I am currently working with a well known London based retailer looking for a Commercial Finance Analyst to join their FP&A team. The opportunity is 12 month fixed term contract and they are looking for candidates with previous extensive retail experience. The ideal candidate with have good experience business partnering with non finance people as well as producing the monthly management accounts and presenting to the board.

Main Duties

• Act as the key Finance business partner for Commercial Operations and Publishing and regularly meet and liaise with stakeholders to ensure appropriate reporting, budgeting and forecasting and to provide ad hoc support to assist with commercial decision making.

• Provide useful and insightful financial analysis and variance reporting for all owned areas for inclusion in the monthly Management Information Pack (MIP). Develop and report on key performance indicators (KPIs), in particular for Commercial Operations and Publishing.

• Produce timely and accurate monthly management accounts for designated departments, including preparation of accruals, prepayments, WIP, stock and deferred income journals and importing them into SUN Accounts.

• Lead key stakeholders through the annual budget and quarterly forecasting processes, challenging & analysing budget and forecasting submissions, and ensuring accuracy of financial projections before entry into the accounting systems and other reporting tools.

• Work closely with key stakeholders to ensure that all income and costs are captured and reported accurately in line with accounting standards and the monthly reporting timetable.

• Work closely with Strategy, Commercial Operations and Publishing on the annual update of the Medium-Term Plan, in particular developing models for new business initiatives, challenging financial plans and assumptions and providing scenario analysis to help understand risks & opportunities in achieving targets.

• Report on third party catering sales to the Director of Commercial Operations and monitor performance in line with contract terms, liaising directly with the third party caterer as required

Person Specification

• Accountant - ideally CIMA, ACA, ACCA or equivalent
• Demonstrable experience of management accounting and control procedures is essential

• Strong financial planning and modelling skills
• Project accounting experience preferred

• Excellent IT skills; advanced user of Excel and PowerPoint.

• Ability to plan, manage and control complex workloads to tight deadlines.

• Well organised with a methodical and accurate approach to work.

• An active approach to improving processes and developing the use of systems.

• Excellent interpersonal and strong written communication skills.

• Ability to advise non-specialist colleagues and non-financial managers on complex technical financial matters.