Senior Financial Controller

Are you an experienced finance professional looking for a new challenge within a dynamic and supportive organisation? West Berkshire Council is seeking a Senior Financial Controller to join our Finance Service, reporting to the Service Lead for Financial Reporting & Property. This is an excellent opportunity to contribute to the financial management and governance of a leading local authority.

The Role

As the Senior Financial Controller, you will play a key role in ensuring the effective financial management and reporting of the Council's services. Your main responsibilities will include:

• Leading a team of finance professionals to deliver high-quality financial processing, reporting and analysis
• Providing financial advice and support to project teams, senior managers and members
• Contributing to the annual budget setting process and periodic budget reviews
• Leading on the production of statutory financial statements and liaising with external auditors
• Implementing and maintaining effective financial control framework within the organisation

The Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate will possess the following skills and attributes:

• Qualified accountant (CCAB or equivalent) with extensive post-qualification experience in a finance role
• Previous experience working in a public sector or local authority environment is desirable
• Strong technical accounting skills and knowledge of financial reporting standards
• Excellent leadership and people management abilities
• Effective stakeholder management skills, with the ability to communicate financial information to non-finance professionals
• Proactive and solution-oriented approach to problem-solving
• Advanced Excel skills and experience using financial management systems

We are ideally looking to offer the successful candidate the full number of hours advertised above. We may however consider offering less hours than advertised providing they meet the requirements of the role and service which will be determined by the recruiting manager. Please note that we would consider a part time role with a minimum of 29.6 hours per week.

West Berkshire Council offer excellent employment benefits such as:

• Flexible working wherever possible between the hours of 07.00-19.00
• Hybrid working wherever possible working 40% in the office
• Access to a wide range of training and development opportunities 
• Generous Local Government pension scheme
• Family friendly policies
• A range of local discounts
• Wellbeing Programme including Employee Assistance Programme and employee benefits
• You will also be entitled to a generous annual leave entitlement starting at 30 days per annum (plus public holidays) Rising by an additional 5 days after 5 years’ service.

Please note that the closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment. 

This post is a Sensitive Post for the purpose of the Local Government Housing Act 1989 and the post-holder is therefore restricted from engaging in any prescribed political activities. In summary, this means that you are prohibited from holding political office and from involvement in any political activity within or outside the workplace. Full details of the restrictions can be found in the Council’s Policy and Guidance on Politically Restricted Posts.

For an informal discussion about this role please contact: Andreas Efthymiou on 07546 415 794 or email: andreas.efthymiou@penna.com

Explore everything that a career with West Berkshire Council has to offer here: Working with Us

Equal Opportunities

The Council supports Equal Opportunity of employment and positively encourages applications from people who fall within any of the nine protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010.