Associate Director of Financial Services and Reporting

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

This role is not eligible for visa sponsorship. If it is identified that you require sponsorship your application may be withdrawn

Strategic Leadership and Governance

• Act as the lead for the production of the Trust’s Annual Accounts and the finance elements of the Annual Report, coordinating all year-end activities across the directorate, liaising with internal and external audit teams, and ensuring statutory deadlines are met.
• Provide leadership of the Trust’s Agreement of Balances exercise, ensuring accuracy, compliance, and timely completion in line with national requirements.
• Act as a senior leader within the Finance Directorate, working closely with the Deputy Chief Financial Officer to coordinate directorate-wide development programmes and initiatives that drive continuous improvement and innovation.
• Provide leadership and direction to a wide range of teams, ensuring clarity of purpose, high performance, and alignment with the Trust’s values, while fostering a culture of collaboration and accountability.
• Maintain and regularly review the directorate’s Business Continuity Plans, ensuring resilience and continuity of critical financial operations.

Financial Systems and Assurance

• Provide strategic leadership and management of the Trust’s financial systems function, ensuring systems are robust, fit for purpose, and meet the needs of a wide range of stakeholders. Specify enhancements to improve assurance, internal control, and decision-making.
• Ensure financial policies, processes and systems are maintained and developed to deliver high levels of assurance, robust internal control, and compliance with statutory financial duties.
• Lead the development and implementation of governance, management and accountability systems within the Trust, taking responsibility for assuring follow-up actions and reporting breaches to the Audit Committee.

Technical and Specialist Responsibilities

• Lead the management, reporting and delivery of treasury management and financial services for both the Trust and its Charity.
• Act as lead for the reporting of charitable funds, overseeing all accounting policies to ensure the Trust’s charity accounts are appropriately managed and reported in a timely and accurate manner.
• Provide technical leadership on PFI arrangements, representing the Trust in PFI forums and ensuring the accounts accurately reflect the Trust’s position in line with PFI accounting guidance.
• Respond to technical accounting matters and developmental initiatives on behalf of the Trust, advising the Deputy Chief Financial Officer and Audit Committee on options and risks, and implementing agreed actions to deliver the Annual Accounts and meet all audit requirements.

Financial Reporting:

• That robust financial reporting processes are in place to report timely, meaningful, robust information to meet external requirements and provide internal assurance, ensuring that external reporting requirements are responded to in a timely and consistent manner with sign off by external stakeholders.

·       Support the development and maintenance of costing and benchmarking information - including the implementation of PLICS (patient level costing) and completion of mandatory costing and benchmarking submissions.

·       Maintaining and delivering a central income accounting function, to ensure contractual performance and activity performance accruals/provisions are correctly accounted for.

• Developing reporting to external stakeholder, inspectors and regulators as appropriate.

·       Responding to technical financial initiatives on behalf of the Trust, liaising as appropriate with NHSE/I, FOI Office, ICS and external consultants.

·       Specifying as required enhancements to financial systems to improve assurance about internal control and decision-making.

Capital Planning and Reporting

• Lead the reporting and planning of capital expenditure, supported by the structure beneath the post, including development and maintenance of the Trust’s annual capital plan, longer-term capital financial model, and provision of monthly financial returns as required by NHSE.
• Deliver and develop capital financial reporting to internal steering groups, the Trust Board, the Integrated Business and Performance Committee, ICS, and regulatory bodies.
• Remain up to date on national capital planning guidance and brief senior stakeholders on any changes.

Financial Accounting

• Manage the Trust’s income and expenditure ledger and supervise transactional accounting, ensuring effective supply chain accounting, timely invoice payment, income collection and proactive debt management.
• Ensure timely and accurate reporting of the Trust’s balance sheet, working capital and cash flow positions to the Integrated Business and Performance Committee and regulators.
• Ensure appropriate financial advice is provided on VAT accounting practice and its application across the Trust.
• Ensure delivery of regulatory standards and compliance with national policies and statutory financial duties.

External Engagement and Partnership

• Engage actively with external stakeholders, auditors and regulators on matters within scope and role responsibility.
• Liaise with external partners to promote the Trust’s financial services offer and learn from best practice, supporting discussions to explore opportunities for expanding shared financial services provision at scale.
• Develop and sustain strategic partnerships within the local health economy and engage with external forums to represent the Trust’s interests.

Other Responsibilities

• Advise on actions required in response to national guidance and ensure deployment of best practice across the directorate.
• Undertake other finance-related projects on an ad-hoc basis as required.

Communication

• Ensure robust and effective two-way communication across the Finance Directorate, between teams, and with the Trust’s Management Team, fostering transparency and collaboration.
• Act as a strategic influencer and catalyst for change, challenging barriers to delivery while maintaining awareness of wider organisational priorities and stakeholder needs.
• Serve as a spokesperson and ambassador for the Trust on all Accountancy & Assurance matters, representing the organisation with professionalism and authority.
• Build and manage external relationships to maintain strong engagement with regulatory and statutory bodies, ensuring compliance and promoting the Trust’s reputation.
• Champion and embed the Trust’s values and behaviours within the Accountancy & Assurance teams, ensuring they are consistently demonstrated in all interactions.
• Maintain political and organisational awareness to operate effectively within a complex health and social care system, anticipating challenges and adapting communication strategies accordingly.
• Liaise with external partners to promote the Trust’s financial services offer, learn from best practice, and support discussions on opportunities to expand shared financial services provision at scale.

Leadership

• Provide clear, accountable leadership for Accountancy & Assurance services, setting strategic direction and ensuring delivery against organisational objectives.
• Champion a culture of continuous improvement, embedding quality principles and the Trust’s LEAN methodologies within all processes.
• Develop devolved leadership within teams, underpinned by an explicit framework of authority, responsibility, and accountability.
• Promote and foster a high-performance team culture aligned with the Trust’s values, strategic aims, and behaviours.
• Lead on education, development, and succession planning across the function, ensuring robust professional development, mandatory training, and leadership capability.
• Identify, benchmark to and implement best practice and quality within the function to enhance credibility.
• Build and maintain a high-performance culture through effective performance management, coaching, and recognition of excellence.
• Provide leadership and direction to a diverse portfolio of teams, ensuring clarity of purpose, resilience, and delivery of complex objectives.

Most Challenging Parts of the Job

• Sustaining high levels of concentration when analysing complex financial data, producing the Trust’s Annual Accounts, and drafting reports for the Board and Committees, while managing frequent interruptions and urgent queries.
• Navigating high-pressure situations, including managing staff performance issues, responding to complaints, and addressing sensitive or distressing circumstances with professionalism and empathy.
• Operating within a complex and politically sensitive health and social care environment, balancing competing priorities and maintaining organisational credibility.
• Travel across the Trust’s geography to attend meetings and represent the organisation at external forums and stakeholder engagements.