Senior Financial Analyst
WORLD CHANGERS TOGETHER
Job purpose
The delivery of strategic projects across the finance directorate, working closely with stakeholders from across the University.
To play a key role in the development and provision of central FP&A activities.
To play a leading role in providing a comprehensive, effective and efficient management accounting service across the University.
To provide high quality technical support across the University through insightful analysis and issue resolution.
To support and develop enhanced liaison between the central Finance Office and Colleges, ensuring accurate, timely, relevant and reliable information allowing delivery of a customer service focus.
To continuously improve processes and procedures to support efficient and effective operations within a strong internal control environment.
Main duties & responsibilities
- Project Work
- Lead project work within the Finance team as requested by the Director of Finance, Deputy Director of Finance and Head of Management Accounts. This includes leading initiatives involving internal teams and external advisors to deliver strategic University wide projects related to process improvement and implementation of the University strategy. Provide specialist financial support and advice to project boards as required, preparing detailed business cases and other financial planning and analysis for senior management, challenging and testing the data provided and ensuring the accuracy and timeliness of reports. Actively contribute to all relevant project meetings and working groups.
- Financial Planning & Analysis
- Lead strategic business partner working across the organisation, providing analytics that deliver actionable insight to help improve organisational decisions. Producing trend analysis and predicative analytics, monitoring KPIs and identifying the cause of unexpected variations. Building and maintaining financial models/dashboards to support volume/mix analysis to support strategic discussions on the size and shape of the University, cost to teach analysis and other cost and income related analysis. Develop and maintain robust financial data and leverage this to provide sound business and financial management information to senior leadership including identifying strategic action plans to ensure our return on investment. Develop and maintain financial models to assist in target setting processes and support budgeting, forecasting and scenario planning activities.
- External Management Reporting Requirements.
- Support on the preparation of external reporting information such as HESA, TRAC and SFC. This will require working closely with the Deputy Head of Management Accounting and the core Management Accounts team. This will include collating, reviewing and interpreting data for submission to ensure accurate and presented in accordance with issued guidelines and timelines. Consideration will also need to be given to identifying year-on-year movements, areas of process improvement and system automation opportunities.
- Financial Management Reporting Service
- The role holder will provide direct support to the Director/ Deputy Director of Finance for ad hoc requests and expert analysis to support decision making and development of strategy. This will include sourcing, analysing and evaluating financial information from across the University, using insight and expertise to draw conclusions and make recommendations. Present findings and recommendations to inform and support strategic decision making at Senior Management Group, Finance Committee, Investment Committee, Court and to external stakeholders. The role holder will also consolidate, review and challenge the monthly results and forecasts and prepare the monthly reporting pack for review with the Finance Office Directorate, ahead of publishing to Senior Management Group.
- Process Efficiency and Effectiveness
- The role holder will be expected to play a key role in optimising the service that the Management Accounting team provide to the College Finance teams and remove duplication and wasted effort. They will have a clear understanding of the needs of the customer base and will work to provide an effective service level delivery. In doing so they will be expected to work closely with College Finance staff and Financial Accounting staff to ensure that management reporting and the underlying data integrity and processing is delivered in a controlled, effective and efficient manner utilising a standard corporate process. The role holder will also be expected to continually review and identify opportunities for enhancing the information provision whilst improving the efficiency and automation of the report preparation.
- Other Duties
- Attend meetings as required and deputise for the Deputy Head of Management Accounts.
- Provide information as required under Freedom of Information Requests.
- Provide high quality and specialist advice & guidance on financial information and university policy.
- Promote financial awareness and a culture of financial accountability across the department to ensure financial sustainability is central to all business activities.
Knowledge and qualifications
Essential
- Knowledge/experience of financial & management accounting procedures.
- Knowledge/experience of Financial Planning and Analysis activities.
- Chartered Accountant or Equivalent, or qualified by experience, with up-to-date knowledge of policy & procedures.
- Comprehensive knowledge of business processes.
Skills
Essential
- Ability to apply intellectual rigour and analytical insight to support qualitative decision- making.
- Highly effective oral and written communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to challenge assumptions and practices with diplomacy.
- An ability to demystify complex financial concepts for non-financial colleagues.
- Resilient and able to effectively deal with ambiguity and able to maintain momentum in the face of obstacles/setbacks.
- Ability to prioritise workload to deliver to tight deadlines and manage competing demands from various stakeholders.
- Advanced skills in the use of Microsoft packages such as Excel, Word, Access, PowerPoint; and accounting software packages.
Experience
Essential
- Extensive post qualification experience in financial and management accounting within a large, complex organisation.
- Experience of working with and influencing at various levels across the organisation including senior management.
- Successful track record of working with non-financial managers to drive improvements in decision-making and financial performance.
- Significant practical experience of using computerised finance systems.
- Proven track record in a large complex environment.
Desirable
- Experience of PowerBI / TM1 Planning Analytics.
Campus development plan
Our Vision
Over the next 10 years, the major investment will expand our campus footprint by 25%, creating a new urban quarter with the University at the heart of a revitalised west end. This is the largest development since the creation of the original campus in 1870.
This is a unique opportunity for a University to extend the boundaries of its historic core in a central city location. It will create:
- New learning and teaching facilities
- Refurbishment and repurposing of existing iconic buildings for specialist uses
- Identification and design of social spaces that support the student and community experience.
The expansion of our Gilmorehill campus into the 14 acre, former Western Infirmary site will transform the West End of Glasgow. The Masterplan for the site will incorporate:
- New learning and teaching facilities supporting our students and making sure they get the best in modern teaching and learning styles and approaches
- Creation of a Research Hub, housing large-scale multidisciplinary projects and incubator space for spin out collaborations with industry. This will encourage further innovation development
- New public cycle and pedestrian routes and a new central square which will link Byres Road to the up-and-coming cultural quarter for the West End, with new links to Kelvingrove and the newly-refurbished Kelvin Hall
- Refurbishment of five listed buildings: The Chapel, the Outpatients building, the Macgregor building, the Tennent Institute and Anderson College
- Commercial opportunities, including a hotel, restaurant, bars and cafes
- The state of the art Learning and Teaching Hub adjacent to the Boyd Orr building on University Avenue will be completed next year.
Find out more
Living in Glasgow
A UNESCO City of Music, a vibrant arts and culture scene, a food-lover’s delight, and a shopper’s paradise. Just some of the highlights of the ‘friendliest city in the world’. As well as that accolade by the Rough Guides poll, Glasgow has also been named a must visit destination by publications including the New York Times, The Guardian, and Wanderlust.
Music
The city hosts an average of 130 music events a week catering for every taste; from rock to rap, and classical to country. Glasgow also has a world class club scene playing host to some of the world’s top DJs.
Shopping
Outside of London’s West End, Glasgow is frequently voted the best place for shopping in the UK. A must-visit destination for any shop-a-holic, it houses high street chains, international designers, and independent retailers. The West End, home to the University of Glasgow, is bustling with vintage fashion, vinyl stores, and second-hand bookshops.
Arts and Culture
Glasgow’s arts scene has gone from strength to strength, and is the base for five internationally renowned performing arts companies including the National Theatre of Scotland and Scottish Ballet. The city has several world-class museums, which are free to the public, and the city’s architecture is a work of art in itself.
Food and drink
You can be in Glasgow and taste the world with its many diverse restaurants, cafes, and bars. And if you’ve yet to sample the delights of haggis and whisky, Glasgow is the place to be.
The City and Beyond
Glasgow has all the opportunities and excitement of a big city but its compact size means you can quickly travel from one vibrant district to the next. You could be relaxing in one of its many parks, before shopping in the quirky West End, and then dancing until the wee small hours in the Merchant City.
And when you fancy getting out of the city you can reach the stunning Loch Lomond in just 30 minutes, climb one of our many breath-taking Munros, play golf at one of Scotland’s many world-class courses, visit one of our ancient castles, or go further North and search for Nessie! Scotland has also just been named the world’s most beautiful country by Rough Guides.
Relocating to Glasgow
Choosing to relocate to Glasgow is a big decision. There are numerous things to be considered, such as the costs of moving, the cost of living, and where exactly to relocate to. We have created two guides to aide you in the decision making process.
Find out more on relocating to Glasgow at the below link:
WORLD CHANGERS TOGETHER
WORLD CHANGING GLASGOW 2025
Our outstanding disciplinary breadth and expertise has enabled us to make world-changing advances in fields as diverse as medicine, physics, linguistics, public policy and global development.
The key to our success is our talented staff and students pushing back at the boundaries of knowledge and understanding together.
Our World Changers Together strategy recognises the fundamental importance of a culture of open cooperation: not just as colleagues and mentors or students and teachers, but as a community of discovery that reaches beyond its walls and draws inspiration and strength from its connections and partnerships worldwide: excellence that's part of something bigger. The strategy is articulated across three themes:
COMMUNITY
- People centred, globally engaged
CONNECTIVITY
- Collaboratively minded, digitally enhanced
CHALLENGES
- Solution focused, impact oriented
Find out more
How to apply
Full details of the role and how to apply can be found by visiting our website:
The closing date for applications is 16 April 2024
Terms & Conditions
Salary will be Grade 8, £48,350 - £56,021 per annum.
This post is full time (35 hours p/w) and open ended.
Relocation assistance will be provided where appropriate.
As part of Team UofG you will be a member of a world changing, inclusive community, which values ambition, excellence, integrity and curiosity.
As a valued member of our team, you can expect:
A warm welcoming and engaging organisational culture, where your talents are developed and nurtured, and success is celebrated and shared.
An excellent employment package with generous terms and conditions including 41 days of leave for full time staff, pension - pensions handbook https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/payandpensions/pensions/, benefits and discount packages.
A flexible approach to working.
A commitment to support your health and wellbeing, including a free 6-month UofG Sport membership for all new staff joining the University https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/staff/healthwellbeing/.
We believe that we can only reach our full potential through the talents of all. Equality, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of our values. Applications are particularly welcome from across our communities and in particular people from the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) community, and other protected characteristics who are under-represented within the University. Read more on how the University promotes and embeds all aspects of equality and diversity within our community https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/humanresources/equalitydiversity/.
We endorse the principles of Athena Swan https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/humanresources/equalitydiversity/athenaswan/ and hold bronze, silver and gold awards across the University.
We are investing in our organisation, and we will invest in you too. Please visit our website https://www.gla.ac.uk/explore/jobs/ for more information.
It is the University of Glasgow’s mission to foster an inclusive climate, which ensures equality in our working, learning, research and teaching environment. We strongly endorse the principles of Athena SWAN, including a supportive and flexible working environment, with commitment from all levels of the organisation in promoting gender equity.
Our values
The future holds innumerable challenges for our sector, our society, and our world. We will have to adapt and change what we do and what we offer if we are to navigate these successfully. Our strategy and approach may evolve as the landscape changes, but our values will remain constant: a fixed point of certainty in uncertain times.
We have identified our values in consultation and partnership with our staff and student community. Living and upholding these values will ensure that we remain true to the spirit of our community and ourselves:
Ambition and Excellence
- We strive for excellence through our work
- We defend academic freedom globally
- We recognise and celebrate shared success
- We have an unrelenting focus on development
Curiosity and Discovery
- We innovate and solve problems together
- We lead by influence and example
- We engage with lifelong learning and personal development
- We learn from our mistakes
Integrity and Truth
- We uphold honesty, integrity and fairness
- We share our work widely and generously
- We do the right thing, not the easy thing - or we don’t do it
- We take responsibility
An Inclusive Community
- We are one Glasgow team, and we care for and respect one another
- We advocate for diversity and believe in variety as a vital part of a healthy university
- We champion education as an engine for social progress
- We practise and advance sustainability