Apprentice Financial Accountant

Are you looking for an exciting finance apprenticeship role.? We have exciting opportunity in our newly restructured, award winning, Finance Team supporting a £1bn+ high performing NHS Foundation Trust. We are committed to your continued career development and offer a supportive, flexible and collaborative working environment, where your health and well-being are equally valued. The team is looking to recruit a committed individual to join as Financial Accountant Apprentice, you will be enthusiastic, have great attention to detail and motivated to complete the Level 7 apprenticeship, studying towards a professional accountancy qualification. 

The 100 strong finance team provides a range of accounting services; the post holder will rotate within three roles gaining invaluable experience of working in a very large, professional, committed, successful Finance Department alongside sponsored study support to qualified accountant status

MAIN DUTIES OF THE JOB

YOUR MAIN DUTIES

You can read an overview of the main duties of the role in the section below: Job Description and Main Responsibilities.

To understand the role in more detail please read the full job description and person specification documents attached.

WORKING FOR OUR ORGANISATION

WHAT WE CAN OFFER YOU

As one of the largest acute teaching Trusts in England, we offer learning and development opportunities to help you achieve the career you aspire to. UHS is rated ‘Good’ by the CQC and in the latest national NHS Staff Survey, we were in the top 10 acute trusts for staff engagement and for staff recommending the hospital as a place to work or receive care. 

We support flexible working and will consider requests taking into account the needs of the service. UHS employees are able to access a range of NHS discounts, are entitled to a minimum of 35 days paid holiday (pro rata), and we offer a generous pension scheme.

Southampton is an attractive place to live and work situated on the south coast, with an international airport and direct trains to London. The New Forest National Park and beaches of the Jurassic coast are also right on our doorstep. The city offers living costs 20% lower than London and 14 schools rated outstanding by Ofsted.

DETAILED JOB DESCRIPTION AND MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES WHAT YOU’LL DO

The apprentice will work in one of the three roles before rotating to another in the second year and then the final role in the third.  The roles have been carefully selected to provide apprentices with a breadth of knowledge across finance disciplines providing great work experience whilst studying for full accounting body membership

Alongside the practical experience you will undertake a Level 7 finance apprenticeship and study to become a full member of Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) or Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), other professional bodies may be considered for the right candidate.  Study time and off the job training will be fully supported and considered of equal importance to the work experience. 

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR

We are looking for applicants who are committed to developing their knowledge and becoming a chartered accountant.  They will ideally have an interest in developing their skills in public sector finances and working for the NHS.

As this apprenticeship is at an advanced level applicants must have one of the following qualifications: Finance apprenticeship Level 4, AAT Level 4 member, CIMA Certificate of Business Accounting, ACCA Foundations in Accounting or first class degree with finance modules i.e. finance and accounting, business studies.  We will also accept applications from individuals who hold a first class degree with no finance modules, but this may impact the duration of the apprenticeship.  You will also have to qualify for the Government apprenticeship scheme and therefore these roles do not attract visa sponsorship.

Due to the rotational nature of this role you will be a team player with strong communication skills who is willing to work hard and be adaptable to the different demands of the department. You will have strong attention to detail will be honest with all the work that you do. You will demonstrate independence and initiative when carrying out tasks. Work experience in finance or customer services is desirable as is a good working knowledge of excel.

PERSON SPECIFICATION QUALIFICATIONS ESSENTIAL CRITERIA

• AT Level 4, CIMA Foundation, ACCA Foundation or Degree
• Capable of attaining CIMA Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA)

DESIRABLE CRITERIA

• Experience in a finance environment
• Experience in an NHS Finance environment

EXPERIENCE ESSENTIAL CRITERIA

• Comfortable with IT and able to use spreadsheet modelling packages
• Detailed understanding of financial systems and general ledger transactions and reporting
• Detailed understanding of budgetary control processes
• Understanding of financial information systems and ability to extract information

DESIRABLE CRITERIA

• Experience with Oracle IT system.

SKILLS ESSENTIAL CRITERIA

• Able to work to tight deadlines Good communication skills with colleagues at all levels and able to flex communication style to the audience Attention to detail when working with complex data sets and can use initiative to solve problems Analytical, accurate & timely data input Ability to cope with variety of tasks at the same time Advanced knowledge of spreadsheets i.e. formulas and pivots

VALUES ESSENTIAL CRITERIA

• Able to demonstrate behaviours that meet the Trust Values  Patients First  Always Improving  Working Together

Please be advised that this vacancy may close earlier than stated if we receive a large number of applications. We will not accept any applications or queries via agencies, under any circumstances.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT OUR TRUST

https://careers.uhs.nhs.uk

- Our values and vision
- Our services and teams
- Benefits we offer our staff
- UK professional body registration
- Information about our city
- Relocating to Southampton
- Our fantastic staff and their work

To find out what our staff think about working here, you may also wish to look at our most recent friends and family test and NHS staff survey results, or our latest CQC report.

GETTING TO WORK - OUR TRAVEL PROMISE

Getting to work should be as easy as possible and that’s why we have introduced the UHS travel promise – a commitment from the Trust that we will provide reasonable travel options for every member of staff. Every member of staff  can apply for a permit to  use our park & ride facility. Eligibility for on-site parking is dependent on the nature and requirement of the role. All staff can also access a range of discounted benefits relating to travel including reduced price bus tickets, purchase of salary sacrifice bikes and ultra-low emission cars.

OUR COMMITMENT TO EQUALITY

Equality remains at the centre of our policymaking, service delivery, and employment practice, giving all employees equal opportunity to develop, apply for promotions, and have working arrangements that enable them to achieve a manageable work-life balance.

UHS actively promotes a work environment free from harassment and discrimination and provides training for managers and staff to ensure this happens. We also closely monitor recruitment activity, training, development, and employment practices to ensure equality of practice with regard to race, colour, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation, disability, marital status and age.

Closing date is 2^nd April 2023

Assessment and Interviews will be held on 24th April 2023.