Strictly Education

Head of Finance
Milton Keynes Based With Frequent Travel to Dorking, London
£60k to £75k

 

About our business

We are a growing private equity backed education business services company based in Milton Keynes, with offices in Surrey and East London. Our business provides over 2,000 schools and academies across England and Wales with outsourced professional business support services including:

  • Payroll and Pensions processing and reporting
  • HR admin and advisory
  •  Facilities and Property management
  •  Finance consultancy
  • Technology services
  • Governance consultancy

Having recently made a significant acquisition we are now looking for a full time permanent Head of Finance to provide leadership and management to our finance and accounting  team of six.  The key purpose of the role is to optimise our financial performance by taking overall control of our accounting function; producing accurate and timely reporting, ensuring that our financial systems are robust, compliant and support our current activities and future growth.  We have an ambitious acquisition strategy and need to build a sustainable and scalable  finance function that can support our future strategic position.

Initially this role will be very hands on, fully supported by the Group FD, and requires someone with excellent technical financial skills, ideally with experience of transforming accounting systems, developing and delivering new ways of working, setting high standards for the team’s performance and their individual contribution.

 Duties and Responsibilities

The Head of Finance is expected to perform the following:

  • To form a close working relationship with the CEO, Group FD and other Senior Executives.
  • To provide input to the Company’s Finance and Accounting strategy, to help optimise the Company’s financial performance and ensure compliance with banking facilities.
  • To manage all day to day financial affairs from transactional level activity through to working with the auditors and finalise the year end accounts.
  • To take overall control of the day to day functioning of the Company’s Accounts team(s).
  • To help build a finance function that is effective, efficient and scalable to accommodate future acquisitions.
  • To deliver timely and accurate management accounts with supporting MI.
  • To lead and develop the Accounts team(s)
  • To work with Heads of Services to provide them with supporting Management Information that helps them make informed decisions to facilitate top and bottom line growth.
  • To prepare first draft annual budgets and ad-hoc reforecasts.
  • To manage working capital and cash to ensure compliance with all banking covenants.

 The successful candidate

To be successful in your application you should be an ACA or ACCA qualified Accountant who possess the following qualities:

  • Experience of working as a finance professional within a service sector.
  • Be energetic, highly motivated, with an enquiring mind and passion for excellence and innovation in pursuit of business growth and success.
  • Be a confident, self-starter who has demonstrated the ability to improve processes, solve problems and take initiative
  • Prior experience in an all-round reporting role with exposure to both financial and management accounts
  • Drive to deliver high quality, accurate financial information in line with deadlines.
  • Experience of leading a team is essential, with an ability to delegate effectively and to develop staff.
  • Highly competent user of MS Excel
  • Must be willing to travel to our various offices in the South East of England.

The business will offer the successful candidate excellent career progression in line with our growth aspirations.

 Preferable:

  • Experience of integrating acquired businesses.
  • Experience of implementing a new accounting system.
  • Experience of working in a timesheet environment
  • Experience of working in PE backed business or similar fast-paced environment.

Package:

Salary £60k to £75k depending on experience + benefits