Senior Finance Manager

The Senior Finance Manager is a new role at Bite Back and will lead our financial management, practices and policies. We are a relatively new non-profit, established in 2019, and have now grown to a staff team of nearly 30 people with a turnover of £2.3 million. 

Bite Back was initially housed within the umbrella of our founder’s company, the Jamie Oliver Group, and in the past 18 months we have decoupled our finances and operations and become a fully independent non-profit. We have further work to do to strengthen our financial management as part of this independence and to support our growth. We are increasingly receiving restricted funds and contracts for service and expect this type of funding to grow this year.

It is an exciting time for a Senior Finance Manager to join the team and be involved in the strategic and operational development that we need to support Bite Back through its next phase of growth. 

Responsibilities

The Senior Finance Manager is responsible for:

Statutory Reporting

• Work alongside the Finance and Administrative Executive to support the Director with financial reporting for the audit in line with SORP regulations. 

• Coordinate with the Finance and Administrative Executive to prepare all schedules for the annual audit and support the relationship with the auditors.  Co-ordinate all audit, accounting and taxation services.

• Carefully monitor VAT applicable earnings, and provide appropriate forecasts to ensure statutory VAT registration obligations are met.

• Completion & submission of Annual Returns for Charity Commission and Companies House.

• Lead with the pension providers to resolve issues, and ensure that all pension deductions are paid within the statutory period after deduction. 

• Prepare and submit Gift Aid claims as required. 

Financial Management

• Support the Director with the preparation of quarterly management accounts and associated narrative reports for the board of trustees, attending and minuting finance sub-committee meetings. 

• Work closely with the Finance and Administrative Executive and the Director to ensure efficient financial management for Bite Back, making recommendations on systems, controls and processes to resolve challenges and ensure robust and accurate financial governance. 

• Accountability for all month end processes resulting in accurate monthly Management Accounts, restricted fund reports and updated cash flow. Support the extended leadership team to monitor budgets and financial performance. Investigate and explain variances of budgets to actuals.

• Work with the Director and the extended leadership team to forecast income and expenditure quarterly and annually. 

• Ensure effective processes are in place for resource allocation, cost control and performance monitoring. 

• Work with the Director to research, identify and implement tech based solutions that strengthen controls and drive efficiencies across expenses management and invoicing approvals to deliver an improved financial service for our team and suppliers.

• Lead on the control of costs throughout the organisation and work closely with the Operations and Contracts Manager to ensure that all procurement offers best value.

Financial Policies and Controls

• Ensuring that there are financial policies and procedures in place that cover all areas of the team’s governance and compliance responsibilities. 

• Manage the charity’s finances alongside the Finance and Administrative Executive and the Director to ensure good financial controls are in place and that sound and appropriate practices are maintained.  

• Work closely with the People and HR Manager to support the relationship with the outsourced payroll provider, ensure accurate and timely payment of staff. Complete monthly reconciliations and journals for payroll.

• Oversee the monthly credit card reconciliations for the team, following up with the Finance and Administrative Executive as needed for internal coding and sign off as well as managing the credit card platform. Be the point of expertise on the credit card use policy, advising team members and monitoring compliance. 

Revenue Generation and Monitoring

Work closely with the Grants and Fundraising Manager, Director and CEO to:

• Monitor all income and grant payments, keeping the relationship leads informed of any payment delays and liaise with them on queries. 

• Provide close and compliant management of restricted revenue, ensuring appropriate cost allocations.

• Support the preparation of funding budgets and the production of financial grant reports, ensuring strategies are implemented that demonstrate value for money across Bite Back’s activities and services.

• Support relationships with funders and ensure grants are accounted for in terms with the grant agreement.

• Any other duties as reasonably required.

Skills / Experience

We recognise that the list below is broad and we realise that the “ideal candidate” doesn’t really exist. What we will be looking for as we evaluate applications is demonstrable experience in at least some of these, and evidence of capacity to build skills in other areas. Please don’t be put off applying for one of our jobs because you can’t demonstrate every skill. If you're passionate and excited about working for us, and possess the main skills and experience we are looking for, go ahead and apply. You could be just what we are looking for!

The ideal candidate would have the following experience and qualities:

• Relevant accounting qualification e.g. CIMA or equivalent with minimum 2/3 years post qualification experience. 

• Strong understanding of accounting procedures legislation and an understanding of charity SORP.

• Comprehensive knowledge of Excel, Google sheets and familiarity with typical accounting packages such as Xero, Quickbooks or other similar. 

• Demonstrated track record of financial management experiences including budgeting and financial reporting to a leadership team. Ability to analyse financial information and present this in a suitable format for the audience.

• Good understanding of the principles underpinning financial planning in non-profit environments and ways to demonstrate impact and value for money.

• Effective communication skills, including written, and the ability to convey complex financial information to a non-financial audience.

• A proven track record in charity management and a good understanding of the environment in which charities operate.

• Payroll, PAYE and pensions policies, processes and legislation. 

• Good understanding of the principles underpinning financial planning and of demonstrating impact and value for money.