Head of Finance

Cooper Parry Finance Recruitment are thrilled to be retained by Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland
, in recruiting a new Head of Finance to be based at their Edinburgh HQ.

Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland (CHSS) is Scotland’s largest health charity dedicated to supporting people living with chest, heart & stroke conditions, and Long Covid. Established in 1900, the organisation works across every community in Scotland, helping individuals and their families recover, adapt and live well following diagnosis, treatment or a significant health event.

As the Head of the Finance Department, you are responsible for; the co-ordination of accurate and timely management accounts and in-year forecasts, production of year-end financial statements, management of the external audit process, leading the annual budgeting processes, treasury and cash flow management. Underpinning this, you will oversee the work of the Finance Department in respect of financial control processes including payroll, sales ledger, purchase ledger, assets, liabilities, statutory returns, coding accuracy and reconciliations.

The role is critical in ensuring the delivery of an excellent finance service to colleagues, ensuring continuous improvement and driving value for money. A key part of the role is developing effective relationships with internal and external stakeholders including budget holders, the Executive Team and CEO, Trustee members of the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee, auditors and bankers.

The role is part of the CHSS Leadership Team, who provide the charity with coordinated and collective senior management oversight in the development and delivery of annual plans, ensuring the delivery of the strategy.

• Overall responsibility for the collation and co-ordination of monthly and quarterly management accounts and associated reports
• Ensure accurate and timely forecasts are undertaken during the year, at least at the six months and quarter three points
• Oversee business partnering approach, ensuring monthly and quarterly meetings are undertaken with budget holders, attending as necessary
• Oversight of year end processes including creation of accurate, fully reconciled schedules, ready for audit
• Creation of draft financial statements for the Group and Trading subsidiary
• Ensure effective, timely and accurate reporting to funders

• Ownership and oversight of finance and accounting policies, processes and procedures, ensuring they are up to date, compliant and followed
• Oversight of technical accounting requirements and changes, ensuring accurate entries in the ledger and compliance with applicable accounting standards
• Overall responsibility for day-to-day financial processing operations, with a strong focus on robust controls, accuracy, and efficiency
• Ensure that all month-end processing is completed appropriately and in accordance with agreed timelines
• Oversight monthly payroll processing, working alongside colleagues in the HR team and external payroll provider to ensure accurate and timely payroll processing
• Ensure all ledgers are accurately controlled, with the timely and robust reconciliation of all control accounts
• Ensure statutory returns (VAT, payroll, gift aid) are completed, reviewed and submitted in line with relevant deadlines
• Maintain fixed asset register, including acquisitions, disposals, capitalisation and depreciation processes
• Maintain accurate cash flow forecasts, ensuring the effective management of cash balances between current and treasury accounts
• Support in procurement and contract management processes

• Lead on the annual budget setting process, ensuring it aligns…