Job title: Finance Officer

Responsible to: Accountant

Principal working contacts

  • Head of Finance and Corporate Governance
  • Finance & Procurement Manager
  • Senior Accountant
  • Accountant
  • Budget holders
  • Transactions Manager
  • Procurement Officer
  • Care Inspectorate finance staff
  • External stakeholders

Job purpose

Support the Accountant, Senior Accountant and the Finance and Procurement Manager to deliver a comprehensive finance service to the Care Inspectorate in line with Care Inspectorate policies and procedures.

Key responsibilities

Accounting and other tasks

  • Help prepare the annual Care Inspectorate budget.
  • Support budget holders with the management of their budgets by holding monthly monitoring meetings, providing budget monitoring information, variance analysis, financial advice, costing information and guidance in line with financial regulations and other financial processes to make sure the operational requirements of the Care Inspectorate are met.
  • Provide financial training to budget holders and support staff to make sure they comply with financial processes and procedures.
  • Perform monthly reconciliations for suspense accounts, control accounts, bank accounts and monthly fees, investigating and reporting discrepancies as required.
  • Prepare and post journals into Oracle Cloud.
  • Help produce the Care Inspectorate’s statutory annual accounts and notes, supported by comprehensive working papers and in accordance with the approved timetable, and liaising with auditors providing information and evidence as required.
  • Liaise with internal and external audit as required.
  • Develop and update procedures for tasks carried out in the role.
  • Participate in compliance and best value reviews.
  • Assist in the development of new financial and other initiatives from a financial viewpoint.
  • Gather financial information for Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, sustainability reporting, Scottish Government returns, VAT returns, statistical returns, performance and benchmarking data.
  • Participate in supporting achievement of the Care Inspectorate’s sustainability objectives.

Relationship management

  • Model corporate behaviour and demonstrate commitment to organisation values.
  • Develop and maintain constructive and co-operative working relationships with internal and external stakeholders to ensure effective and efficient directorate support.
  • Ensure effective working protocols in accordance with the Care Inspectorate’s Communications, Human Resources, Finance, IT and Operations function.
  • Promote the principles of collaborative working throughout the organisation and in all working practices in accordance with the Partnership Agreements with the trade unions.
  • Project a professional image for the Care Inspectorate when dealing with colleagues and external stakeholders.
  • Demonstrate a commitment to the Care Inspectorate’s aims, vision and values and to the Care Inspectorate’s overall objective of improving care in Scotland.

Other duties

This job profile is a broad picture of the post at the date of preparation. It is not an exhaustive list of all possible duties, and it is recognised that jobs change and evolve over time. Consequently, the post holder will be required to carry out any other duties to the equivalent level that are necessary to fulfil the purpose of the job, and to respond positively to changing business needs.