Senior Finance Manager

2023-present

Finance manager responsible for the production of the management accounts, commercial trading reports and project integrations.

• Reporting to chief financial officer, managing the transition & integration of the company out of administration into new ownership, currently leading a project to transfer from legacy accounting system to group finance software.
• Production of the daily, weekly and monthly commercial trading reports and forecasts including interrogation and challenge of assumptions where required to ensure a robust and reliable forecast. Regular review, identification and reporting on risks and variances to directors and cross-functional stakeholders such as marketing, merchandising and retail.
• Participation in wider business projects such as a strategic review, challenging and contributing from a financial standpoint to produce a robust document.
• Responsibility for the reporting and accuracy of the management accounts including channel P&Ls and full ownership of the balance sheet. Line management of 4 part-qualified accountants.
• Leading the external audit process and managing UK VAT accounting, reconciliations, and payments. Ensuring expenses and supplier payments are processed in a timely manner and posted appropriately in the accounts including suitable policies and tax treatment.

Commercial Accountant

2021-2023

Ownership of the management accounts for 8 sales channels including P&L summaries and analysis at channel level.

• Production of monthly management accounts for the relevant channels, including P&L summaries and insightful financial analysis of key metrics e.g. sales/margin/contribution.
• Key point of contact in administration process liaising extensively with external stakeholders such as debt holders and external advisors to provide required forecasts and financial information.
• Lead the production of channel annual budgets and quarterly forecasts engaging cross-functional colleagues in identifying key drivers/assumptions and ensuring the financial plans are robust and reliable.
• Preparation of weekly KPI reporting to allow performance tracking against the latest forecast, key actions and initiatives.
• Interrogate and challenge results with clear insight to drive and influence commercial performance and presenting back to senior business leaders.
• Modelling financial impact of proposed trading changes to assess profitability and reporting findings to cross-functional colleagues.

Commercial Business Partner

2018-2021

Financial planning, reporting and analysis as a business partner to the e-commerce and digital partner channels.

• Preparation of weekly KPI reports, detailing key trading performances.
• Preparation of weekly returns reports for each channel, understanding impact of promotions on returns rate and highlighting specific issues.
• Analyze the performance of the channels by investigating the key trading metrics to increase overall profitability.
• Production of the monthly management accounts along with supporting commentary and analysis on KPI performance as well as the annual budget and quarterly forecast.
• Establishing processes for new digital partners to improve reporting and service.

Financial Accountant

2016-2017

Ownership of management accounts for the retail and wholesale sales channels.

• Communication of P&L financial summaries to key management and commentary on business and KPI performance.
• Weekly reporting and analysis of KPI actuals versus the latest forecast.
• Business case modelling for future store investments.
• Production of the annual channel budgets.
• Development of a full balance sheet and cash-flow forecasting model for the company.

Management Accountant

2015

Ownership and responsibility for management accounts, statutory accounts, budgets and forecasts.

• Assist in production of the monthly management accounts with commentary for distribution to partners.
• Prepare files and liaise with external auditors to ensure timely completion of the annual audit.
• Preparation of the consolidated group accounts for the LLP.
• Prepare monthly balance sheet reconciliations, net margin and overhead analysis files with commentary.
• Perform basic SQL queries as required to produce reports & analysis.
• Serve as the main contact for customers, suppliers and outsourced staff for the main subsidiary company.

Projects Analyst

2015

3-month interim role working with stakeholders across the business on key projects leading up to the financial year end.

• Liaise with business partners in property, IT, e-commerce & other areas to ensure AICC and AUD KPI targets were hit for the year end.
• Visit finance teams in France and the Netherlands to smooth out process inefficiencies and improve communications between the European and UK offices.
• Ensure delivery of a clean balance sheet for the Turkey subsidiary company by overseeing investigation and reconciliation of problem areas.

Commercial Reconciliations

2013-2014

12-month FTC to manage a team of analysts in a shared service centre to produce 250 balance sheet reconciliations to a strict monthly deadline. Identify business risks and opportunities while maintaining robust control and driving process improvements.

• Oversee reconciliation of property, fixed assets, HR & pensions, logistics & opex, international regional office balance sheet accounts.
• Present and explain results on a monthly basis to service centre directors.
• Management responsibility for a team of 4 full and part-qualified accountants.

Operations Manager

2012-2013

Drive continuous growth in business KPIs through system and efficiency improvements while gaining management experience and enhancing scope of the role.

• Report on daily and monthly performance of 30,000 customer accounts at region level (UK/Europe/Asia).
• Refine and oversee complex 5-stage cash collection system using mail merges in 8 languages.
• Manage maintenance of database for 70,000 customer accounts across 60 categories on a rolling basis.
• Produce monthly board report and cash forecast for submission to group finance team.
• Liaise with key stakeholders in business areas e.g. sales & marketing to obtain their consent for further business improvements.
• Management responsibility for a varied team of 8 people: 2 finance analysts, 2 legal liaisons, 3 group and international credit controllers and 1 customer service representative.

Project Work

• Process and system mapping for a new finance system.
• Competitive analysis on 300,000 customers to identify business opportunities/current weaknesses.
• Marketing analysis on PPC campaigns using 100,000 data points to identify circa. £200k of savings.
• Key contact for an offline project reconciliation of £250k due from 2 key customers.

Operations Supervisor

2011

• Introduce KPI reporting at individual/team/region level to drive improved performance.
• Use database extracts to generate daily reports to maximise customers live and available to create revenue on the website.
• Line manager responsibility for a diverse team of 4 people.

Finance Analyst

2009-10

• Establish daily and weekly trade debtors KPI reporting at region level (UK/Europe/Asia/ROW).
• Establish 2 stage cash collection email system via Excel-Word-Outlook mail merges in 5 languages.
• Develop models to enable the finance team to upload, post and track credit card receipts.

Auditor

• Audit & accounts preparation
• Consolidating group accounts
• Controls and system analysis
• VAT and Corporation Tax returns
• Reporting to partner level
• Training junior staff

9-month secondment to Speedy Hire plc (turnover circa £300m) covering various assignments:

• Record and track the assets of Hewden Tools (nbv circa. £60 million) into Speedy Hire's system.
• Assist in the production of the consolidated accounts for the Speedy Hire group.
• Produce internal control audit reports on the sales, fixed assets and payroll areas.

ACA qualified chartered accountant

LLB Law - Upper Second-Class Honours (2:1)

4 A-Levels, 11 GCSEs