Finance Business Partner

Summary of Responsibilities and Personal Duties

• To be accountable for the calculation of the Council’s overall budget requirement over the medium term, setting out the resultant parameters for change including determining the extent of and apportionment methodologies for service investment and savings.

• Be responsible for understanding, evaluating and advising on the impact of government announcements including specifically the Autumn Statement, the Budget Statement and the Comprehensive Spending Review.

• To keep up to date with all relevant financial developments and national guidance.

• Responsible for delivering a comprehensive research function across all government departments to identify, evaluate and exemplify the financial impact of proposed or contemplated changes

• Responsible for drafting responses to government and other external consultations ensuring that the financial implications for the Council are understood and considered within the relevant service Directorate and by senior decision makers in the Council. Obtaining senior level input, including from Members, and agreement to the submission of the response in the Council’s name.

• Accountable for ensuring that the linkages between government resources, locally retained resources through the Collection Fund, grants and income are understood and projected to inform overall resourcing decisions.

• To take responsibility for understanding the relevant regulatory environment, financial accounting requirements and service challenges across the Council to facilitate the provision of advice challenge and support and ensure that the Council adheres to relevant constraints in the delivery of services.

• To be responsible for providing advice on the application of Financial Regulations, Standing Orders, Procurement Standards and Schemes of Delegation within the Council to ensure that all financial transactions are undertaken lawfully and in accordance with relevant rules and regulations.

• To be accountable for reporting any breaches of Financial Regulations, Standing Orders, Procurement Standards and Schemes of Delegation; providing advice on regularising any breaches and ensuring that appropriate remedial action is being taken.

• To be recognised as a technical expert in the implications of government regulations on the Council’s overall financial resources, both capital and revenue, on a long term basis.

• To be responsible for drafting high quality written advice to Members on behalf of the council’s s151 officer, for example in financial implications to reports to Mayor & Cabinet and other formal Member level groups, and occasionally to attend such meetings to provide specific advice within own area of technical expertise.

• To be responsible for the control, management and reporting on sensitive financial data, understanding appropriate levels of confidentiality and to operate accordingly.

• To be responsible for ensuring that the council, as a c£1bn corporate entity, complies with highly complex sensitive and high profile statutory accounting and other financial requirements and prepares public reports and government returns accordingly.

• To be responsible for understanding and presenting the linkages between financial and service performance against agreed Council performance measures; enable that the complete performance picture is available and clearly presented to the Council’s decision makers.

• To work with internal and external audit and take responsibility for ensuring appropriate follow up and implementation of matters arising from and any recommendations set out in  audit reports

• To liaise with and assist other staff within Finance to ensure that corporate, statutory and performance monitoring requirements are met.

• To take responsibility for carrying out complex financial reviews limited to service and business needs, analysing and interpreting complex data using statistical and other techniques as required, preparing detailed reports and/or presentations to convince others of the need to adopt recommended changes.

• To obtain, analyse and present information that provides more detail to support reporting from the general ledger. This could include benchmarking or performance data.

• To be responsible for challenging submissions for savings and investment proposals. Ensuring that they are robust achievable and are in line with the Council’s stated priorities and consistent with the achievement of a balanced budget and Medium Term Financial Plan.

• Be responsible for challenging the development of robust income plans ensuring that opportunities for commercial or income generation schemes are fully explored and risks are quantified.

• To take responsibility for ensuring that the annual cash limit, Capital Programme Budgets and Longer Term projections of future cash limits are held in the Council’s core financial system, kept up-to-date and are a reliable source of information for decision making purposes.

• To be responsible for working with senior managers and service leads to prepare business cases and bids for new business and/ or service re-design.

• To be responsible for analysing the impact of service changes and provide the cost implications of service redesign, adjusting budgets in accordance with changes in service provision if necessary.

• Assist in developing and delivering training programmes for non-finance managers to improve commercial and financial skills

All employees are required to

• Participate in the Performance Appraisal Scheme (PES) and to undertake appropriate training and development identified to enhance their work.

• Carry out the duties of the post with due regard to the Council’s Dignity at Work Policy and core values.

• All employees are required to comply with the Council's Health & Safety policies and procedures at all times, taking due care for themselves, colleagues and members of the public.

• Assist in carrying out the Council's environmental policy within the day to day activities of the post.

• Undertake other duties, commensurate with the grade, as may reasonably be required.

• Treat all information acquired through employment, both formally and informally, in strict confidence.

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Internal Contacts: These include the Executive Management Team (EMT), all budget holders, core finance staff, and procurement and contract management staff.

External Contacts: Government departments.

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