We are looking for a strong Business Manager with Operational and Financial experience within an educational setting.

Working in collaboration with the Head of HR Operations and Financial Planning and the Executive team in order to provide a comprehensive strategic financial and budgetary support service to the Principal of the school with key responsibilities for:

• Be the main interface with allocated secondary school principals with respect to forecasting and analysis of management accounting data.
• Provide high quality financial support and advice to ensure that the academies make the best possible use of resources and are able to provide the best outcomes for pupils.
• Be the main point of contact on behalf of the Principal in collaboration with the trust functions to address all school business management matters, including premises, ICT, health and safety and admin support.
• Supervision and development of Secondary Finance Roles.
• Contribute to the achievement of the educational vision for the academies within the MAT and to support school improvement accordingly
• Work with the Principal and Head of HR Operations and Financial Planning in the preparation of the secondary school`s budget and long-range forecasts.
• Analyse current and past trends in key performance indicators, reviewing other be benchmarks as needed to support reforecasting of School Budgets.
• Responsible for school budget control and monitoring, reporting to Principal and Head of HR Operations and Financial Planning functionally.
• Provide detailed current year performance variance analysis and, in conjunction with Head of Planning, develop corrective action plans with Principal as needed.
• Check and monitor SEN income with school`s SENDCo & Central Accounting team.
• Work with the School`s Lead on Pupil Premium for tracking of spend against budget.
• Reconciliation of monthly payroll against budget.
• Actively seek opportunities to drive forward improvements in the school’s income streams and work with procurement and other Trust functions to ensure efficiencies where possible.
• Develop financial models and analysis to support strategic initiatives and ‘what if’ scenarios.
• Work with Head of Planning and Curriculum Data Lead on ICFP analysis and question and drive assumptions on Pupil Teacher ratios and contact ratios as needed.
• Support the strategic recruitment plan within each academy ensuring that staffing decisions are factored into the relevant academy’s budget.
• Work with the Central Accounting team and school finance staff to ensure efficiency in terms of accounting entries that need to be performed at the school, including effective coding of Income & Expenditure, control of petty cash and credit card expenditure.
• Oversee and provide financial approval against budget for all order processing and accounts payable
• Work with the School`s Lead on Pupil Premium for tracking of spend against budget.
• Reconciliation of monthly payroll against budget.
• Actively seek opportunities to drive forward improvements in the school’s income streams and work with procurement and other Trust functions to ensure efficiencies where possible.
• Develop financial models and analysis to support strategic initiatives and ‘what if’ scenarios.

• Work with Head of Planning and Curriculum Data Lead on ICFP analysis and question and drive assumptions on Pupil Teacher ratios and contact ratios as needed.
• Support the strategic recruitment plan within each academy ensuring that staffing decisions are factored into the relevant academy’s budget.
• Work with the Central Accounting team and school finance staff to ensure efficiency in terms of accounting entries that need to be performed at the school, including effective coding of Income & Expenditure, control of petty cash and credit card expenditure.
• Oversee and provide financial approval against budget for all order processing and accounts payable
• Contribute to the long-term site plan with the Principal, Regional Estates and IT Managers to ensure the site is maintained appropriately and developed.
• To support the Site Manager in ensuring all Health and Safety Requirements are being met.
• To support the Site Manger to monitor contracts for site maintenance, including cleaning, and provide recommendations for improvement.
• To work closely with the Executive Directors to ensure the capital needs of the academies are appropriately addressed
• To oversee the school’s administration staff in collaboration with the Business Services Team to establish efficient and effective working practices making best use of technology where possible.
• Review census reporting prior to submission by the Data Manager

If you have an accountancy qualification such as AAT, CSBM or DSBM we would like to hear from you!