Commercial Finance Manager

PA Consulting; London; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading consulting firm in London seeks a Commercial Finance Manager to provide business partnering and financial insights. The role involves supporting senior stakeholders, preparing forecasts and budgets, and delivering analytical reporting. Candidates should have a background in finance and strong commercial acumen, with proficiency in tools such as SAP or Oracle. This position offers hybrid working, allowing flexibility between office and remote work.

Benefits

Health and lifestyle perks

25 days annual leave

Generous company pension scheme

Annual performance-based bonus

Qualifications

• Experience in influencing senior stakeholders is required.
• Strong commercial acumen and awareness are crucial.
• Experience in a global professional services environment is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Provide business partnering and commercial support to the Consulting Service.
• Conduct variance analysis and provide timely financial reporting.
• Influence decisions and drive action from insights.

Skills

Critical thinking

Stakeholder management

Presentation skills

Data analysis

Commercial awareness

Education

The equivalent of a UK 2:1 degree

CIMA, ACCA, ACA or equivalent

Tools

SAP

Oracle

Advanced Excel

Job description

Company Description

We believe in the power of ingenuity to build a positive human future.

As strategies, technologies, and innovation collide, we create opportunity from complexity.

Our teams of interdisciplinary experts combine innovative thinking and breakthrough technologies to progress further, faster. Our clients adapt and transform, and together we achieve enduring results.

We are over 4,000 strategists, innovators, designers, consultants, digital experts, scientists, engineers, and technologists. And we have deep expertise in consumer and manufacturing, defence and security, energy and utilities, financial services, government and public services, health and life sciences, and transport.

Our teams operate globally from offices across the UK, Ireland, US, Nordics, and Netherlands.

PA. Bringing Ingenuity to Life.

Job Description

Purpose of the role and overview:

The Commercial Finance Manager (CFM) is required to provide business partnering to Consulting Service and Sector Operating Units. Through a real and active partnership, CFM’s work closely with the Unit to provide ‘real time’ support and analysis, to be a trusted advisor and to add value that will assist in decision making. The CFM provides commercial support to their Unit by assisting in bid modelling and generating creative ways of delivering maximum value to both PA and the client via contracts, pricing, payment, team structure and operations. The CFM is responsible for providing accurate and timely reporting of weekly and monthly results with variance analysis, creating quarterly Forecasts and annual Budgets and various ad-hoc analysis and projects. The CFM reports into Corporate and the CFO thereby interacts with multiple parts of the business and has exposure to many senior stakeholders.

What does it take to be a good Commercial Finance Manager?

Critical to their success is an ability to communicate their message, to understand their audience and deliver the information in a clear and user-friendly manner. It is this mix of analytical, commercial and communication skills which are at the heart of successful business partnering.

• Actively influence day to day decisions, shaping strategy and the direction of the business by providing current commercial, industry and strategic advice
• They are the interface or ‘translator’ between Corporate and the Consulting Service and Sector Operating Units
• They are commercially aware, understanding and anticipating the needs of both the Units and Corporate
• They have strong core business skills including influencing, stakeholder management, problem-solving, presentation skills, an ability to build relationships and persuade
• They learn from the past but are future orientated
• They interpret data, order and assess its value and then present the findings to the relevant stakeholders in a clear and concise way
• They can draw on ‘big’ and ‘small’ data, selecting the appropriate tools to manipulate, analyse and interpret it in sophisticated, audience-appropriate ways
• They must be able to form and stand over their opinions, have a well-developed sense of ethics and be prepared to stand up for these principles
• They should be comfortable with risk and working with ambiguity
• A person characterised on one hand by having the confidence to work closely with demanding and sometimes difficult leaders who is also able to focus on the detail
• Ability to deliver excellent work product often under a tight deadline
• Ability to be adaptable and flexible at speed to respond to demands from the business
• Have the ability to think ahead and catch problems before they arise
• Be passionate about their role and the mission of the organisation and the CFO and be a company representative with credibility and professionalism

Key responsibilities:

Business partnering

• Provide insightful, forward-looking analysis and reporting on a client/Go-to-market level and present the findings to the relevant stakeholders in a meaningful way, where possible in person to create the maximum impact, add-value and be able to respond to queries
• Provide performance insight on actual results and forecast performance when required and drive action from insight, add value through reporting and MI production
• Provide financial education of the Unit Leads, new Partners and Consultants
• Run workshops for Units on Finance areas such as the PA model, Commercials, how to maximise value to PA and the client when a need is identified/required
• Assist Unit Leads in providing commercial risk management on open book reporting, high-risk assignment reviews
• Pro-active commercial engagement in the entire lifecycle of the Services portfolio from assisting/managing the bid modelling to job completion. Focus on providing insight that will ensure that we create commercially sound bids and contracts with competitive profitable pricing, that assignments are set up and managed effectively from a financial perspective, advising on all non-routine financial matters including currency exposure, corporate taxation, the management of all working capital requirements such as invoicing, payment terms and interest, thereby ensuring the adequate managing of risk during the lifecycle of an assignment, from bid to closure
  Oversee/assist job set-up and commencement
• Complete and monitor job profitability, operations and trajectory over life compared to bid model projections, mitigate any job risk/issue areas and inform the necessary parties in times of underperformance/problem

Commercial Finance activities

• Complete regular earned-value analysis to ensure revenue and profits are correctly recorded
• Completion of weekly and monthly results with variance analysis and insightful commentary
• Actively manage and monitor your Units contracts risk portfolio and pro-actively raise any concerns or issues and provide commercially sound solutions
• Production of quarterly Forecasts, annual Budgets and sensitivity analysis
• Working capital management; overview of job invoicing, payment and debt collections
• Complete internal audit requirements
• Expense and cost analysis, review and investigation of out of policy/anomaly spend
• Overview of Subcontractor arrangements and P2P
• Work as part of a team; share knowledge, educate where possible, learn from and support the wider finance team to work as one
• Assist in roll out of Project Phoenix
• Provide M&A support and when required
• Ownership of any ad-hoc related analysis in conjunction with the Leadership team

Involvement in ad-hoc Finance and Corporate projects

Hybrid working - our approach is to be in the office or on client site a minimum of 2 days per week. However, the actual time you spend and where you spend it will vary by role or assignment.

Qualifications

• The equivalent of a UK 2:1 degree
• Qualified Accountant or Qualified by Experience – CIMA, ACCA, ACA

Experience

• Experience in dealing with and influencing senior stakeholders, excellent interpersonal skills required
• Experience at managing cross-function/business relationships at all levels within an organisation is desirable
• Strong commercial acumen and awareness
• Advanced excel skills and data analysis
• Experience of working with SAP/Oracle is preferred
• Previous experience in a global professional services environment and/or dealing with UK Government is desirable
• Previous Line management experience.

We know the skill-gap and ‘somewhat need to tick every box’ can get in the way of meeting brilliant candidates, so please don’t hesitate to apply – we’d love to hear from you.

Apply today by completing our online application

Please be aware that some of our UK roles at PA Consulting require a UK security clearance.

All PA people are required to undergo background checks and to achieve the Baseline Personnel Security Standard however, some UK roles also require higher levels of National Security Vetting, where applicants must have at least 5 years of continuous residency in the UK.

We therefore ask that you only apply if you meet the residency requirements (i.e. you are a British citizen or have been resident in the UK for the past 5 years), as this is the prerequisite for a security clearance. If you're unsure about your eligibility, we encourage you to review the UK Government’s guidance on security vetting before applying.

Additional Information

Life At PA encompasses our peoples' experience at PA. It's about how we enrich peoples’ working lives by giving them access to unique people and growth opportunities and purpose led meaningful work.

Our purpose guides how we work with our clients and our teams, and support our communities, to deliver insight and impact, solving the world’s most complex challenges. We're focused on building a workplace that values human difference and diverse mindsets, and a culture of inclusion and equality that unlocks the potential in our people so everyone can be their best self.

Find out more about Life at PA here.

We are dedicated to supporting the physical, emotional, social and financial well-being of our people. Check out some of our extensive benefits:

• Health and lifestyle perks accompanying private healthcare
• 25 days annual leave (plus a bonus half day on Christmas Eve) with the opportunity to buy 5 additional days
• Generous company pension scheme
• Opportunity to get involved with community and charity-based initiatives
• Annual performance-based bonus
• PA share ownership
• Tax efficient benefits (cycle to work, give as you earn)

We’re committed to advancing equality.We recruit, retain, reward and develop our people based solely on their abilities and contributions and without reference to their age, background, disability, genetic information, parental or family status, religion or belief, race, ethnicity, nationality, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity (or expression), political belief, veteran status, or any other range of human difference brought about by identity and experience. We welcome applications from underrepresented groups.

Adjustments or accommodations - Should you need any adjustments or accommodations to the recruitment process, at either application or interview, please contact us on [e-mail]

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