Financial Accountant

Job Description

Financial Accountant - Balance Sheets
FTSE 100 Retail Group
£50,000 - £55,000 + bonus and incredible benefits
Hybrid working (3 office / 2 home pw)
Central London

The role works within the Finance team and is responsible for strengthening financial control within the Finance Division. The job holder will provide insight, analysis and commentary to stakeholders, aiming to influence and drive decisions and actions that improve the balance sheet position. This individual will support the Finance Manager and Senior Finance Managers in their business area and the wider Finance team as required to ensure that periodic balance sheet reconciliations are reconciled, monitored and reported on timely, accurately and in line with the Group Balance Sheet Reconciliation Policy.

Responsibilities:
Run and interpret management reporting to provide timely insight, analysis and commentary to stakeholders on the performance of the Balance Sheet
Champion the Group Balance Sheet Reconciliation policy
Identify risks, anomalies and opportunities and flag these to Finance Manager / Senior Finance Managers for prioritisation
Build a strong understanding of an external perspective through understanding the finance systems, the international accounting standards, and how together these can achieve strong financial control; and use this knowledge to engage Finance colleagues
Complete bespoke analysis on balance sheet reconciliations as required to drive improvements
Work with internal teams across the finance division as required to complete analysis on reconciliations to resolve business problems
Periodically and when otherwise required by the Group Finance Team; work with the business to manage balance sheet reporting
Build business cases relating to continuous improvement on Reconciliations and Financial Control over the Balance Sheet Reconciliation Process to the Finance Manager and Senior Manager and support post implementation reviews
Support the business to manage projects, working with other Finance teams where collaborative projects demands this
Run training sessions on the use of our Auto-reconciliation tool and sessions on how to make improvements to the accounting in Reconciliations with the Finance business users where required
Support the wider team on other Finance processes as required
Attend business review meetings supporting our Stakeholders as needed
Success in this role will mean supporting the business in making decisions that enhance performance to drive improvements to the balance sheet numbers

About you:
Professionally Qualified Accountant (ACCA/ACA/CIMA).
Strong Excel skills (including lookups and pivot tables) and numerical skills, with an aptitude for turning data into analysis and insight and being able to clearly articulate this through your communication.
Strong Oracle financials (or other ERP systems), BlackLine Financial Reporting Tool, and MS Power Bi, skills required.
Strong challenging skills and professional skeptism in order to analyse technical accounting and classifications of balances within reconciliations and challenge colleagues to make improvements.
Strong commercial acumen
To have a good track record of strong financial control, but also the ability to maintain such control in a fast-paced environment.
Team player, able to work effectively within frameworks without direct supervision
Effective communicator with all levels of stakeholders, including audiences of varying financial and commercial acumen
Self-motivated team player, able to work autonomously, prioritise with good problem-solving abilities
Must have a strong eye for detail and accuracy