Description
Role: Central Costs Manager
Location: Milton Keynes
Day Rate: Competitive
Duration: 3-6 months Initially
The Cash & Central Costs team provides accurate and timely understanding of our cash performance and drives forward a culture of more accurate cash forecasting lead by the commercial and operational leaders in the business. The team liaises with Group Finance to ensure cash requirements are understood and makes sure that demands are satisfied.
The team also provides great financial control and compliance across the balance sheet and central costs, providing analysis to ensure delivery against the expectations of the board across all head office costs.
Responsibilities:
- Manage the delivery of the end-to-end Central Costs planning, budgeting, forecasting and analysis in line with pre-determined timelines, reviewing and submitting outputs to relevant counterparts
- Create stakeholder relationships to ensure the senior business leaders understand their headcount costs and discretionary spend
- Identify, report and analyse areas where discretionary spend is not in line with the Executive direction escalating non-compliance if required
- Oversee financial controls, identify where controls are not operating and drive remediation
- Identify and implement opportunities to improve finance processes related to Central Costs
- Responsible for managing relationships with relevant internal and external (third party) stakeholders
- Responsible for managing and developing team members
- Share relevant tools and lessons learnt with Finance & Non-Finance stakeholders
- Act as the guardian of accurate and representative financial statements
- Identify and implement opportunities to improve central costs processes and outputs
- Establish a performance culture, leading, motivating & developing a small team of finance professionals
Requirements:
- Qualified accountant with post-qualification management experience
- Strong commercial acumen, ideally within the retail sector
- Experience in a business facing finance role
- Ability to present complex information in a simplified manner
- Experience in Finance reporting or Financial controlling
- Experience in using systems that support financial accounting and reporting processes (eg Lawson, Essbase, and other reporting tools)
- Strong analytical skills, Excel & Access skills and attention to detail
- Sound coaching and team leadership and development skills
- Significant experience in presenting to and communicating with senior Finance and non-Finance stakeholders
- Significant experience in driving process simplification and improvements