Michael S. Email & Phone Number

Central Scotland

I am Chief Financial Officer for a start-up non-departmental public body sponsored by Scottish Government, Redress Scotland.Redress Scotland exists to provide independent decision making on applications from survivors of historic abuse or neglect in children’s homes in Scotland, in order that they may receive apology and redress without the need to go through the court process. My responsibilities for Redress Scotland include finance, information and communications technology, contracts, sustainability, data security, and organisational estate planning.Activities delivered within this role in the first 12 months have included:- setting up all contracts for the organisation including legal, media services, health and safety, occupational health, employee assistance, audit along with many others;- drafting a complete finance manual for the organisation along with all finance, procurement and digital policies;- Ensuring compliance with public sector guidelines and supporting effective governance and assurance across the organisation, embedding this within the organisation through survivor-focussed policy development;- providing a clear strategic vision and direction across the entire Finance and Resources portfolio;- providing the right tools and the right information at the right time to ensure the business is able to deliver operationally while remaining financially secure;- preparing draft accounts ready for the first full year annual report and accounts; and- embedding core values of respect, dignity and compassion in everything we do.The above has been accomplished (in addition to BAU e.g. accounts payable, monthly reporting development and payroll) with an average team size of 2 for the first 3 quarters of the year. Now with 50% more resource, for year 2 I intend to… [watch this space]

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Leading the Finance and Procurement functions for an agency which administers c£1.4bn of budget expenditure per annum for the benefit of over 190,000 students each year. - Modernising finance from a culture of ‘Finance does finance’ to one where Finance & Procurement supports budget managers, directors and the Chief Executive in having the right information at the right time to make the best decisions.- Development of assurance and governance processes across both Finance & Procurement to instil confidence and provide reassurance to the Chief Executive and the Executive Team across all business areas and the entire spectrum of financial reporting and procurement activities. - Redesigning process and outputs for both monthly management account reporting, regular reporting into core Scottish Government finance information, and for the Annual Report and Accounts for the agency.- Becoming the critical friend to the business; holding the difficult conversations where necessary that allow the agency to remain secure financially through early visibility of bumps in the road, while also supporting innovation and invest to save opportunities.

Manchester, United Kingdom

- Finance Business Partner for one executive agency and three SCS led policy areas.- Constructive finance review and challenge of incoming business cases before these proceed to SCS and/or ministerial teams for their approval.- Upskilling Directorate support and finance teams in month-end close down processes, transactional activity review, workforce planning, business case review and financial approval, forecasting and budget management.- Month-end close down processes, ensuring figures are understood and narrative is reflective of activity so as to ensure a cohesive narrative as this progresses through finance SCS for month-end discussion with the Chief Operating Officer.- Cross-boundary continuous improvement activity to make the finance function more effective, facilitating faster monthly close-down processes, smarter use of staffing resource, and more joined-up working between FBP teams, other areas of finance, and their customers.

Sheffield, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom

- Conducting detailed analysis and providing policy advice and assistance regarding implementation of government priorities in the education sector, predominantly from a finance and funding view.- Ensuring directors are able to respond confidently to requests for information, providing appropriate challenge and verification of detail to inform strategic decisions.- Working alongside strategy and operational colleagues and with those of other departments to investigate and develop ministerial recommendations for a project to develop a domestic replacement programme for the current £250-300m of European Social Fund expenditure.- Completing ministerial briefings and business cases with sufficient research and analysis to enable their informed decisions impacting predominantly on the Further Education sector.- Lead policy development in uniforming funding policy between further and higher education, incorporating Brexit considerations to ensure a consistent approach as we enter uncertain times.

Sheffield, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom

- Commercial negotiations with recruitment agencies to generate work assignments for the business.- Marketing, contracting and sales management and development of strategies in which to further business growth.- Day to day financial management for the business including month-end and annual returns.- Strategic planning and organisation.- Development of corporate training materials for customer organisations primarily in the spheres of finance and accounting.

Nottingham, United Kingdom

- Leading DWP financial analysts nationally (c60 staff) providing visible leadership and direction, while driving through performance improvements and staffing efficiencies. Active participant in Senior Leadership Group. Numerous periods as temporary head of financial work area. - Led development of model to capture national contract and performance data on specialist area of Employment Programmes (primarily Flexible Support Fund). This resulted in significantly improved decision making and improved accuracy of forecasting by Finance Business Partners as confirmed by their deputy director.- Led organisational redesign/restructure of division and amended operating model to facilitate knowledge transfer, and to alleviate challenge of upcoming efficiencies (30% over 2 years) while contributing to achievement of a 35% increase in staff engagement scores.- Demonstrated a high level of integrity and drive for continuous improvement in personal development and in service delivery while embracing the principles of equality and anti-discriminatory practices.

London, United Kingdom

- Analysis and appropriate challenge of submissions and business cases to ministers and provision of finance scrutiny and approval. HMT liaison for Strategy Group colleagues.- Drafted submissions to and on behalf of departmental ministers for HMT consideration in support of recovering additional expenditure payable as a result of adverse court judgments.- Lead Business Partner to successful reduced signing pilots project, and successful implementations of Civil Penalties and Overpayment Decisions, Calculations & Appeals projects.- Advised projects within Fraud and Error to enable appropriate identification and mitigation of risks through implementation of controls and subsequent compliance checks. Commented that rarely is Risk Management so actively engaged with projects and this was evidenced by how smooth implementation progressed.

London, United Kingdom

Only financially qualified member of the Chief Finance Officer’s Private Office. Analysed complex financial data and delivered effective briefings to CFO, senior officials, National Audit Office, and the Departmental Board, ensuring consistent understanding of key financial messages.Provided specialist financial advice and utilised high level negotiation skills to provide review/challenge of incoming submissions covering the entire remit of the Finance Director General’s accountabilities.Led finance stream and co-ordination of reintegrating the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission into departmental reporting boundaries.Supported the management and prioritisation of the Finance Director General’s workload.

Manchester, United Kingdom

Led development of a complex scenario planning tool exploring the effects that changes in departmental administrative spend have on off-flows from benefit and therefore potential impacts on benefit spend, and explored value for money of various Jobcentre intervention activities.Obtained both Permanent Secretary and ministerial approval to expand the scope for the planning tool to include all benefit streams and subsequently this was rolled out nationally.The tool enabled enhancements to decision making nationally and empowers management at all levels to make informed choices on capacity, workforce planning and provides robust data for scenario and contingency planning.

Blackpool, United Kingdom

Prepared monthly accounts consolidation for all agencies of the department and non-departmental public bodies within the departmental boundary, to strict timescales.Undertook variance analysis of year-on-year budgeting data in anticipation of year end accounts queries from National Audit Office.Performed central maintenance of cost centre and account code hierarchy and led on mapping of account code and cost centre integration of three non-departmental public bodies being brought within departmental accounting boundaries.

London, United Kingdom

- Consolidated 482 local government accounts data as part of the HM Treasury led Whole of Government Accounts project as part of a team of only 2. This was 38% of the overall consolidation.- Introduced end user feedback process which facilitated a 57% reduction in negative feedback over 2 reporting cycles.- Built and maintained effective working relationships with HMT and local government contacts ranging from finance staff to Chief Finance Officers and Chief Executive Officers.- Generated savings over £125k per annum to public spending through bringing training in-house for local government. - Oversaw successful creation of legislative reform order amending Parish Council accounting regulations.

Manchester, United Kingdom

- Effectively utilised project management techniques to oversee development, implementation and roll-out a national IT solution facilitating consistency of contract data and MI.- Improved ease of workload transfer between multiple national teams during a time of reducing headcounts, and provided a comprehensive workflow system to aid with decision making and workforce management.- Identified key risk areas in the provider payments process and devised tools to mitigate these risks and prevent duplication of payments. This made processes more robust and increased ability to withstand external audit scrutiny.

Fife (Scotland) And Manchester

This included:- 3.5 years in HR roles, including being the principal training officer at a brand new HR service centre.- 2 years in customer contact (telephone) roles for the Child Support Agency.

Acma, Cgma, Management Acounting

Achieved full Chartered Management Accountant status in 30 months, against a development scheme expectation of 3-4 years.

Qualifications In Test Use, Occupational: Ability And Personality Testing (Formerly Level B), Registered With British Psychological Society. Active Rqtu Member

Bachelor Of Science (Bsc), Business Studies And Quantitative Business Management, 1St Class Honours