Job Description
Job Title : Student Finance: Senior Accountant
Details
Responsible To:
Systems and Central Student Finance
Manager
Management Authority:
na
Budgetary Authority:
na
Purpose of the Role:
This role will support the Systems and Central Student Finance Manager ensuring
that governance, integrity and controls are established, maintained and developed in
relation to Student Finance Accounting of Loans and Grants. The role will perform and
maintain the Student Finance Forecast Model including payments of circa £15 billion
per annum, working closely with the funding bodies to ensure that funds are available
to meet our student finance commitments. This post will lead and support Central
Student Finance initiatives, identifying, managing through the life cycle. This role will
represent Finance in a number of internal projects, to ensure that the Student Finance
Accounting matters are represented in decision making.
As a member of the Finance Team:
As a member of the Finance Team you will help deliver the SLC Mission with a focus on the
key business objective of Managing Public Money. You should also strive to demonstrate our
Leading the Way values.
Our back office support is vital to creating the value needed to support the continuous
improvement required to achieve the implementation of a Digital, Customer Focused, Centre
of Excellence and we can all contribute to this.
Detailed Portfolio Accountabilities & Objectives (need to show substructure objectives to
show the distribution of work across the directorate e.g. Collections Manager, Fraud Manager):
Main Roles & Responsibilities
1. Produce and maintain the Student Finance Forecast Model to BIS, Devolved
Administrations and other funding bodies. This model takes encompasses c£15bn of
payments per annum, 6 funding bodies, multiple products and policies across academic
years with c. 1.2 million customers, c. 800 Higher Education Providers and c. 600 Further
Education Providers. This supports the drawdown of funding to meet loans and grants
commitments and Funding bodies budgeting of Student Finance
2. Providing monthly actual and forecasting reports to stakeholders and explain movements
and variances
3. Ensure funding is drawn down monthly to meet Student Finance commitments
4. Compile and submit cash management forecasts to BIS Cash Management. . Daily
forecasting model to provide net cash flows in SLC. This enables Treasury to manage
net flows of cash across Government to manage borrowing. SLC cash requirements are
of significant impact to Government spend
5. Mapping and maintaining process maps that impact Central Student Finance
6. Maintain and build relationships with BIS and devolved administrations in relation to loans
and grants forecasting, ensure that we are alerting them to issues or trends to aid
decision making
7. Ensure build in depth knowledge of SLC products and processes to aid with forecasting of
payments trends and ability to provide accounting advice to internal and external
stakeholders
8. Analyse, understand and resolve issues relating to Student Finance Accounting
9. Preparing reports to management and audit committee
10. Produce the Financial Integrity Monthly Pack
11. Perform an assurance role reviewing governance and internal controls around Loans and
Grants submitting recommendations and implementing if appropriate
12. Ensure Finance function is represented in decision making in the business projects and
initiatives around student finance e.g. monetisation project
13. Analysis, report writing and presenting findings from reports
14. Liaise with BIS and Devolved Administrations Loans and Grants Accounting support and
financial issues and accounting e.g. estimates/forecasts/movements
15. Review of appropriateness of reconciliations performed identifying gaps, recommending
solution and implementing robust processes to ensure the financial integrity of Loans and
Grants finance
16. Review of appropriateness of reporting and management information, ensuring a
maintained suite of reports to aid in management and stakeholder decision making
17. Ensure the Financial Integrity Meeting is managed effectively and actions raised and
followed through as appropriate
18. Identify control weaknesses and ensure that these are analysed and reported to
management with appropriate risk and recommendations on the way forward.
19. Ensure controls and processes are in place to maintain the integrity of standing financial
data held on the system
20. Ensure that there is the framework to ensure that financial integrity of accounting
transactions and wider data governance
Key Challenges
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
Maintaining the integrity of accounting transactions and funding accuracy in a complex
environment
Maintaining the integrity of accounting during a substantial period of change and
transformation within SLC
Reliance on scarce resource from functional areas to perform ICT initiatives and
resolutions
Communications
i) Internal
i)
ii)
iii)
iv)
All Operational Areas
ICT
Projects
Transformation
ii) External
BIS HE – Business Innovations and Skills Higher Education
BIS FE - Business Innovations and Skills Further Education
BIS Cash Management
SFA – Skills Funding Agency
SAAS - Student Awards Agency Scotland
Northern Ireland
Welsh Government
HEFCW – Higher Education Funding Council Wales
v)
vi)
vii)
viii)
ix)
x)
xi)
xii)
Key Outputs:
Skills, Knowledge and Experience:





CCAB qualified accountant with preferably 3 years post qualification experience in a
financial services environment or similar
Data analysis and forecasting experience, working with large complex data sets
Sound experience, preferably with exposure in a public sector finance environment
Excellent report writing skills
Well developed communication skills