Finance Manager – SJS/12727

AFR Consulting; Blackburn; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A progressive consulting firm in Blackburn is seeking a Finance Manager to report directly to the CEO. This role involves preparing trading reports, managing financial performance, and implementing process improvements. Ideal candidates will be ACCA/CIMA qualified or Part Qual/QBE, with strong analytical and Excel skills. The company supports career development and aims for significant growth in the coming year.

Qualifications

• Experience in Senior Management Accountant or Finance Manager role.
• Ability to drive change and take ownership of finance function.
• Analytical ability to identify trends and drive cost awareness.

Responsibilities

• Prepare trading reports and dashboards for the CEO and management team.
• Produce monthly presentations – P&L, balance sheet and cash flow.
• Review P&L to identify trends and drive cost awareness.
• Monitor and forecast KPIs, analyse and report variances.
• Oversee AP / AR, Credit Control, banking, etc.

Skills

Commercial insight

Process optimisation

Financial analysis

Excellent knowledge of Excel

Strong commercial sense

Education

ACCA / CIMA or ACA qualified

Part Qual / QBE

Tools

Xero

Microsoft Dynamics

Job description

This award winning design and distribution business is a highly customer focused and innovative company setting new standards within the market they operate. Privately owned and led by a recognised industry expert they have a revolutionary business model allowing them to deliver a varied and high quality range of products with seamless efficiency.

Having recently relocated to a state of the art office and warehousing facility in Blackburn, they are now pursuing an ambitious growth strategy that should see them exceed £10m turnover within the next twelve months. In order to support this they have an exciting new opportunity available for a Finance Manager to report directly into the CEO and work closely with the wider management team. The role would suit someone looking to develop in their career, providing commercial insight, optimising processes and challenging financial performance with analysis to drive growth and efficiency. This will be a stand alone role, developing much of their reporting from scratch and will require an inquisitive individual who thrives on continuous improvement. You will be supported by an admin/ accounts assistant and also be expected to work with their different business systems to collate, analyse and present information. At the moment they are using Xero, along with a basic CRM and ordering system although it is envisaged they will be moving to an ERP (Microsoft Dynamics or similar) at some point next year which the Finance Manager will play a key part in implementing.

This superb opportunity would suit someone ACCA / CIMA or ACA qualified or Part Qual / QBE with a solid grounding in a Senior Management Accountant or Finance Manager role who can drive change and is looking for real ownership of a finance functio. In this role your key responsibilities will be:

• Preparing trading reports and dashboards for the CEO and management team
• Producing monthly presentations – P&L, balance sheet and cash flow
• Reviewing P&L to identify trends and drive cost awareness
• Monitor and forecast KPI’s, analyse and report variances
• Monthly bank rec’s, aged debt / creditor reviews
• Quarterly VAT returns and annual accounts prep
• Oversee AP / AR, Credit Control, banking etc

A big part of this role will involve partnering with stakeholders across all departments to optimise performance, manage cost and improve profitability. The ideal candidate would look to reduce the reliance on manual data manipulation by automating processes and improving the quality and efficiency. Excellent knowledge of Excel and ideally MS Dynamics will be desirable, strong commercial sense and analytical ability, coupled with the confidence to present, take ownership of issues / projects and constructively challenge where necessary.

The successful candidate will be fully supported through their training and development and will have the opportunity to work with a fast paced, growing company that has seen double digit growth year on year since inception.