Group Finance Analyst
- Recruiter
- Firefly Human Capital
- Location
- Watford
- Salary
- £55,000 - £70,000
- Posted
- 21 Sep 2016
- Closes
- 28 Sep 2016
- Ref
- CW
- Job Title
- Finance Analyst
- Category
- Consumer products / FMCG
- Contract Type
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full Time
Company Info
Market leading FMCG company
Job Overview/Duties
Responsibilities
Ownership of the reporting and planning process for Group Head Office Overhead budgets (‘Indirects’).
Dimensions
- Preparing forecasts and reporting for approximately 30 cost centres, with an overall budget of approximately €70m, and working capital balances.
- Reporting in conjunction with Line mgr both to cost centre owners, and also to Senior Management on the overall Group Indirects and variances to budget/forecast. Identifying and communicating risks and opportunities on a timely basis, and driving action plans to control spend.
- Monitoring costs incurred and cross-charged from around the Group
Key deliverables
- Budgets & Forecasts
- Annual Plan (process runs August to January)
- Quarterly Forecasts (March/April, June/July, August/September)
- Monthly Reporting
- Monthly results & analysis to:
- Cost Centre owners
- Head of FP&A,CFO, GFD
- Monthly results & analysis to:
- Support for Indirects-related projects and activities : cost-reduction initiatives, integration of budgets of any acquisitions
The position has significant interaction with the Senior Management of the business, including Executive Committee members, and therefore represents an excellent opportunity for a strong individual to make an impact and build their profile within the business.
The ideal candidate would be someone with the capability to progress into a more senior role within the organisation, whether in a Group function or in one of the finance teams in our Markets.
Overall
Deliver accurate planning and reporting in line with agreed timetables as part of a clearly communicated, well-planned and well-executed process.
Planning and Forecasting
- Preparation and communication of timetables, and ensuring subsequent adherence to the agreed process
- Working with cost centre owners to build/update forecasts, challenging them to remain within targets and setting appropriate action plans where necessary.
- Ensure understanding of forecast movements and explain these to cost centre owners and Senior Management.
- Interaction with overseas country teams, including any new acquisitions, toensure charge-outs and charge-ins are appropriately calculated on a timely basis.
- Preparation and explanation of the Group Head Office working capital forecasts.
Monthly Reporting
- Preparation of month-end results, ensuring Indirects reported are complete and accurate, including variance analysis to explain differences vs forecast and highlight resulting implications.
- Providing information, insight and challenge to cost centre owners to assist them to manage their costs vs targets.
Other
- Make improvements to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of processes.
- Support for Indirects-related projects and activities : cost-reduction initiatives, integration of budgets of any acquisitions
- Deal with significant volume of ad-hoc queries from stakeholders, often at short notice, and often requiring analysis of historic data.
- Provide information and explanations to support other finance activities
Key Attributes/Skills
Qualifications
- Part qualified accountant (CIMA/ACA/ACCA)
Skills – Systems
- Excel proficiency is essential, as well as in-depth knowledge of SAP (accounting system).
Performance
- Process driven, with excellent planning and organisational skills
- Ability to envisage an end-to-end process and work through the steps required to deliver the process in an orderly and timely fashion, including thinking through likely challenges and queries
- Attention to detail and determination to get things right first time, combined with the ability to step back and identify key risk areas and work through problems to come up with practical solutions and recommendations
- Ability to understand processes and systems used, and demonstrate initiative to solve any problems arising in systems to ensure information reported is accurate and meaningful
Ambition
- Motivated self-starter, keen to be fully accountable for their areas of responsibility, who will look for ways to increase their experience and exposure within the business.
Collaboration
- Personable individual who will inspire confidence and has the ability to build and maintain relationships, including with Senior Management and remotely with overseas colleagues
- Demonstrate the confidence if necessary to challenge Senior Management on their budget and cost control
- Ability to distil large amounts of detailed financial information into key clear messages
- The Support Centre is often a very fast moving and demanding environment. The ability to deal with change and numerous ad-hoc requests is particularly relevant.
- Ability to work to tight deadlines, and with the rest of the Group Finance team, in a consistently calm, open and collaborative fashion
Energy
- A “can-do”, problem solver and accountable attitude.