Finance Business Partner Sheffield, England
Job description
1 x Senior Finance Manager & 1 x Finance Business Partner
Sheffield City Council is looking for two senior finance professionals to join the Finance and Commercial Services team. There has never been a more critical time to hold the financial reigns in local government. Global financial and economic conditions have made finance in the public sector as challenging as ever and has underlined the importance and value finance professionals add.
The Finance and Commercial Services team are here to enable the delivery of high-quality public services, achieve the best value for public money and ensure we do it in the most efficient and effective way. If you enjoy the challenge of driving process improvements and enabling colleagues to achieve their goals, then this is an excellent opportunity to work in a dynamic and supportive team.
Senior Finance Manager
As a Senior Finance Manager, you are a key link between Finance and the Services we support in the Council. Your role is to drive the delivery of good quality financial information to support the organisation to deliver its financial plan and ambitions for the city.
The role is about getting the accounting fundamentals right. You will be responsible for:
- leading a finance team and supporting services to produce monthly management accounting and forecasting, ensuring accuracy is maintained by providing an appropriate level of scrutiny and challenge and appropriate corrective action is taken as a result
- communicating financial performance effectively to both internal and external stakeholders including co-ordinating regular reporting to Directors, Business Leaders, Committees and Elected Members
- developing and enhancing reporting processes through the pro-active identification of information gaps and the implementation of improved management information and key performance indicators, in conjunction with the accounts co-ordination team
- providing a comprehensive wide-ranging financial support service to staff across the organisation
- offering sound guidance to departments on ways of maximising resources by developing a detailed understanding of service budgets
- maintaining and improving the internal control environment in our standards, processes, and procedures appropriately rectifying any control weaknesses identified.
You will not be routinely tasked with transaction processing but will be responsible for advising and guiding the organisation on the implementation of effective processes to ensure transactions are efficiently and accurately processed.
Finance Business Partner
Our Finance Business Partners work hand in hand with services, creating real and active partnerships with operations and management. As a Business Partner you will provide real time support and analysis and be a trusted adviser to assist and influence decision making for our city.
The role is about shaping strategy and helping put our financial plans into action. You will be responsible for:
- leading the annual business planning and budget setting process with services
- providing financial advice, oversight, and challenge on key decisions
- assisting in resolving business problems, ensuring that financial strategy is aligned with business strategy
- building alliances with managers and bringing financial insight to discussions about the business
- ‘translating’ between finance and services,
- interpreting data, and then presenting the findings to the relevant stakeholders in a clear concise manner
- standing over your opinions and having a well-developed sense of ethics and being prepared to stand up for these principles
You will not be routinely tasked with transaction processing and should be comfortable with risk and working with ambiguity. You learn from the past but are future orientated and are a key strategic position in the organisation.
The Successful Applicants for both roles will:
- be highly motivated and enthusiastic
- hold a full CCAB qualification
- have excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
- be able to establish to inspire confidence from a wide range of stakeholders,
- have experience of staff management,
- have experience in a large, complex accounting environment with proven and demonstrable technical accounting skills, including forecasting, budgeting, and planning
- have leadership and teamwork skills. Evidence of the ability to network across complex organisational structures.
- have high levels of personal effectiveness, particularly co-ordination, organisation, and the ability to focus on achieving deadlines, and ensuring that timetables and project plans can be met.
The interviews for these roles will be conducted as a joint process. Please indicate on your application whether you are applying for either the Senior Finance Manager role, the Finance Business Partner role or are interested in both opportunities.
We are investing in our workforce and are promoting opportunities to our under-represented groups. We value equality, diversity and inclusion and are focused on increasing the diversity of our workforce, particularly the number of Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic, Disabled and LGBTQ+ people, so that our teams reflect the communities in the city we serve. We are also supporting staff with unpaid caring responsibilities to work flexibly.
It is a great time to join us and we welcome your application.
Under the Disability Confident Scheme, disabled applicants, who meet the essential criteria of this job, are guaranteed an interview.
Full-time employees work 37 hours for 52 weeks of the year and we offer a generous holiday entitlement. We are open to discussions about a wide range of flexible working opportunities which benefit you and the Council, including reduced hour contracts, working part time or as a job share.
Job details
