Location
Ellesmere Port, Cheshire | United Kingdom
Job description
Job Purpose
Job Title: Finance Partner Analyst
Salary: £40,000 - £45,000 (depending on experience) + benefits
Location: Remote working with local hub allocated when required.
Looking for a new Finance opportunity that offers professional development, flexible working, creative autonomy, and prioritises well being?
The Canal & River Trust is one of the UK’s largest charities, we maintain 2,000 miles of historic canals, rivers, docks and reservoirs, along with museums, archives and the country’s third largest collection of protected historic buildings – preserving them for future generations. Our 1500+ employees care for living waterways that transform places and enrich lives, delivering greater wellbeing to millions of people throughout England & Wales.(
We are currently recruiting for a Finance Partner Analyst within the Infrastructure & Programmes Directorate. The Partner Analyst for Infrastructure & Programmes (Trusts infrastructure and high risk assets spend area) is responsible for the accurate, complete and timely accounting and reporting of the directorate activity, covering Actuals, Forecasts, Plans and Headcount/FTE. Supporting the Business Partner, the Partner Analyst provides meaningful financial data, cost control and analysis to help inform progress against plans, risks, opportunities and areas of focus in this significant and highly complex part of the Trust.
The Infrastructure & Programmes directorate is a significant cost centre (minimal income generation) managing the delivery of high value improvement and development projects to the Trust infrastructure and high risk assets/network as well as core ongoing replacements and maintenance including the annual lockgate replacement programme. With costs in excess of £75m per year (up to £90m) working with Trust employees and outsourced third party service providers, the visibility of full directorate, division, project and work stream financial information is vital to understand the overall performance.
Location
The role will be based working from home, with the allocation of a nearby Hub for collaborative working in either our Ellesmere Port, Milton Keynes, or Birmingham offices. Some travel to other Trust locations, including in-person collaboration with colleagues, can be expected but will be ad hoc and on an ‘as required’ basis.
Knowledge, Skills/Qualifications & Experience
Key accountabilities:
- Overall responsibility for the month end close process for the designated areas of the directorate, including full system update, accounting entries, accruals and movements for Hire desk, Project Delivery, Asset Management and the Programme Management Office.
- Responsible for the business planning and reforecasting process for the designated areas
- Respond to requests for ad-hoc management information and analysis on a clearly presented and timely basis.
- Overall responsibility for payroll/headcount/FTE planning and variance reporting commentary for designated area, ensuring payroll forecast updated on a monthly basis. Production of Headcount/FTE data through Business Intelligence.
- Full analytical performance review using Budget, Forecast, Prior Year and other market/competitor/industry comparatives, with meaningful commentary and graphical representation, demonstrating understanding and ownership. Analysis and insight into drivers of financial performance, working closely with Business Partners to deliver key messages, challenges and support where required.
- Balance Sheet reconciliations performed to a high standard, ensuring supporting evidence for Operational Capital spend, prepayments, accrued income, expenditure accruals, GRIR.
- Ongoing day to day input and insight into various directorate areas of focus or Trust wide initiatives in the context of financial performance, especially cost control.
- Working with Financial Accounting teams and Corporate Compliance teams to ensure accurate and supportable treatment of all accounting matters, including areas of estimation and judgments.
- Working with other finance teams across the Trust to understand the interactions, impacts and implications of cross-directorate activities.
- Contribute to a culture of continuous improvement with the aim of delivering improvements in process and reporting timescales or quality of information.
- To deputise for the Business Partner as required
- Display the Trust values and behaviours at all times and contribute to the collaborative culture of working together across the Finance Function and the wider Trust.
About you
Personal qualities and attributes:
- Works well with non finance colleagues and is able to simplify financial information so it is understandable and useful.
- Able to stand back and see the bigger picture whilst still understanding situations there may be a need for more detail.
- Hands on work ethic.
Qualifications, attainments, experience :
- Qualified or part qualified finance professional with experience of working in a complex organisation.
- Ability to own and manage the monthly close, quarterly forecasts and annual budget processes for the designated areas of the directorate to deadlines.
- Excellent communicator with persuasive and credible influencing skills backed by accurate and relevant financial data.
- Strong appreciation and understanding of process and of what ’good’ looks like, with the ability to enhance or create financial processes that are efficient, effective and reliable.
- Confidence and ability to use initiative to develop solutions, driving and taking a visible lead on process and control improvements, not being afraid to innovate and break with convention.
- Excellent personal organisational skills contributing to overall efficiency in working, meeting simultaneous and sometimes conflicting deadlines for various important stakeholders.
- Exceptional communicator, both verbally and in written form, being able to explain complex financial information to others across the Trust, including managers from a non-financial background.
- Excellent team player within Finance (own and wider team) and Business area that you will support. Engaging with and proactively delivering ideas to continuously improve.
- Excellent IT system skills within SAP, Excel, Business Intelligence and PowerPoint and a desire to challenge, improve and support system changes.
To Apply: click on the "Apply for this job" button and follow the process - complete the application form & upload current CV.
If you have any questions about the role please contact [email protected]
What We Offer
In addition to your annual salary of £40,000 - £45,000 , we also offer a competitive contributory DC Pension scheme arrangement, and numerous other employee benefits, including several salary sacrifice benefits, all of which can be found here ( and below.
- 25 days paid holiday, plus paid Bank Holidays, increasing to 27 days plus Bank Holidays after 3 years
- Home working status with ‘hub’ facilities available if a need to work outside of home – flexibility. Monday to Friday working, no weekend working.
- Annual £200 personal learning & growth award to spend on any learning related activity – hobbies; aspirations etc.
- Free access to specialist counselling on a range of issues – health; financial; lifestyle; well-being; domestic & neighbourly matters.
- Access to a range of employee benefits including – store discounts; boating holiday discounts; holiday purchase scheme.
- 2 days paid volunteering leave, volunteering for local community project work.
At the Trust we care passionately for our waterways, and as importantly, for those who look after and use them. We strongly believe that a diverse workforce brings with it a diversity of ideas, thinking and ways of working which enhances what we do as a Trust. We are striving to represent the diverse communities that we are a part of and welcome applicants from across all sectors of the community.
All candidates will be treated on the basis of their merits, skills and abilities and solely by being assessed against the requirements for the job.
When you join the Canal & River Trust you become a member of an engaged team working to preserve our heritage for future generations. Come and share your passion and knowledge with a team that makes a difference to millions of people every day.
Find out more about us on our website:
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