Brendan Baker
London
Summary
Accomplished finance professional with expertise in financial management, planning, and analysis. Demonstrates proficiency in budgeting, forecasting, and strategic business partnering to drive cost optimisation and savings. Skilled in financial reporting and controls, with a strong ability to engage stakeholders effectively. Utilises advanced tools such as Excel, Power BI, Oracle, and Workday to perform variance and trend analysis. Career focus on enhancing organisational financial health through innovative solutions and strategic insights.
Overview
9
9
years of professional experience
Work history
Finance Analyst
London Business School
01.2025 - 02.2025
- Delivered month-end reporting and variance analysis for £10m Degree directorate budgets.
- Supported strategic decisions with prompt, accurate data and variance analysis.
Career Transition
08.2024 - 12.2024
- Took short career break after sequence of interim finance roles to secure long-term role aligned with NHS finance experience.
- Maintained full ACCA CPD, strengthened technical skills and remained up to date with NHS finance frameworks.
- Completed training courses including: – Project Management (Foundation) – SAP BusinessObjects BI – The Essentials– Transform, Grow and Innovate in Finance– Microsoft: Use AI Tools Like a Pro / Master MS Copilot– Fundamental Data Analysis using Power BI.
Senior Management Accountant
The National Archives
02.2024 - 07.2024
- Provided business finance partnering duties include producing the monthly accounting pack, forecasts, and budget updates for Digital Directorate with a budget of £10m.
- Established strong working relationships with key stakeholders, by arranging initial meetings to gain insight into their services, challenges, to improve budget control, forecasting and operational planning.
- Highlighted key reports that were required from new Workday system and suggested improvements.
- Led year end successfully, working with various teams and managers to ensure financial targets were achieved.
Senior Financial Analyst
Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
02.2023 - 01.2024
- Financial management and business partnering for monthly and year-end Estates budget of £43m.
- Prepared accruals and journals for utilities and engineering contracts, ensuring accurate month-end results.
- Identified £150k in boiler fuel savings by sourcing a new supplier, convincing the head of engineering to switch.
- Benchmarked staff supplier rates, convincing managers that significant savings could be achieved by moving to other agencies without compromising on quality.
- Influenced managers in adopting the identified savings for the Cost Improvement Programme (CIP).
- Translated complex financial data into clear, actionable insight for senior managers, improving understanding.
- Devised a new accrual method, shortening processing time and enhancing accuracy for management reports.
- Presented clear financial insights and monthly expenditure reports to senior managers using PowerPoint.
- Delivered pre-year-end staffing cost analysis to support budget realignment and divisional financial planning.
Commercial Finance Manager
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
09.2022 - 12.2022
- Agreed and sales evidence-based invoices with commercial partner for services provided.
- Resolved £10m backlog of invoices through supplier negotiation and process review.
Project Accountant
The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust
01.2022 - 09.2022
- Monitored and reported on Digital directorate projects with annual budgets of £40m capital and £8m revenue.
- Cost tracking and producing monthly reporting on the £25m Digital Health Record programme.
- Worked closely with project budget holders on identifying variances against budget and how to resolve them.
- Improved financial reports for project leads to provide more clarity on their spend and forecast outturns.
- Devised new report for digital project Board members with enhanced and more user-friendly interfaces.
Finance Manager – Corporate
North East London CCG
07.2021 - 11.2021
- Provided financial management for corporate services, focusing on the Estate’s directorate.
- Developed a monthly reporting dashboard with detailed transaction listings to oversee expenditure.
- Implemented an estates payment schedule for prompt invoice payments.
Finance Manager
NHS England
12.2018 - 03.2021
- Financial management for public health and primary care commissioning budgets of over £50m.
- Monitored SLA tracker to confirm invoice receipts from providers met contract timelines and values.
- Delivered fully phased annual budgets and provided tailored financial data to improve local planning accuracy.
- Reviewed PPE supplier invoices to confirm approved standards were met prior to granting approval.
- Developed a tracker and dashboard to monitor invoice turnaround times, resulting in faster issue resolution and improved supplier payment performance, as reported weekly to senior leadership.
Capital Accountant
Croydon Health Services
08.2016 - 12.2018
- Accounted for capital projects of £80m per annum, successfully ensuring they stayed within budget.
- Produced long-term forecast capital allocations, calculated the Capital Resource Limit (CRL) for each financial year.
- Agreed annual capital programmes with the heads of capital service areas; Estates, IT and Medical Equipment.
- Designed new reports and enhanced existing ones for budget holders and the capital board.
Costing Accountant
St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
02.2016 - 08.2016
- Successfully prepared, evaluated, and submitted Education and Training costs for integrated reference costs.
- Took over the provision of service line reports for operational managers.
Deputy Capital Accountant
London Northwest Healthcare NHS Trust
09.2015 - 02.2016
- Maintained the capital register with £436m of assets, calculated and ran the depreciation journal.
- Created a year end forecast outturn schedule, enabling accurate forecasts of predicted spend.
- Redesigned budget holder reports with more relevant information, leading to improved feedback.
- Reconciled between the capital asset register, general ledger and trial balance.
- Calculated long term depreciation, allowing managers to make accurate forecasts and plans.
Education
ACCA -
ACCA
BA (Hons) - Economics with Accounting & Finance
University of Manchester
PRINCE2 Practitioner -
A-Levels - Accounting, English, Economics
Skills
- Financial Management
- Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)
- Budgeting & Forecasting
- Strategic Business Partnering
- Financial Reporting & Controls
- Cost Optimisation & Savings
- Stakeholder Engagement
- Variance & Trend Analysis
- Excel
- Copilot
- Power BI
- Oracle
- Workday
- EFinancials
- PowerPoint
- NHS SBS
- Integra
- CARS
Accomplishments
- Financial management for budgets of up to £43m per annum.
- Found £1m+ in annual operational savings through process and spend analysis.
- Developed financial models used for capital project evaluations up to £25m.
- Reconciled and resolved backlog of £10m in unpaid invoices from major supplier.
- Introduced and developed numerous financial reports that improved financial visibility for stakeholders.
References
References available upon request.
Clearances & Checks
- Right to Work (UK)
- DBS checked, (online certificate)
- Full clean driving licence
- Referees - available upon request.
Earlier Career Summary
Other roles held across CCGs, trusts, local authorities and private companies include finance manager, management and senior management accountant, project accountant, cost improvement accountant and business analyst.
Timeline
Finance Analyst
London Business School
01.2025 - 02.2025
Career Transition
08.2024 - 12.2024
Senior Management Accountant
The National Archives
02.2024 - 07.2024
Senior Financial Analyst
Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
02.2023 - 01.2024
Commercial Finance Manager
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
09.2022 - 12.2022
Project Accountant
The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust
01.2022 - 09.2022
Finance Manager – Corporate
North East London CCG
07.2021 - 11.2021
Finance Manager
NHS England
12.2018 - 03.2021
Capital Accountant
Croydon Health Services
08.2016 - 12.2018
Costing Accountant
St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
02.2016 - 08.2016
Deputy Capital Accountant
London Northwest Healthcare NHS Trust
09.2015 - 02.2016
ACCA -
ACCA
BA (Hons) - Economics with Accounting & Finance
University of Manchester