Finance Business Partner

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Financial Business Partner to join our team at CRA GROUP LIMITED. As a key member of our finance department, you will play a critical role in providing strategic financial advice and support to our business partners.

• Deliver a comprehensive suite of professional financial business partnering services, including strategic financial advice, specialist, and technical financial support.
• Build on and improve the finance business partnering approach to ensure good financial management is maintained by sharing best practice.
• Contribute to business intelligence and support benchmarking initiatives that enable value for money and informed decision-making.
• Objectively and constructively challenge to achieve solution-driven outcomes.
• Understand customer needs and priorities and provide a service that achieves high customer satisfaction.
• Assist with the delivery of the Section 151 Officer's statutory responsibilities in support of the Council's operating model.
• Identify, develop, and support opportunities and initiatives to transform the delivery of services across the Council.
• Ensure financial control and governance is in place for service delivery.
• Provide added value financial advice and guidance for budget holders, managers, and Directors in undertaking their resource management responsibilities.
• Provide financial advice and guidance for portfolio holders and members via regular portfolio briefings, enquires, training, production of financial reports, and attendance at scrutiny meetings in a technical finance capacity.
• Develop business cases and options appraisals in support of business objectives and outcomes.
• Identify, investigate, and support the reduction of cost pressures, saving opportunities, and solutions through robust business cases.
• Develop and maintain effective working relationships to support cooperative ways of working, effective decision-making, and management of financial resources.
• Effectively manage yourself and support to Accountancy Officers and Apprentices where appropriate, including ensuring deadlines are effectively managed, prioritized, and met, adequate staff cover to ensure maintenance of an effective finance service both within the team and across the finance service where appropriate resources, aims, objectives, and priorities are met, performance is maintained, managed, and reported in line with APC guidelines, service improvement, change management, and process developments are implemented.
• Collaborate with external partners and agencies as required.
• Deputise in the absence of or in place of the lead accountant or Deputy Head of Finance where necessary.
• Provide support for both internal and external audits.
• Ensure compliance to guidelines and legislation and giving advice to senior managers.
• All duties must be undertaken within the Council's Equal Opportunities policy and about the Code of Conduct.
• All duties must be undertaken within national and local Health & Safety Regulations policies on an individual and collective basis.
• To understand and always work in accordance with Financial Contract Rules.

• Support senior managers in the implementation of corporate initiatives.
• Provide high-level strategic financial advice in liaison with senior finance colleagues and service managers.
• Provide advice and financial input to the Council's financial planning processes, including input and guidance into business plans and service improvement reviews under the direction of senior finance colleagues, utilizing financial modelling, options appraisal, and risk analysis tools and techniques as appropriate.
• Ensure that the Council's financial policies, procedures, and governance arrangements are formulated, implemented, reviewed, and adhered to in accordance with best practice, professional accounting standards, and the Council's formally agreed security, liquidity, and risk parameters.
• Identify and report upon any financial risks resulting from changes in political, operational, technological, or environmental factors.
• Coordinate the preparation and submission of the Council's year-end Statutory Accounts process, including liaison with Audit (internal and external) on this and other Governance-related issues.
• Identify and support the business to become more commercial in its thinking.
• Actively manage the continuous cycle of business reengineering, ensuring improvements across all functional areas to drive forward efficiencies by continuously adapting, designing, monitoring, and reviewing working practices, procedures, and systems, making suggestions and implementing improvements to enable continued development, including identifying and developing shared services opportunities.
• Actively manage the continuous review of technologies and replacement of financial systems to ensure working practices are updated to support the leading technologies.
• Being aware of potential risks/opportunities/changes in legislation, supporting budget holders through mitigating these risks and embracing opportunities.
• Ensure compliance with guidelines, protocols, and legislation and advising senior managers of effects of any amendments or issues arising.
• Ensure staff are managed and supervised to deliver an effective finance service.
• Provide financial training on all strategic finance issues.
• Provide value-added financial advice and support to all customers of the service.
• Support an integrated approach by working across the service as required.
• To provide comprehensive reports and briefings and active participation in meetings as a representative of finance.
• To provide comprehensive reports and briefing and active participation in portfolio briefing and scrutiny reports.
• Ensuring proper financial controls and governance arrangements are in place for all aspects of service delivery.
• Coordinate the preparation and submission of the monthly/quarter finance and performance monitoring budgetary control process.
• To contribute actively and participate fully in the efficient and effective delivery of all finance activities, including final accounts and external audit liaison, budget setting, and estimate preparation, including costing of savings and investment proposals, medium-term financial planning processes, grant claims, and administration in line with grant manual and protocols, Government and statistical returns, including RO/RA forms, benchmarking data, support to managers with their budget monitoring and forecasting processes, input into Use of Resources key performance indicators, and national and local targets, ensuring maximization of external funding and income generation to support service delivery within current frameworks and with regard to the Authority's Accountable Body status, treasury management policies, and strategy, including banking processes to ensure that all external and internal income is maximized correctly recorded recovered, and reported.
• To support the council to achieve value for money in all activities.
• Support and assist senior managers/budget managers in the use of One Source.
• To ensure appropriate internal controls are established and working to meet s151 officer responsibilities.
• To provide support to all internal and external audits ensuring compliance with all recommendations.
• Responsible for dealing effectively and proactively with customer comments, enquiries, and complaints.
• Develop and maintain effective working relationships with all council officers, customers, and partners.
• To effectively manage yourself to deliver the service priorities in line with APC guidelines.
• Any other duties commensurate with the grade required to deliver and develop the service.

• Professionalism - Actively seek ways to prevent over-complication or confusion of service delivery through innovation, being open to change, and the removal of barriers, including challenging negative behaviours.
• Leadership - Leads by example, optimising those resources allocated. Communicates clearly, taking account, and welcoming feedback. Takes a positive and resilient approach to change, understanding the longer-term vision of the Council and/or service areas.
• Accountability - Adopt a can-do attitude in the work that I deliver, taking accountability for my own performance and development and responsibility for my actions and decisions. I will demonstrate inclusivity and promote the values of diversity and equality.
• Transparency - Work with others to reach a common goal; sharing information, supporting colleagues, and searching out expertise and solutions from relevant partners and/or communities we serve.
• Ethical - Aware of own impact on others through valuing openness, treating everyone with respect, and listening carefully to understand the views of others to build trust.
• Build and maintain strong productive relationships with the business and within finance to be an integral part of decision-making and a trusted advisor by working with the business to fully understand its strategic direction, priorities, and outcomes.
• Proven skills in the provision of business partnering support to customers and being able to adapt to differing customer needs as required.
• Ability to produce robust business case development and financial benefits management by providing objective and constructive challenge to financial assumptions, ensuring they are supported by the provision of ad hoc financial reports and financial models.
• Extensive knowledge of local government financial policies, procedures, and statutory regulations and how they impact on finance and governance.
• Ability to understand and implement processes related to financial regulations and legislation.
• Extensive specialist knowledge of business funding and resourcing mechanisms (e.g. grant controls, capital finances, demand-led services projections).
• Understand the financial implications and qualitative consequences of organisational change.
• Ability to think strategically, ensuring operational work plans contribute towards business and corporate objectives.
• Strong communication, negotiation, and interpersonal skills with the ability to deal with a variety of internal and external stakeholders in sometimes contentious and sensitive situations.
• Ability to adopt an effective approach to complex problem-solving, adapting to changes, and develop effective solutions.
• Strong organisation and time management skills with the ability to work under pressure, being self-motivated, and able to use own initiative.
• Accurate and methodical in the preparation of complex documentation/data/information/reports which are appropriate for a variety of audiences.
• Ability to adapt behaviour and actions based on learning and be prepared to challenge and be challenged whilst remaining objective, calm, confident, and composed under pressure.
• Possess a positive and enthusiastic approach, seeking continuous improvement, and supporting, developing, and motivating others to achieve objectives.
• Understand customer needs and priorities and provide them with a service they value which achieves high customer satisfaction.
• Awareness of, and commitment to, confidentiality and handling data.
• The ability to communicate verbally with customers and provide advice and/or information in accurate spoken English is essential for the post.
• Extensive experience of working within and providing financial support services to a large or public sector organisation (preferably Local Authority).
• Extensive experience in Public Sector (preferably Local Authority) budgeting and accounting procedures.
• Extensive experience in the use of financial modelling and options appraisal techniques, particularly the use of spreadsheets and business intelligence tools.
• Experience in the management/supervision of staff.
• Experience in providing excellent business partnering and customer services.
• Experience of operating in a commercial manner.
• Experience of working in a political environment.
• Experience of building and improvement of the business approach towards good financial management by sharing best practice and maintaining own professional capabilities through enhanced business partnering skills.
• Experience of providing business intelligence that enables managers to take soundly based policy and operational decisions, understanding their financial consequences, and navigating through uncertainty.
• Significant experience of developing and managing service improvements, savings, and action plans.

• The closing date: 20/09/24. Member of CCAB body undertaking active CPD or actively studying for a CCAB/CIMA qualification.