Commercial Finance Manager

A market leading FMCG client require a Commercial Finance Manager or Brand Finance Manager to provide insight for the performance management of their brands, and support to the commercial teams.

This market leading FMCG/Retail business based in Hertfordshire require an interim Commercial Finance Manager. The Commercial Finance Manager will be aligned to a particular group of brands within the business, and is accountable for the financial delivery, objective performance insight and challenge, and governance of the respective customer cluster.

The Commercial Finance Manager will also be responsible for:

• Business partnering the relevant Marketing and Revenue Growth Management team
• Brand strategy planning, forecasting, budgeting, and insight generation
• Business case analysis for projects impacting the brand
• Finance continuous improvements (process and understanding)
• Business performance management of defined brands; Provide insight to the brand leadership team on commercial and total business unit performance, including analysis against budget, forecast and prior year
• Support the forecasting and budgeting process ensuring a robust, deliverable plan with clear risks & opportunities identified
• Protect the business by ensuring a high level of financial governance and control across all brand related investment (Advertising & Promotions and capital spend)
• Understand the pricing, promotion and external category factors that will impact on brand performance
• Business Case analysis; Financial analysis of business cases, ensuring they are robustly modelled, challenged to ensure delivery of value ambition, and financially appraised in line with internal guidelines
• Through partnering of all relevant finance areas (supply chain, control, group, etc.) you will ensure all aspects of new projects are fully captured and reflected in the relevant forecast
• Key risks & opportunities to business cases thoroughly understood and impact on the risk profile of the business case
• In year tracking against the agreed business case deliverables
• Produce analysis of commercial activity to identify learnings and inform the commercial plan & forecast Actionable insight regarding the key drivers of commercial performance with focus on internal and external market considerations
• Other analytical support as required to deliver on the brand objectives
• Margin analysis and driver understanding to support the in-year brand delivery and future growth plans
• Mix analysis ensuring a clear understanding of the brand team of the profitability of the various products within their portfolio and how it compares
• Work with the customer finance team to share insight on trade spend requirements and trends for the brand
• Other ad hoc work to support the Brand/Channel Finance team

Experience Required:

• Qualified accountant (ACA/ACCA/CIMA or overseas equivalent)
• Advanced financial modelling skills (Excel)
• Experience and background of Sales Finance or Marekting Finance
• Experience of trade terms, and joint business plans/ventures
• Systems: MS Office, Hyperion, BBW, Siebel
• Ability to engage and business partner across a range of business functions, and at senior levels
• Background in FMCG preferable - retailer or manufacturer