Rutherford Cross is delighted to be working with Scotwest Credit Union on a retained basis to appoint a Finance Manager.

The Organisation

Scotwest Credit Union is one of the largest credit unions in the UK, with almost 36,000 members and over £88m in total assets. It currently provides services in respect of savings, loans and mortgages to its members. Scotwest is a UK authorised deposit taker, authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the PRA. This means that it operates within the highly regulated financial services environment. 

Like all credit unions, Scotwest exists to improve the financial lives of its members by encouraging savings, and providing fair, affordable loans and mortgages all the while circulating the money and profit within the membership.

Members can save across a variety of accounts from the standard Savers Account to the Notice Accounts for longer term savers. The increasingly popular Christmas Savings Account saw Scotwest Members save over £3m for the festive period in 2020.

Borrowing is simple and straightforward, and you don’t have to be an existing member or have savings before you apply. With unsecured rates starting as low as 3.9% rep APR there are plenty of reasons to turn to Scotwest for your borrowing needs. They are also one of the few credit unions in the UK offering Fixed and Variable Rate mortgages.

Scotwest recognises the important role it can play within society. In addition to being an approachable lender in our communities, Scotwest can help its Members financially support community groups and charities, it is committed to being part of a greener future and providing their Members access to financial education and advice to help them live better financial lives.

As a financial co-operative, you must be a member of Scotwest to access its products and services. Being a member also means you are an owner of the business, allowing you to vote at general meetings and to stand for a place on the Board of Directors.

The Organisation’s Values are:

• Care, we care about our members, our people, our communities and our environment
• Honesty, we are open and honest with everyone
• Respect, we treat everyone as an individual and value diversity
• Equality, we believe in fair, impartial opportunities for all

The Organisation’s Vision is to:

Deliver better financial lives through caring about individual members and their happiness: growing together to become Scotland’s leading credit union.

The Role

Job Title:                 Finance Manager

Reporting to:  CEO

Line Manager to:      3 Direct reports

Location:                 Glasgow City Centre

The purpose of the Finance Manager role is to maintain the accuracy and integrity of the financial systems of Scotwest and its associated companies and to lead the day-to-day operations of the finance team, including all line management responsibilities.  As a member of the Senior Management Team, the Finance Manager is expected to apply their financial knowledge and experience to contribute to the running of the business as well as demonstrate an understanding of the business as a whole. The Finance Manager must be capable of satisfying the regulatory test of fitness and propriety and of holding any regulatory approval under the SMCR if required and in accordance with the credit union’s internal governance framework. The vacancy has been created due to the upcoming retirement of the current Finance Manager.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

• Prepare monthly financial management accounts, including any ad hoc reports and financial modelling and report these directly to the Board at the monthly Board meetings
• Provide financial monitoring information to the CEO and Board of Directors as required
• Develop and maintain annual plans, budgets and reports, consistent with agreed strategies, to enable Board review and oversight
• Accurate submission of all financial regulatory reporting to the Bank of England, PRA, FCA and HMRC as required
• Treasury management, including liaising with the investment managers, oversight of the investment portfolio and reporting to the CEO and Board of Directors
• Provide forecasting, stress testing and scenario planning to the CEO and Board of Directors
• Maintain the integrity of financial transactions and journals, ensuring ongoing reconciliation between the banking system (BaNCS) and the accounting system (Sage) and that differences are recorded, investigated and resolved on a daily basis
• Operational management of working capital, including compliance with PRA liquidity requirements and all regulatory ratios
• Prepare and provide accurate financial information to external auditors, ensuring timely preparation of the annual report and financial statements for presentation at the AGM
• Provide accurate information to the compliance function and internal auditors as required
• Develop strategic proposals for recommendation to the Board in collaboration with the SMT
• Line management of the Finance Team, including operational supervision and performance management
• Operational management of the credit control function, including monitoring and maintenance of efficacious procedures to ensure arrears are minimised

The Individual

The organisation is looking to appoint a driven and experienced, accountant to support the CEO, building and developing robust financial processes and managing day to day finance matters. The post holder requires confidence in their abilities and strong communication skills to work closely with the leadership team and manage 3 direct reports.

The Finance Manager position requires an individual with a hands-on approach. This individual will need to take ownership of management accounts production, processing confidential information, and demonstrate an understanding of the business as a whole. The appointed candidate will thrive on variety and will possess a team-oriented attitude, comfortable being involved in whatever needs done to help the business deliver its short and long-term goals.

A summary of the key candidate requirements are as follows:

• A professional accountancy qualification
• Strong IT skills; excellent MS Excel skills
• Experience of using Sage 200
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Experience of people management
• High level of accuracy and attention to detail

Remuneration

Salary:                               £40,000

Pension:                             6% employer contribution plus 1% employee contribution

Holidays:                            26 days plus 7 statutory days

Professional Fees:               Paid

Working Hours:                  37.5 hours per week

Death in Service:                3 times salary

The Recruitment Process

Initial interviews are with our exclusive advisors Rutherford Cross.

The Second stage will be a video call with the CEO and the outgoing Finance Manager who is leaving due to retirement.

Applications should be sent to [email protected].