Head of Accounts

**Role**:Head of Finance
**Salary**:up to £55,000 per annum
**Location**:Blackburn & Preston
**Hours**:Monday - Friday General Office Hours with a early finish of 12:30pm on Friday

Taskmaster are excited to be working with a well-established, growing Training provider in Blackburn. They are seeking an experienced Head of Finance to join their busy team.

As Head of Finance, you will play a critical role in helping build financial understanding across the business. You will need to develop and maintain positive working relationships both internally and externally including colleagues within accounts for sister companies.

**The Role**

¨ Contribute to the effective leadership and management of the Company and to ensure that CEO is equipped with appropriate financial information and the wider SMT is aware of the financial context of the operating environment

¨ To act as a portfolio holder for finance and to champion finance issues

¨ Reporting to the Head of Group Accounting and Compliance, to ensure that financial processes and reporting within the Company meet the standards, policies and requirements of the Group and to champion financial process improvement across the Company

¨ To design financial reporting structures that provide the right granularity of information for high quality business decision-making by all key stakeholders across the company

¨ Ensure that the Company complies with Group Financial Regulations and associated reporting requirements, including reporting breaches of Financial Regulations and/or Procurement Standing Orders to the Head of Group Accounting and Compliance

¨ To prepare monthly management accounts to include as a minimum analysis of key variances, forecast projections to the end of the current year, identification of key risks, issues and opportunities and recommendation of actions to address the same

¨ Implement an annual corporate budgeting process and quarterly forecasting processes that ensure that all stakeholders are engaged with budgets and forecasts and provided with up-to-date projections and clear variance analysis through the monthly management accounts

¨ Escalation of any financial performance issues to the SMT, Head of Group Accounting and Compliance and the Board as appropriate

¨ To develop and maintain, in conjunction with the SMT, an integrated 5-year Financial Plan to support the Business Plan aspirations

¨ To contribute to the Company’s major business decision making process by developing robustly formulated business cases in conjunction with operational managers and to undertake relevant financial analysis

¨ To deliver the statutory year end accounting and audit processes, ensuring that financial statements that reflect a true and fair view of the position of the Company are prepared in a timely fashion and that all audit requirements are met so that audited statements can be published within statutory timescales

¨ To maintain forecasts of ESFA Financial Health Scores and provide advice and guidance in relation to ESFA funding rules and any other relevant regulatory considerations

¨ Have line management responsibility for Central Services Manager and team, including performance reporting to SMT

¨ To comply with all Company policies and procedures in relation to Safeguarding, Health & Safety, GDPR and Equality and Diversity and ensure adherence at all times

¨ To undertake any other duties comparable with the role as requested by your Line Manager (or designated alternate)

**About You**:
¨ Fully qualified CCAB, CIMA or equivalent

¨ At least five years’ post-qualified experience working within a finance environment

¨ Experience of preparation and presentation of finance reports to non-finance managers

¨ Experience meeting regular reporting deadlines and preparing financial statements for publication and coordinating external audit activity

¨ Managerial experience at middle or senior level

¨ Strong communicator, able to clearly explain complex financial concepts to a non-financial audience and develop confidence in their financial stewardship

¨ Advanced analytical and problem-solving skills including the use of appropriate IT tools for relevant tasks

¨ High level IT skills including the ability to use MS Office software in particular advanced Excel skills

¨ Knowledge of financial management information systems including Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platforms

¨ Proactively creates and seizes every opportunity to flourish in education, at work and for life

**Company benefits**:
¨ Flexible hybrid working

¨ Paid Birthday leave

¨ Company mobile phone and laptop

¨ Access to company pool cars

¨ Quarterly CPD Training days

¨ A full company induction

¨ Continuous professional development and access to training courses

For more information contact Charlotte Sinar

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