Finance Manager

This is a highly visible role, collaborating closely with business leaders, providing high-quality data analysis, reporting, and comprehensive financial support, specifically for key overhead functions. It provides a great opportunity to use your financial analysis skills alongside strong business partnering skills to engage and collaborate with senior financial and non-financial stakeholders and Exec members to provide key insights, cost analysis and control and transform the way we review these areas 

The successful candidate will work as part of the Group Financial Planning and Analysis team, who are predominantly responsible for the provision of accurate and timely reporting, proactive analysis and relevant insight to the senior management team and Exec Board and the facilitation of the business plan, budget and quarterly forecast processes. It provides an excellent opportunity to demonstrate your ability for further advancement. 

For Internal Reference: Generic Job Description - FINE01 - Finance Manager.pdf

Responsibilities

You will be strong in your accounting capabilities being responsible for the financial reporting and output of the team ensuring accuracy and timeliness to tight deadlines. You must be able to identify risks and opportunities to support the strategy and business plan projections and drive sustainable profit growth. 

It is essential that you are able to cultivate strong, trusted partnerships with business leaders and can apply a commercial mindset to operational and strategic decisions, can coach and support financial acumen and communicate actionable insights and opportunities.

The primary responsibilities of this role are: 

• Responsibility for financial support for the Group and Central overhead functions, including month end processes and deliverables, reporting, variance analysis, forecasting and budgeting and ad hoc queries 
• Provide strong financial business partner support to the broad range of business unit owners within these functional areas supporting them to understand their financial performance and identify risks and opportunities. It is essential that you are commercially aware, able to provide data-led insight and convey financial information to non-financial stakeholders. 
• Work closely with the business unit owners to understand their business area, and as a result be able to provide value added support to them and their teams. 
• Delivery of financial insight to senior management to support the strategy and business plan projections and drive sustainable profit growth.  
• Oversight and management of complete and accurate records for the business units within your responsibility including review of posting accruals, prepayments and ad hoc journals made by R2R 
• Support the Senior Finance Manager – FBP and business owners with the Group and Central overhead function areas budgeting and forecasting process, ensuring that the outputs are robust and reflect the agreed views of the management teams and delivered to deadlines 
• Support the preparation of the quarterly business review and budget packs for Overhead areas including providing insightful focused commentary on key variances to budget and prior year and support the preparation of the Board reports 
• Drive standard processes through principles of simplification, standardisation, and, working with the wider teams, automation where appropriate. 
• Development of improved cost analysis by cost type and category to support the senior management team with effective decision making 
• Collaborate with other functions (People Function, Finance Shared Services, Divisional Finance) to ensure the month end outputs are robust. 
• Help to provide ad-hoc management information as requested to the senior management team 

• Support ad hoc projects as required 

  
Knowledge, Skills, and Experience

Essential

• Qualified Accountant (ACA, ACCA or CIMA) with strong FP&A, Finance Business Partnering or Commercial Finance experience in the UK. 

• Able to commute to Maidenhead and London Liverpool Street 

• Demonstrable experience of budgeting, forecasting and identifying financial risks and opportunities, not just reporting historical performance. 
• Strong commercial mindset with the ability to translate financial data into clear business insight and influence decision making. 
• Excellent analytical and financial modelling skills, with the ability to develop ad hoc analysis to support strategic decisions. 
• Strong communication skills, able to explain complex financial information to non-finance stakeholders. 

• Highly organised with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver to tight deadlines. 

• Self-motivated, proactive and able to work independently while taking ownership of deliverables. 

Desirable 

• Experience within a large, complex or listed organisation. 

• Experience supporting corporate functions or central overheads. 

• Experience presenting financial performance to senior leadership or Executive teams. 

• Experience leading projects or implementing process improvements. 

• Experience with Oracle EnterpriseOne or a similar ERP system. 

• Experience using Power BI or other visualisation tools. 

• Demonstrates the potential and ambition to progress into a Senior Finance Manager / Lead Finance Business Partner role within the next 18-24 months. 

 Qualifications

Qualified Chartered Accountant or Certified Practicing Accountant (ACA/ACCA/CIMA) with +5 years’ finance experience 

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