University of Oxford TSS Hiring for Finance Manager Job at Oxford, England Full Time

Responsibilities/duties

Financial Leadership

1. Work with the Head of Department and the department’s Senior Management Team to develop the financial strategy of the department. This includes the development of the long-term financial strategy and inputs into decisions such as staffing and PRAC.

2. Carry out detailed analysis of the department’s financial position and undertake financial modelling of different options. As required create and maintain systems that allow income and costs to be analysed by function in support of the department’s objectives and long-term strategy. Synthesise financial information and analysis to produce conclusions and recommendations to support departmental development.

3. Work with the Head of Department to engender a good understanding of the financial position of the department and the impact of decisions among academic and management staff. Provide high quality budget reports and management accounts to enable the Head of Department and departmental committees to understand the financial position of the Department. This will support decisions taken on, for example, the scale of the refurbishment programme within the department, investment in equipment (e.g., workshops) and bids for additional support staff.

4. Develop and maintain an expert knowledge of the University financial environment and governance arrangements including the mechanisms by which the University develops and applies internal resource allocation and charging models, the models used by key funding bodies (for example, the Full Economic Cost of Research model), the TRAC model and the overall higher education funding environment.

5. Develop and maintain an expert knowledge of the University financial regulations, policies and procedures and ensure compliance with them. Develop departmental procedures and guidelines to support institutional financial policies.

6. Embed best financial practice within the department, ensuring that procedures for communicating university policy and best practice are robust and appropriate and that there are mechanisms in place to ensure their effectiveness. Play an active role in university and divisional committees and working groups, actively representing the financial interests of the department.

Budgeting and budget monitoring

7. Develop the department’s annual and five year budget. This will involve close liaison with staff at all levels within the department, the MSD Financial Controller and other senior divisional staff.

8. Ensure budgets are controlled by appropriate managers and provide interactive training and guidance to managers in financial management. This may include communicating specialist or complex financial arrangements or implications to non-specialists.

9. Ensure robust monitoring procedures are in place to provide an early warning of any significant variance to budget plans. Identify and propose solutions to remedy or compensate for such variances.

10. Co-ordinate the production of in-year forecasts producing reports as required for the department and division.

Research and trading projects

11. Provide high quality professional help, support and advice to members of the department, ensuring research grant applications and trading contracts are underpinned by robust business cases, are correctly costed and set up, that transactions are correctly coded to projects and that appropriate reports are made available.

12. Manage the process of research grant administration within the department. Put in place robust arrangements for ensuring financial oversight of research projects and trading contracts; ensure that corrective action is taken where needed in good time. Maintain tight oversight on funders with strict rules and support negotiations with funders.

13. Manage the departmental processes of accounting for research grants and trading projects. Ensure that project finances are closed by due dates. Respond to all audit queries in a timely manner. Negotiate robustly with Research Accounts within the university, with auditors and as needed with funders to ensure correct accounting.

Financial operations

14. Provide timely responses to all financial queries raised by members of the department.

15. Manage the accounting processes for pay, purchasing and receivables, fixed assets, inventory, expense claims, trust funds, student fees, student bursaries, donations, banking, petty cash, internal trades, insurance, VAT and other statutory returns.

16. Perform regular reconciliations and check financial transactions. Ensure appropriate authorisation limits and controls are in place. Ensure the chart of accounts is appropriate to the needs of the department.

17. Develop an expert understanding of the university financial systems, currently Oracle R12; provide advice as needed to other users and ensure that the department receives maximum benefit from the system. Oversee future developments within the department.

18. Develop the use of reporting, spreadsheets and databases to deliver functionality not available through the university financial system to ensure that financial information is analysed and presented to meet departmental needs.

19. Ensure all processes are appropriately resourced, documented, monitored and that sufficient cover is available to maintain core services at all times. Undertake reviews of departmental finance processes, procedures and systems and avoid manual transaction processing wherever possible. Identify areas of ineffective working or failures and implement approaches to improve operational effectiveness. Develop novel solutions wherever required.

Achieving value

20. Manage the procurement processes within the department ensuring that processes meet university requirements, are value for money and academics are supported in improving value for money. Lead on complex or technical procurement (e.g. with high value (>£1m) or complex funder rules) to ensure maximum flexibility and value. Lead on negotiating upfront payments to suppliers of considerable sums under bank guarantees.

21. Support the Head of Department in identifying capital funding opportunities for the future development of the premises and contributing to the longer term goals of the department.

22. Support the department’s Senior Management Team in developing strategies for philanthropy and major gifts. Manage the accounting arrangements for gifts and trust fund within the university procedures.

23. Take responsibility for the overall co-ordination of the department’s fixed asset register and equipment register.

Team Management

24. Lead, direct and manage the finance team. Set team and individual goals; manage performance; organise work. Chair team meetings and carry out regular one-to-one meetings. Set the overall direction of the finance team and identify key priority areas.

25. Support both professional and personal development for all finance staff and take part in the Department’s PDR process.

26. Help foster a spirit of community within the department and across other departments’ finance staff and build good relationships with the Division and the Central Finance team

27. Attend and contribute to department meetings. Play a full role as a member of the Admin and Support Management Team.

• Strong accounting knowledge, evidenced by a CCAB qualification.

• Educated to degree level.

• Ability to rapidly understand the university’s control environment, policies and procedures and deploy them.

• Experience of managing a finance function and processes, including the implementation of appropriate controls, ideally in a fast-moving environment, and of providing a high-quality, responsive service.

• Experience of providing effective and respected financial advice to managers at operational and strategic level and experience of developing and monitoring budgets.

• Experience of analysing financial information and developing financial models; for example, resource allocation models or forecasting models.

• Experience of staff management involving a diverse workforce and a proven ability to lead and deliver results by encouraging a team-based approach.

• Strong communication skills with a proven ability to understand the information needs of others; able to communicate complex information to a diverse range of audiences.

• Proven ability to develop effective working relationships with customers and forge strong relationships with key partners across the University.

• Flexible, co-operative, helpful; respectful of ideas and expertise of others; appreciative of own strengths and weaknesses.

• Ability to work systematically and set self-objectives, use time efficiently, meet priorities and deadlines from own initiative. Ability to deal calmly with pressure.

• Experience of considering various perspectives and the overall picture to evaluate financial and business risk; experience of developing pragmatic solutions and implementing plans successfully.

• Experience of working in a changing environment with a proven ability to adapt practices and processes to meet changing needs.

• Advanced Excel skills.

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