Head Of Finance

Abbeygate Search Ltd; Hertford; On-site; GBP 85,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Abbeygate Search Ltd is recruiting a Head of Finance for a privately owned business in Hertfordshire. You’ll take responsibility for day-to-day finances across a group of businesses, manage a small team and work directly with the owners, with support from a part-time CFO.

This is a hands-on role with visibility and scope to shape the finance function as the business grows, including month-end reporting, budgeting, cash flow management and intercompany consolidation.

Qualifications

• Fully qualified accountant with SME/owner-managed experience.
• Hands-on experience with management accounts, cash flow forecasts and budgets.
• Experience supervising a small team.
• Ability to explain numbers clearly to owners/managers.

Responsibilities

• Own month-end reporting and board packs.
• Oversee multi-entity reporting, intercompany balances and consolidation.
• Lead annual budget and reforecasts; manage cash flow and working capital.
• Coordinate year-end with external accountants for audit and compliance.
• Develop and manage the finance team; strengthen controls.
• Improve reporting processes and automation where possible.

Skills

Excel skills

Cloud accounting experience

People management

Financial analysis

Education

ACA/ACCA/CIMA

Tools

Cloud accounting systems

Job description

I\'m recruiting a Head of Finance for a privately owned business in Hertfordshire. You\'ll take responsibility for the day-to-day finances across a group of businesses, manage a small team and work directly with the owners, with support from a part-time CFO.

What I like about this role is how close you\'ll be to the decisions. You\'ll be the person the owners turn to when they want to understand why margins have moved, what cash looks like over the next few months or how a particular part of the business is performing. It\'s a hands-on role with room to take on more as the business grows.

What you\'ll be doing

• Owning month-end and producing management accounts and board reports that explain what\'s driving performance.
• Overseeing reporting across several entities, including intercompany balances and consolidation.
• Leading the annual budget and reforecasts, managing cash flow and working capital, and reviewing margins by business area and project.
• Taking responsibility for year-end and working with external accountants and advisers on audit, tax and compliance.
• Managing and developing the finance team, keeping controls and reconciliations in good shape and getting into the detail where needed.
• Improving how the team works. If a report takes half a day to pull together every month, you\'ll have the scope to find a better way of doing it.

What I\'m looking for

• Fully qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA or CIMA) with solid experience in an SME or owner-managed business.
• Hands-on experience producing management accounts, owning cash flow forecasts and leading budgets.
• Experience managing or supervising people, with an interest in developing a small team.
• The ability to explain what\'s happening in the numbers to owners and managers in plain English.
• Strong Excel skills, confidence with cloud accounting systems and practical examples of using automation and AI to improve finance processes.

Experience reporting across more than one entity would be helpful. You could already be a Head of Finance, or you might be a Financial Controller or Finance Manager who\'s doing much of this already and wants a broader remit. The top end of the salary range is for someone who\'s already handled a similar level of responsibility.

The role is based in the office five days a week.