Foundation - Head of Finance - London, Birmingham, Manchester or Glasgow - Permanent - EY

Description

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Head of Finance

Introduction to EY Foundation
The EY Foundation is a charity and a company, limited by guarantee, established in 2014. We were founded by EY, the professional services firm, which continues to provide funding and donations to the charity under a multi-annual funding agreement. We are governed by a board of trustees, who are supported by a number of committees and leadership and management teams.

The EY Foundation helps young people, disadvantaged in the labour market, to fulfil their work potential. We are unique in our position as the link between employers and young people, having strong relationships with both.

Our work involves designing, developing and running our own services: Smart Futures, Your Future, Step into Business and employability workshops as well as raising independent funds to support new initiatives and reach more young people across the UK. We work with organisations from across all sectors, including commercial, not-for-profit, education and government.

As an independent charity we have to diversify and raise our own income through traditional fundraising, grants and, increasingly, through the development of our work with corporate partners.

EY Foundation is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. The successful applicant will need to undertake an Enhanced DBS check via the Disclosure and Barring service, where appropriate.

At the EY Foundation, we have a hybrid working model in which our staff work from the office (one of our Hubs in London, Birmingham, Manchester or Glasgow) at least one day per week.

Our roles
Within the Foundation we adopt flexible roles that reflect the dynamic nature of our charity and enable our people to learn, develop and grow their skills and open up career opportunities. This is part of our investment in you.

This role profile provides an outline of what will be involved in your role rather than an exhaustive list of duties. Both you and this role will naturally evolve.

Our values
In your role you will be expected to demonstrate or develop leadership competences based on the Foundation's four key values. They are:

• Growth mindset - increase our impact on more young people through dedication, innovation and hard work
• Empower people - everyone is given the opportunity to develop and to succeed
• Courage - use new learning and diversity of thought to challenge the status quo, embracing lessons learned even if a project misses its targets
• Collaboration - build relationships - internally and externally - to share ideas, embed an inclusive approach, and achieve bigger outcomes.

Our commitment to diversity and inclusion
The scale of the challenge to tackle racial inequality is huge but we are passionate in our determination to secure change - both for our organisation and the young people we serve.

With over 80% of the young people we work with from Black, Asian or ethnic minority communities, our team and Board need to reflect the young people we support.

In 2019, we made diversity and inclusion a strategic priority, with a focus on race and in 2020 we published eleven race commitments. This included 50% of our team and leadership team coming from the Black, Asian or ethnic minority communities by 2025. Specifically, it is our objective that 30% of our team and leadership team will come from the Black community. You can find out more here.

Your role as senior manager

Whatever your specific responsibilities and specialisms, as a Senior Manager you will be leading the formulation and application of strategy within your area(s) of specialism. You will be accountable for your specific areas of responsibility as well as supporting your other senior managers in achieving all of the Charity's goals and targets. Your profile will be both internal and external and you will share responsibility for representing the Foundation professionally. You will be empowered and confident to make business decisions in respect of your areas of responsibilities, based on the prior experience and knowledge you bring. You will communicate confidently and proactively.

Your role as Head of Finance

At the EY Foundation, we are seeking an experienced Head of Finance who will be reporting directly to our Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

The Head of Finance will be responsible for budgeting, reporting, auditing, and financial planning, as well as advising senior management on fiscal strategy. Our ideal candidate has a solid financial background and strong business acumen. The ability to forecast financial trends and manage financial risk is critical to this role.

The role will include several key responsibilities but are not limited to:

• To be accountable for the effective day to day functioning of the Finance Function including budgetary control.
• To deputise for the CFO in all finance matters and at Board/Committee meetings
• To run a successful department, through effective management including motivation, encouragement, training and developing colleagues
• As a senior manager within the organisation you will actively contribute to the broader goals and ambition of the charity.
• To manage the budget and forecasting processes to provide challenging but supportable financial targets for the organisation in accordance with the guidance set by the Leadership Team.
• To provide KPI information to the Leadership Team and Board
• To champion best practice financial management, commercial decision making and internal financial controls across the organisation, putting in place new processes or systems if required
• To provide an effective financial management service to the charity
• To prepare and present the annual statutory accounts liaising with the external auditors and implementing audit findings
• Support the CFO with the management of key EY stakeholders including across EY UK Finance
• To ensure compliance with Company, tax and Charity law.

Your experience and knowledge
What you will bring to the Foundation is your demonstrable experience and knowledge in the following areas:

1. Required qualifications, knowledge, competencies and experience:

• Have a CA (or equivalent) qualification
• Proven experience in producing the departmental plan and budget as part of the annual business plan, monitoring progress and reforecasting
• Proven experience in producing financial plans for the organisation for the coming years including cashflow forecasts
• Previous experience in ensuring systems are in place to report against the KPI's
• Required experience in people line management and development of staff including leading by example, and implementation of professional development plans
• Required experience in building effective team working relationships within the department and organisation, promoting strong links between the departments
• Vast experience in delivery of insightful monthly management accounts and financial information
• Previous experience in developing the performance, quality and cost effectiveness of departmental outputs and cross department working
• Proven experience in developing and maintaining all accounting systems procedures to monitor internal controls, providing segregation of duties and to support training
• Required previous experience in reviewing, scoping and implementation of new methods/ systems of reporting to identify and deliver improvements to the way financial information is collected and reported
• Experience in management of outsourced payroll arrangements
• Demonstrable experience in monitoring the cash flow position to ensure the most efficient use of cash balances
• Proven experience in reviewing VAT returns to ensure they provide the correct information
• Proficiency in Excel
• Proven knowledge the relevant GDPR legislation
• Strong communication skills, capable of simplifying complex topics to engage stakeholders.
• Strong and evidenced commitment to diversity
• Strong personal alignment with and commitment to the charity's mission and values, enjoyment of working with and alongside a diverse group of people in a busy environment
• Strong commitment to improve the working lives and prospects of disadvantaged young people in the UK

2. Desirable competencies and knowledge:

• SharePoint proficiency
• Experience in using financial systems,
• Awareness of PowerBI
• Project management expertise, with a track record of successful completion.
• An understanding of the practical applications of the Charity SORP

Your competence

You will be able to demonstrate the competences expected of an EY Foundation senior manager. Where you need more time to fully develop those competences we will support you in so doing.

For details of the required competences see our annexed competency framework.