Internal Only - Senior Accountant

at  South Gloucestershire Council

HOW YOU’LL MAKE A DIFFERENCE

As a technical finance subject matter expert, you will lead the Special Projects Accounting Team who are primarily responsible for supporting large infrastructure projects, capital support, reorganisation reviews, grant bids and claims and government returns.
The Special Projects Team sits within the Management Accounts section alongside Finance Business Partner Teams and Transactional Support Services, and has close working relationships across all council departments to ensure communication and support continues to flourish.

WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU

• You must hold a recognised CCAB qualification (preferably CIPFA).
• We require you to be able to analyse complex data and provide solutions and recommendations to achieve appropriate outcomes and have the ability to communicate this effectively at all levels.
• It is essential that you are highly proficient in the use of Microsoft products, especially Excel.
• To be successful in the role you will require excellent time management skills to prioritise and set appropriate deadlines and have excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• You must ahve experience of leading budget setting, budget monitoring and year end procedures.
• We require you to have experience of leading a team to effectively deliver a quality and costs effective financial service and have the authority and credibility to build relationships and engage successfully with customers and teams.
• It is desirable that you have experience of Civica and Dynamics 365 financial packages.

• On a daily basis you will act as a critical lead, supporting large infrastructure and change projects, including forecasting, monitoring and accounting.
• You will lead, manage and develop a team of 2 Accountants, 4 Finance Assistants and 2 apprentices and will co-ordinate the training of all finance staff studying for AAT & CIPFA.
• In the role you will play a key role in ensuring grant bids and grant claims are scrutinised, manage support grants associated with the cost of living crisis and also support the financing of the capital programme
• You will co-ordinate and submit within strict deadlines, Government returns such as RA / RO / QRU and also contribute to formal reports to internal and external committees and boards.
• Playing an active role in the development of annual budgets and the Medium Term Financial Plan, you will lead on specific areas of closing of the accounts.
• We are replacing our existing finance system Civica Financials with Dynamics 365 in April 2024, you will be expected to support this implementation and lead your team and key stakeholders through this change.