Role Profile

Group Finance Manager - Balance Sheets (C5)

Division/Dept.

Group Finance – Financial Reporting

Location

Holborn store support centre / Manchester store support centre

Reporting to

Senior Finance Manager – Financial Reporting

In a nutshell

A key member of the Group Finance Team, owning and ensuring compliance with the Group’s balance sheet reconciliation policy of all Retail entities within the Group. This includes testing sampled balance sheets on a periodic basis, along with driving improvements in the use and functionality of our reconciliation tool Blackline. In addition, this individual will work closely with the Senior Finance Manager – Financial Reporting and Senior Finance Manager – Consolidation in preparing the consolidated Group results at half year and year end, as well as managing intercompany processes.

What you need to do

• Be a subject matter expert on balance sheet account reconciliations
• Ownership and maintenance of the Group’s balance sheet reconciliation policy
• Lead sampling and review of balance sheets throughout the year, with quarterly reporting to the Group Finance Director and Group Financial Controller.
• Assist in the investigation and resolution of problematic and/or unreconciled balance sheet reconciliation accounts
• Advise balance sheet reconcilers on improvements that can be made to meet the Balance Sheet Policy criteria
• Identify opportunities to improve reconciliation reporting processes and outputs, including functionality of reconciliation tool Blackline
• Managing the Group’s the intercompany processes, ensuring that all Group balances are accurately reconciled and agreed on a periodic basis
• Perform a high standard of ad hoc analysis to support decision making
• Coach and develop two direct reports to be strong members of the team
• Input into the Annual Report and Half year process including ownership and preparation of financial statement notes
• Provide technical accounting support to the wider business projects on an ad hoc basis.

What you need to know and show

• Qualified Accountant with good knowledge of IFRS standards
• Self-started who can work independently with minimal support
• Good system skills (Excel, Oracle & OS)
• Excellent communication and influencing skills
• Able to demonstrate a strong customer service ethic
• Critical eye for detail along with the ability to see the bigger picture
• The ability to work under pressure – providing accurate high-quality work under tight deadlines

What decisions I can make including budget

• Identify and advise correct accounting treatment for balance sheet account reconciliations
• Identify and advise whether accounts are being classified correctly
• Identify improvements in ways of working
• Identify improvement methods of reporting to management

Directly or indirectly manages

• Two direct reports

Support we will provide

• Working as part of a group reporting team with signification collective experience and expertise
• Access to technical guidance from Big4 Consulting and audit teams where necessary
• Access to Finance and Personal development tools e.g. Bitesize talks, mentoring within finance, quarterly Finance Cascades
• Blackline community training and guidance from the Blackline team at any given time

Work-life balance is important to us, so we offer our colleagues as much flexibility as possible in line with the needs of their role. We trust them to decide how, where and when they work, combining remote and collaborative working with a flexible approach to hours, giving them plenty of time and space for life outside of work whilst delivering against our business goals.