaries or similar information as required

  • Provide support and information to the Council’s budget consultation activities and communication & engagement events

  • Provide support in the production of the Council Tax Leaflet or other budget communications

  • Improve financial and accounting processes to improve efficiency and continuity, automating where possible and standardising processes

  • Work collaboratively with Strategic Finance Business Partners (SFBPs) to ensure key financial risks to the Council are appropriately reflected in medium term financial plans and finance resource is targeted towards the management and mitigation of these risks

  • Coordinate the distribution and return of budget monitoring templates to ensure that all reporting deadlines are met.

  • Act as an enabler for the corporate financial planning process, proactively seeking opportunities to add and preserve value, whilst supporting the S151 officer to fulfil their statutory responsibilities by providing a “S151 perspective” to service decision making

  • Provide financial support to service led projects and business change activities including close working with the corporate transformation team

  • Provide flexible support to Service Strategic Finance business partners as required and commensurate with the grade

  • Keep abreast of new regulations, changes to accounting guidance and reporting requirements and support the SFBPs to assess the impact on the Council

  • Support the SFBPs to plan, manage and rigorously pursue improvements to the reporting of financial and budget information ensuring increased automation and efficiency

  • Proactively contribute to identify improvements in customer support & engagement and processes

  • Have a detailed understanding of the financial cycle and processes with an aim to spread this knowledge across finance and other services to enable self sufficiency

  • Help identify development needs in relation to financial literacy and financial management skills and develop options to meet these needs including training for budget or service managers

  • Draft finance comments in business cases, committee reports, briefing notes and other reports working collaboratively with other finance and service teams

  • Liaise and provide information where necessary to the Council’s internal or external auditors

  • Assist in the completion of statutory returns or ad hoc requests for information relating to Financial Planning

  • Draft responses to Freedom of Information Requests, Member Enquiries, Press Enquiries and similar requests

  • Encourage and actively engage in positive communications and team working across the shared finance service, contributing to a seamless finance service offer for customers, and proactively working in line with the service values

  • Build effective working relationships with colleagues across the finance service and in other Council teams, adding value to achieve Council priorities

  • Provide mentoring, coaching or support to other staff and act as line manager to a Finance Apprentice or Trainee when required

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Role Profile - Details Specific to Job Family

These roles provide a broad service that set policy and provides advice to support and assure all of the council’s day to day activities.  They gather information required by other groups to make strategic decisions and translate this into corporate policy and strategic advice.  They have little or no direct accountability for outcomes; however, what they are accountable for is the quality of advice they provide to business leaders. 

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At the lower levels, these roles tend to focus on research and analysis and the interpretation and implementation of policies.  At the higher level, role holders set strategy, develop policy and provide assurance across the Council more broadly.

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Role Profile - Details Specific to Grade

These roles will have accountability for achieving clearly specified and measurable results either personally or through the leadership of a team.  Will be dealing with the most complex problems and issues within the boundaries of technical or professional skill and knowledge. Will make recommendations on procedural improvements and other initiatives to enhance team performance.

 

Roles requiring a level of professional expertise to assure a standard or provide expert advice to others.

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Person specification

 Essential Knowledge and/or Experience

  • Part qualified CCAB accountancy or demonstrable equivalent experience of operating at that level

  • Experience of delivering high quality finance services in a large organisation

  • Experience of working in a customer-focused environment and achieving successful outcomes in the delivery of services that meet customer needs

  • Proven experience of using IT in a business environment, including, Google applications, Word, Powerpoint, Excel or other software packages to record and manipulate data.

  • Proven ability to analyse and interpret financial and non-financial information and communicate in a clear and concise manner.

  • Strong communication skills and the ability to work collaboratively with finance and non-finance professionals

  • Experience supporting budget managers through the core finance processes of budget setting, monitoring and closing of the accounts.

  • Knowledge of the operational context of Local Authorities

  • Knowledge and understanding of key funding streams for Local Authorities

 

Desirable Knowledge and Experience

  • Qualified or studying towards relevant professional qualification (e.g. AAT, CIPFA, CIMA, etc)

  • Experience of leading or providing financial support to change programmes and business improvement initiatives.

  • Experience of providing business partner support in a Local Authority context,

 

Capabilities and Behaviours

  • Excellent communication skills, verbally and in writing, with the ability to discuss, analyse and present finance concepts and processes in a range of ways with non-finance people

  • Strong numerical and analytical skills with ability to provide detailed and accurate information to support effective decision making

  • Capability to use digital tools to deliver effective finance support to a range of stakeholders

  • Able to understand and follow set procedures and legislation

  • Ability to develop strong working relationships and establish personal credibility with a wide range of stakeholders including external parties from other sectors

  • Ability to work as part of a team, organising your own workload and taking responsibility for achieving results

  • Ability to produce clear and accurate working papers and analysis as required

  • Capability to deliver effective and supportive business partner support, acting as a critical friend to service managers

  • Creative approach to problem solving and improving delivery of finance services

  • Commercially astute mindset that is open to change and embraces innovation

  • Flexible and agile approach to work that focuses on achievement of outcomes and high quality services that meet customer needs

  • Ability to work with integrity and support colleagues in line with the service and Councils values

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Mandatory accountabilities/requirements for all LBS staff

  • Ensure all health and safety standards are adhered to for the relevant work area

  • To carry out duties and responsibilities in accordance with the Council’s Core Values and Equality & Diversity Policy and all other Borough and departmental policies and procedures

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