Contracts Finance Manager

Education/Qualification

• AAT Level 4 (2002)
• 9 GCSE’S Grade A-C
• Mental Health First Aider

Systems used

• SAP (R3, ECC 6.0 and S/4 HANA)
• NetSuite
• Sage 500, 200 and 50 (incl Payroll and CIS)
• Oracle
• Open Accounts
• Pegasus Opera (Versions I and II)
• JD Edwards
• Access Accounts (Dimensions)
• Awards
• CorVu

Career Summary

Current Employer – Food Manufacturing Company

Position – Interim Finance Manager

Dates – September 2024 – Present

• A 12-month FTC to cover maternity leave. Lead site financial control through effective use of resource and the production of timely reports that demonstrate site performance
• Responsible for the preparation of weekly and monthly management accounts and maintaining accurate and up to date accounts ensuring the general ledgers of the company are fully maintained, controlled and reconciled
• Lead, coach and mentor the finance team ensuring efficient and effective ways of working whilst supporting the team’s personal development
• Influence and business partner the rest of the site management team in working towards the site financial strategy

Management Accounting

• Preparation, review and analysis of weekly and monthly management accounts including commentary
• Analysis of factory variances and efficiencies
• Stock analyses
• Oversea and review of business Profit Improvement Plan (PIP)
• Sales reporting
• Responsibility for several overhead accounts (accruals, prepayments etc)

Financial Accounting

• Monthly balance sheet reconciliations
• Preparation and posting of month end journals
• VAT Return
• Fixed asset movement analysis and updating of Fixed Assets register
• Year-end audit support

Budgeting & Forecasting

• Assist with the preparations of the annual budget/forecast (overheads, material standards)
• Supporting the understanding and investigation of variance analysis relating to actuals vs budgets and forecasts.
• To act as the line manager of colleagues in the finance team to ensure duties are completed effectively and efficiently whilst driving accountability
• To support the finance team with their ongoing personal development
• Business partnering with wider departments within the business
• Continual review and improvement of procedures and key controls
• Provide the Head of Finance with concise, and clear updates and ensure all issues are escalated in a timely manner
• Support the Head of Finance in ensuring strong month end controls and adherence to deadlines to support wider group reporting requirements

Previous Employer – Elevator Service

Position – Finance Manager

Dates – October 2023 – September 2024

• Lead the financial planning and budgeting processes and develop accurate and achievable financial targets and forecasts
• Monitor and analyse financial performance, providing regular reports and insights to senior management and identifying areas for improvement or cost-saving opportunities
• Manage the company’s cashflow, including monitoring and forecasting cash requirements, optimising working capital, and overseeing accounts payable and accounts receivable processes
• Ensure compliance with accounting standards, regulations, and tax laws, working with external stakeholders
• Oversee the preparation of financial statements, including income statements, balance sheets, and cashflow statements, ensuring accuracy and adherence to accounting principles
• Implement and maintain robust internal controls to safeguard company assets and minimise risk
• Lead the financial analysis of investment opportunities, new projects, and business initiatives, providing financial insights and recommendations to support strategic decision-making
• Collaborate with the executive team to develop financial strategies, business plans, and long-term financial projections to support the company’s growth objectives
• Provide financial guidance and support to other departments, assisting in budgetary control and cost analysis
• Stay abreast of industry trends, economic factors, and regulatory changes affecting the financial landscape, ensuring the company’s financial practices remain up to date and compliant

Previous Employer – Welding and Coating Company

Position – Operations Accountant      

Dates – May 2021 – October 2023

• Business partnering with operational leads for performance review and analysis of burden unabsorbed
• Preparation and presentation of monthly management accounts with analysis and commentary
• PPV and manufacturing variance analysis with follow through to purchasing and supply chain
• Stock control and analysis including turnover, standard costing and E&O
• Balance sheet reconciliations and review
• Fixed asset accounting (plant & rental assets)
• Statutory and internal audit
• Annual budgeting
• Periodic monitoring and forecast of performance understanding key items and drivers to deliver information to non-finance senior management and operational leads for use in the wider business

Previous Employer – Global Pharmaceutical Wholesaler and Service Provider

Position – Finance Projects Manager (FTC)                 

Dates – July 2020 – May 2021

• Attend ERP business process workshops, including follow up “play back” sessions in order to assist the ERP provider in the completion of the Business Requirements Document
• Data mapping, collation and cleansing of standing data such as customer and supplier records, capturing data in the necessary templates to be loaded into the new ERP
• Clean-up of Fixed Assets in line with ERP asset data requirements in preparation for transfer to new system
• Obtain and review the Finance requirements for the new ERP system, such that they can be validated against the Business Requirements Document to be completed by the ERP provider
• Obtain, review and validation of Finance requirements against the ERP Business Requirements Document provided by the ERP provider
• Ensure that proposed Finance UAT Test cases / scripts provide full coverage of requirements for both positive and negative testing
• Produce the Finance Traceability matrix
• Creation of a revised CoA and mapping from WMS
• Continuing development of existing finance systems and processes

Position –Finance Manager   

Dates – July 2019-June 2020

• Overseeing the credit control team to ensure cash collection is maximised including preparation of key reports to business division leaders (4,000+ customers)
• Managing the Accounts Payable team relating to stock purchases (100+ suppliers)
• Overseeing financial accounting team – responsible for transactional processing of fixed assets, non-stock accounts payable and expenses including preparation of accruals, prepayments and depreciation calculations (500+ suppliers)
• Monthly and year-end stock and GRNI reconciliations across the business divisions
• Preparation of monthly intercompany reconciliations (30+ across 4 divisions and 4 companies)
• Preparation of external audit files for year-end reporting and statutory accounts
• Responsible for ad hoc external reporting including bank requirements, Payment Practice reporting, National Statistics and any new requirements
• Identification of any system errors and implementation of procedures to prevent further issues
• Maximise functionality of nominal ledger system and make improvements to current processes, constantly seeking efficiencies
• Running staff recruitment process as and when required

ACHIEVEMENTS:

• Transitioning the team from working full time in an office environment to working from home at the beginning of the national lockdown. This was a challenging time not only because of the practicalities of setting up and distributing hardware along with training the team how to use their new equipment, but also because of the personal struggles many of the team had with the change in routine and being isolated from their colleagues. Despite the challenges this presented the team managed to achieve the objectives that were set for them with continued support, no reporting deadlines were missed.
• Exploring and utilising existing systems and software to provide solutions to shortcomings within existing finance processes, for example providing debtors reporting and analysis to internal management, delivered with detail for the first time at line item level and also externally to the business’s bank.
• Identifying issues with procedures and processes within the finance function and implementing time saving efficiencies and improvements, for example, the automation of existing manual reconciliations such as stock and showing the team more efficient transactional input methods, cutting down on number of postings required.
• Being able to immediately assist with year end when I initially joined the company, helping out at an extremely busy period by putting the skills and experience I have gained to good, practical use.

Previous Employer – Mobile CCTV Systems

Position – Finance Accountant (FTC)               

Dates – April 2019 – June 2019

• Group analytical review YTD of P&L and balance sheet
• Inter-company review and reconciliation
• Group balance sheet reconciliations
• VAT review, realignment and reconciliation in ERP to comply with statutory requirements
• Produced documented processes for Finance team to follow when posting transactions (VAT/Non-VAT)
• Payroll year end
• Preparation of a suggested monthly procedures list, including a month end timetable

Previous Employer – Medical Aesthetics Company

Position – Interim Finance Manager (FTC)                   

Dates – April 2018 – March 2019

ACHIEVEMENTS:

• Brought the Management Accounts up to date, including P&L, analytical review and Balance Sheet substantiation.  These were three months in arrears.
• Reviewed and reworked the month end timetable, bringing forward the production of final draft accounts by ten working days.
• Produced and finalised year end statutory accounts and submissions (YE June 18) for Companies House
• Evaluated the finance function in its entirety and carried out the following actions:
• Reassigned roles to the four existing members of the transactional team to roles more suited to their interests and skills and brought one more team member on board
• Trained and mentored each member of the team in their new roles, engaging them in these roles, enabling and empowering them to be carried out to the best of their ability.  This has enabled previously dispirited team members to take full ownership of their area within the finance function and take pride in their work
• Taken responsibility to guide and tutor the two AAT studiers (levels 3 and 4) alongside opening up communications with their study provider conducting regular meetings with tutors and progress/portfolio reviews
• Introduced a streamlined purchase ledger and cashbook, transactional input and recording of data now efficient, accurate and showing more detail
• Moved the business from cash accounting to sales invoicing at the onset of the new financial year
• Introduced a new nominal matrix, mapping this in Sage 50 to match the companies preferred P&L and Balance Sheet structure. Created and produced a new Management Accounts pack that auto-populates from a .csv trial balance using Excel templates, ensuring any amendments to first draft accounts can be brought into the accounts pack quickly, accurately and efficiently
• Data cleansed c15,000 sales ledger transactions in Sage and c18,000 in Patient CRM to identify £1.5m difference between customer invoices raised and sales recorded in the accounts
• Aligned Sage and Patient CRM so that they both contain the matching transactional data, historically this had not been done in the business previously
• Introduced a new customer DD collection scheme, including transferring the existing clients to the new scheme
• Analysed the aged debtors to enable substantiation of the bad debt provision and wrote off £70k of debit balance client accounts and £45k of credit balance client accounts

Previous Employer – Manufacturer

Position – Finance Manager (FTC)                   

Dates – January 2017 – April 2018

• Preparation and provision of management accounts in compliance with statutory and legal requirements including consolidated inter-company accounts
• Ensuring an effective accounting system and resulting processes were provided for the businesses
• Ensuring financial controls are in place and enforced
• Submission of statutory returns such as Companies House, Corporation Tax, VAT, PAYE, NIC etc
• Oversee cashflow and ensure debtors and creditors are pursued and dealt with in a timely manner
• Responsible for the creation of the annual budget framework for the businesses
• Create and provide effective costing information in accordance with the requirements of the businesses
• Oversee stock/inventory control
• Advise the MD on all statutory requirements to ensure the businesses operate in a proper and effective manner
• Oversee and effectively manage the financial transactional input including sales ledger, purchase ledger and payroll

Previous Employer – Construction Company (ceased trading)

Position –Finance Manager                

Dates – March 2016 – January 2017

• Cost analysis of developments with comparison to budget
• Establishing a robust finance function including setting up nominal matrix and chart of accounts
• Cashflow forecasting
• Subcontractor and CIS payments and reconciliation
• High volume purchase ledger including reconciliation of payments made prior to purchase ledger being fully implemented
• Setting up and monitoring management companies for developments
• VAT reconciliations and returns
• Statutory returns including Corporation Tax, PAYE, CIS and Companies house
• Payroll
• Bank reconciliations
• Recruitment and training of junior finance staff

Previous Employer – Financial Lifeline to Low-income Households

Position –Finance Manager                

Dates – April 2015 – March 2016

• Production of monthly management accounts pack including financial commentary and analysis and trend
• Budget preparation
• Balance sheet reconciliations including accruals and prepayments
• Cashflow forecasting
• Statutory returns including Corporation Tax, PAYE and Companies House
• Recruitment, management, training and development of finance transactional staff
• Reconciliation of customer loan books include all related bank reconciliations
• Reconciliation and payment of payroll provided by third party contractor
• Implementation of new systems and procedures
• Reconciliation of branch cash expenditure
• Facilities for seventeen branches and head office including renegotiation of legal contracts such as leases, maintenance, repairs and provision of services

Previous Employer – IT Services

Position –Finance Manager                

Dates – March 2014 – April 2015

• Managing a team of four staff including recruitment, training and development
• Monthly management accounts production, including sales margin
• Accruals and prepayments
• Lead schedules for all balance sheet accounts
• Balance sheet reconciliations
• Production and posting of journals
• Bank reconciliations, nominal ledger reconciliations and management of petty cash
• Weekly cashflow forecast
• Management of company bank accounts and credit cards
• Sole responsibility for end-to-end payroll for 180 employees, including statutory returns
• Overseeing statutory returns, including VAT, PAYE, Companies House
• Assisting with year-end statutory accounts and liaising with auditors
• Maintaining and updating financial controls
• In house order/ expense system (SOS)

Previous Employer – Temporary Contracts  

Dates – August 2012 – February 2014

 A series of four fixed term contracts ranging from three to seven months including a systems integration role, maternity cover and re-insourcing the accounts payable function of a household name airline from a third-party supplier.  I chose to take this series of temporary assignments as I wanted to ensure my mother had recovered fully before returning my focus towards and recommencing my career.

Career Break

Position –Full time career for my mother

Dates – August 2012 – February 2014

Previous Employer – Supplier of Technology Solutions

Position –Accounts Office Supervisor                          

Dates – January 2005 – February 2009

• Supervision of a team of four including recruitment, annual appraisals, training and development
• Maintenance of the purchase ledger
• Reporting on aged creditors and rectifying any issues arising from this
• Supplier account reconciliations
• Checking purchase ledger for duplicate entries and errors
• Resolving any issues arising from unallocated cash on the purchase ledger
• Production of departmental cost centre reports for management accounts
• Analysis and reporting of overhead expenditure
• Assisting in the production of departmental budgets
• Managing internal and external customer satisfaction surveys, collating and reporting on results and then following up any negative feedback
• Any ad-hoc duties as required by the Chief Accountant

ACHIEVEMENTS:

• Reviewed and amended the purchase order procedure to ensure tighter control of expenditure at all levels within the company. Also enabling goods to be booked in and recorded in a more proficient manner.  I was responsible for the communication of the new procedure throughout the company.
• Sourced and implemented a new web-based employee expense system to replace the obsolete server-maintained system.  Involved customisation of the basic product to meet Brother’s requirements.  The successful introduction of the system included producing a user guide and training senior management and the sales force in both one to one and group sessions.
• Moving from a process of manually posting and authorising invoices I integrated an electronic invoice scanning and authorisation process into SAP.  Again, this involved training senior management and the accounts team.

Previous Employer – Online Retailer

Position –Marketing Accountant (FTC)                                      

Dates – September 2004 – December 2004

cover and produce management accounts of marketing expenditure for several catalogue brands.

Previous Employer – Logistics Company

Position –Assistant Accountant (FTC)                                         

Dates – May 2004 – July 2004

This role consisted of analysing data and proposing an improved system for vehicle usage on return journeys from outbound deliveries to maximise efficiency.

Previous Employer -Bar Chain                          

Dates – January 2001 – May 2004

Position –Management Accountant                                           

Dates – June 2002 – May 2004

Reporting directly to the Financial Controller, responsibilities include delivery of monthly management accounts and balance sheet audit work.

• Managing the production of monthly site and company management accounts for 12 outlets
• Bank reconciliation
• VAT reconciliation and returns
• Fixed Assets
• Supervision of the purchase ledger function and team
• All sales ledger work, including retrospective discounts based on sales figures
• Stock (liquor) reconciliation for retrospective rebates

Position – Purchase Ledger Clerk       

Dates – June 2001 – June 2002

Responsible for inputting invoices onto ledger, maintaining good relationships and dealing with suppliers, carrying out cheque runs on a two-weekly basis, reconciling supplier statements to purchase ledger and balancing a purchase control account.

Position – Payroll Assistant    

Dates – January 2001 – June 2001

Input of hours for part time hourly paid employees, update of starters and leavers, completion of P45, completion of P60 and P11D at the end of year.  Assisted in transferring method of payment from cash to BACS.

Position – Full time Parent and Student         

Dates – March 1994 – January 2001

This time was spent bringing up my children and attending college full time to study accountancy.

Previous Employer – Logistics Company

Position –Stock Control Clerk                                                        

Dates -March 1993 – March 1994 Responsibilities included maintenance of stock records for deliveries both in and of the central warehouse, petty cash and recording hourly paid employees’ labour.