Sheffield is a city that is being noticed globally and has the potential to be the best city to live and work in, grow up and grow old in, and to start, grow and scale a business in. Sheffield City Council has recently developed a plan for 2024-28 that sets a clear and positive statement of what we want to achieve for our great city. Together we get things done. Our mission is clear. We want to work with the people of Sheffield, other public services, business and key partners in the city to achieve our city goals.
Finance is the backbone of our success, driving strategic decisions, ensuring efficient resource allocation, and maintaining our financial health. The finance team is instrumental to maintaining financial control and ensuring value for money by providing financial and commercial advice to services.
The Finance and Commercial Services department is currently made up of around 350 staff comprising finance, procurement specialists and a substantial income and payments operation, billing around 260,000 households for council tax, 19,000 businesses for business rates, and awarding £180m of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support to 46,000 households. The service is organised across 4 key areas: Accounting, Commercial Business Partnering, Procurement and Revenue and Benefits. We are seeking to recruit an enthusiastic and motivated Assistant Finance Managers to join our service accounting team.Â
The service accounting team is responsible for the Council’s in year financial reporting, budget monitoring, management accounting, training, and support for our service budget managers. We provide high quality financial reporting inside and outside of the Council and professional insight into financial results to ensure delivery of sustainable services through timely and effective financial control. We are here to support Directorates to use financial information and financial systems in the most effective way to run their services and achieve financial targets.
You will be an integral part of the monthly accounting cycle and production of key financial information. You will require excellent digital, organisational and interpersonal skills in order to build long-term trusting relationships with our customers. You will need to be able to prioritise workloads in order to meet compressed timetables and delegate tasks where appropriate. The role required direct line management responsibilities, which include providing day to day support, 1:1s, training, feedback, and development. You will be working with Microsoft 365 products; Excel, Word, Outlook, Teams, Powerpoint and Sharepoint alongside our financial system Integra Centros.
A continuous improvement mindset is essential in our service accounting team. We need to challenge processes and strive for optimal efficiency by eliminating waste to achieve best value for the Council. We want our team to continually drive improvements to offer the best service possible and deliver high quality financial information.Â
You should be a minimum part qualified or currently studying CCAB/CIMA or relevant equivalent or have extensive experience in a financial environment demonstrating Continued Professional Development at a similar level. The council is a large and complex organisation and there are many opportunities for career progression within the service or wider.
The Council embraces flexible working arrangements and has a hybrid working approach. We offer a flexitime scheme, 26 days annual leave for full time employees, contributions to the Local Government Pension scheme and salary sacrifice offers such as help towards the cost of childcare, cycle schemes or electric car benefit scheme.
There has never been a more important time to be a public servant in local government. We are in challenging times where every penny counts. The finance team can make a real impact to communities in the city by ensuring efficient delivery of essential services and maximising value for money for Sheffield residents.
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.
If you are appointed to this role, your starting salary will be at the bottom of the grade. If you provide payslip evidence that your basic pay is greater than the bottom of the grade, we will consider starting you at the point of minimum advantage within the grade.
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.
To apply please click the Apply Now link below.