Finance Business Partner - based in Reading (On Site) - £50,000
Our clients is at a really exciting point, having grown from a single academy to a four school multi-academy Trust, and with more to come this year. The Finance team is expanding and will take responsibility for all schools in the Trust, under the direction of their new CFO.
The successful candidate will have strong management accounting knowledge, great interpersonal skills and enjoy working with a wide variety of people.
Duties and Responsibilities
- Monthly budget monitoring - ensuring complete, accurate and timely reports are produced, with clear narrative for schools as to the reasons behind any variances noted.
- This includes meeting with school staff to ensure reports are understood and any actions needed are taken.
- Month end processes - oversee the month end process, including balance sheet reconciliations, journals and reporting (all accounts are prepared on an accruals basis)
- Reforecast - work with the CFO and Headteachers to complete reforecasts and ensure projected income and spend is as accurate as possible
- Budget setting - work with the CFO and Headteachers to set annual, three year and five year budgets, that are realistic, accurate, and account for expected changes and fluctuations
- Financial planning - on an ad hoc basis, produce financial analysis and forecasts for potential changes within schools, helping staff understand the potential impact
- Benchmarking - ensure KPIs are accurate and relevant, and perform benchmarking against other Trusts / national data
- Responsible for monitoring and administering the finance system, ensuring inputs are accurate, correcting any errors identified and training new users on the system
- Year-end process/audit - in conjunction with the CFO, ensure the year end processes are accurate and complete (e.g. depreciation journals) and all documents are prepared for the auditors.
- Actively share knowledge with more junior team members, contributing to a culture of continuous improvement
- Partake in the updating of the Financial Regulations each year, ensuring compliance within our Trust
- Committed to a culture of continuous improvement, proactively generating ideas for improvement and always looking for "what's next"
Whilst the main responsibilities are outlined here, these are not exhaustive. The role is senior in
nature and thus is responsible for ensuring all reasonable actions are taken to achieve the overall
role objective above, especially as Trust needs change.
Skills and Experience
- AAT Level 3 qualified, with at least 3 years management accounts experience
- Experience of managing multiple budgets and monthly financial reporting / analysis concurrently.
- Experience of providing analysis and challenge to budget holders
- Accruals and Balance Sheet accounting knowledge
- Strong systems awareness and demonstrable ability to pickup new systems skills quickly and adaptably.
- Experience working with modern accounting packages, particularly Sage
- Strong Excel skills (including pivot tables and v-lookups)
- Able to work to tight deadlines and under pressure
We will be reviewing CVs throughout the process so please apply as soon as you are able to.