Job Advert
Role Title: Senior Finance Manager
Division: Finance
Location: Cannock Head Office
Salary: £55,000 - £65,000 per annum (Dependant on experience)
About Our Charity
As one of the UK's leading charities providing essential specialist equipment to children with disabilities, Newlife is dedicated
to making life better - for the families we serve, and for the people who help us to make that happen.
Through grants and emergency equipment loans, we ensure children get the vital equipment they need, when they need it, while our
free nurse helpline offers crucial support and information – as well as a listening ear. Our campaigns help to give children with
disabilities and their families a voice, advocating for change to benefit the families we serve. And we support adults with
additional needs with volunteering and employment opportunities, providing an introduction to the workplace and a means for career
development.
Across the whole of Newlife, our teams are crucial to our success – it's not just a job; here you'll be helping us to change lives
every day.
Key Responsibilities
The role is responsible for the day-to-day financial operations of the organisation, including month-end and year-end processes.
This includes managing the finance team and workload, overseeing weekly income reporting across store sales, online sales,
commercial income, and charity income, and ensuring all income is accurately reconciled from EPOS systems to the accounting
system. The postholder will ensure timely and accurate month-end close processes, including the posting of utilities, payroll, PDQ
transactions, and various accruals such as payroll, utilities, and sundry costs. Responsibilities also include reconciliation of
commercial income, sales and purchase ledgers, and online income including PayPal, as well as preparing supporting schedules for
management accounts and board reporting.
The role has responsibility for financial reporting and compliance. This includes preparing accurate and timely statutory accounts
in line with Charity Commission and Companies House requirements, ensuring compliance with audit standards, tax regulations, and
nonprofit accounting principles, and overseeing the preparation of donor reports.
The postholder will maintain strong internal controls and governance. This involves maintaining and enforcing financial policies
and procedures, ensuring robust internal controls to safeguard organisational assets, leading audit preparation, and liaising with
external auditors. The role also includes setting up weekly and monthly reporting, including uploading budgets into SAGE, managing
restricted and unrestricted fund accounting, overseeing bank reconciliations and balance sheet control account reconciliations,
and managing cash flow.
Leadership and collaboration are central to the role. The postholder will manage and develop finance team members, including
oversight of timesheets, holiday and sickness reporting, and performance management. They will work closely with the Finance
Director and programme managers to ensure financial sustainability and will be a member of the Senior Management Team,
contributing to guiding and shaping the future of the charity.
In addition, the role includes a range of ad hoc duties. These include completing all government statistical returns, handling
valuation office and rates enquiries, acting as the finance contact on the transformation programme, managing the upload of
payments to the bank, and deputising for the Finance Director as required. These key accountabilities provide an indication of the
role's responsibilities and are not intended to cover the full scope of the position.
Requirements
The successful candidate will be professionally qualified (ACA, ACCA, CIMA, or CIPFA).
They will have a minimum of three to five years' experience in a similar role, ideally within a charity environment, along with at
least two years of management experience. Experience using SAGE or a similar accounting system is essential.
The role requires strong practical skills, including the ability to work hands-on within a small finance team, largely made up of
part-qualified or unqualified staff. The postholder must be able to prioritise effectively in a demanding environment while
maintaining a customer-first approach, and be capable of delegating tasks and training or mentoring team members where needed.
The ideal candidate will be confident, proactive, and highly organised, with the ability to translate complex technical financial
concepts into language suitable for a wide range of audiences. Excellent written and verbal communication skills are essential.
Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme
Disability Confident About Disability Confident A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.