Assistant Financial AccountantNHS

Job summary

An exciting opportunity has become available within the Finance Department at Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

The position of Assistant Financial Accountant will be based at Knowsley Community College and will be full time (37.5 hours).

Potentional Interview Date: Friday 13th November 2026 (TBC)

Main duties of the job

Responsible for daily management of the Accounts Receivable team.Provide monthly debt management analysis and action plans to senior managers.Provide monthly Trust-wide balance sheet reconciliations, including analysis and actions/advice to resolve

Job description

Accounts Receivable/Debt Management

Leading debt management calls between the Trust and NHS Shared Business Services and agreeing action points.

Negotiating with customers to recover debt in a timely manner.

Preparing management reports/analysis for Accounts Receivable to help with communicating information at a higher level and aid decision making. This will involve the use of advanced Excel skills such as lookups and pivot tables.

Making suggestions on debt write-offs in line with debt management policy.

Potential to have to deal with upset customers who may be struggling financially to pay an invoice.

Planning workload with the team, setting key performance targets.

Providing performance feedback, coaching and training to the team.

Assisting with Freedom of Information requests.

Supporting both Internal and External audits ensuring data requests and any recommendations are acted upon.Balance sheet reconciliations

Reconciling control accounts of the Trust on a monthly basis. Following up on queries and also monitoring control accounts done by other staff to ensure they are being managed in an accurate and timely fashion. This involves the use and understanding of both internal and external data resources.

Assisting in the preparation of reports and information for year-end accounts including ensuring evidence for auditors is available.

Answering queries raised by finance colleagues, other staff members and sometimes the public, regarding issues relevant to the position. If unable to deal with then pass on to the correct person/department.

Clinical and professional responsibilities

Maintaining professional registrations as necessary.

Adhering to relevant code of practice of professional body.

Administrative responsibilities

Ensuring all relevant procedure notes and associated forms are completed and adhered to in line with departmental policy and audit requirements.

Teaching and training responsibilities

Actively participating in the annual performance development review to identify personal needs.

Teach and train Accounts Receivable staff and other staff members as necessary.

To attend Trust statutory and mandatory training sessions.

Line Management/Supervisory responsibilities

Deputising for the Deputy Financial Accountant as and when required.

Undertaking annual performance development reviews of Accounts Receivable staff.

Day to day management of Accounts Receivable Staff eg sickness recording, approval of annual leave

About us

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 10,500 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.

Our services:

Acute Care

Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.

Primary Care

Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.

Community Services

Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.

Specialist Regional Services

We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.

Achievements:

• Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
• Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
• National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme.