Finance Officer

DIRECT REPORTS : xTOTAL HEADCOUNT : x REV : x OPEX : x CAPEX : x

Purpose

Responsible for providing the line manager, the SM FBP, the VP Financial Planning and Strategy and the relevant business area stakeholders with the financial information, tools, analyses, and insight to help them make more informed decisions and drive business strategy, while challenging their thinking and seeking further financial improvements. This will be done through partnering with Business (and Finance), analysing financial performance vs. set targets, financial planning and supporting in the revision of processes and tools.

This role is part of the Financial Planning and Strategy team, reporting to a Manager Finance Business Partner. It will be responsible for having a deep understanding of the costs of certain business areas (assigned portfolio) and of the underlying tools and processes, for supporting the line manager and SM FBP in deepening their understanding of the costs associated with the assigned portfolio, and for establishing trust-based relationships with the relevant stakeholders within the portfolio business areas (likely Officers or Managers).

Accountabilities

Monthly closing, reporting and analysis: support the line manager in the preparation of the monthly reports and analysis, in order to deepen the understanding of the costs and relevant drivers of the portfolio business areas. Activities include the following:

• Work closely with business areas and Financial Reporting & Control to ensure the monthly financials reflect actuals as accurately as possible for the assigned portfolio, including ensuring relevant accruals are estimated effectively and reviewing actual postings vs. expectations;
• Prepare relevant auxiliary reports, for example to properly estimate accruals;
• Support in the preparation of reports on actuals vs. budget and forecast, including financial and operational data;
• Support in the presentation on the monthly financial performance review vs. budget, collaborating, getting further information and aligning with business areas stakeholders;
• Support in tracking the impact of profit improvement initiatives;
• Support in the preparation of deep dives into the relevant costs, together with the line manager and the business areas;
• Support in the preparation of the relevant KPIs to provide to Corporate Strategy;
• Propose and implement improvements to underlying processes and reports;
• Support the line manager and the wider FP&Strategy team in relevant additional analyses, supporting informed discussions with internal and external stakeholders.

Budgeting and forecasting: support the line manager in preparing budget proposals (together with the portfolio business areas), ensuring correctness of forecast models, consistency with defined assumptions, capture of relevant cost reduction/revenue improvement initiatives, and alignment with corporate and business priorities. This includes activities such as the following:

• Maintaining the relevant templates updated;
• Collecting, treating and analyzing all the necessary information (e.g., on avg. rates per service);
• Updating forecasts regularly based on changes in the operating plan or in business activities, as required by the Group Financial Planning team;
• Performing quality checks on the built reports, templates and forecasts, ensuring that the changes in outputs are explainable by the changes in assumptions;
• Supporting the line manager in challenging the budget proposed by the business areas and in identifying further initiatives to improve profitability.

Support in partnering with Business Areas and in the respective challenging of them: support the line manager in supporting the portfolio business areas. This includes activities such as the following:

• Support in the preparation and validation of business cases based on previously prepared models/templates to support the evaluation of options;
• Support in the financial evaluation of supplier bids;
• Support in day-to-day queries of the business area supported (e.g., mapping of cost centers, budget relaxations, quick reports, etc.);
• Connect portfolio business area and stakeholders to the relevant stakeholders in Finance, whenever adequate (e.g., Procurement, Accounts Payable, etc.);
• Partner with the other Finance departments to understand the finance operations flow and propose improvements based on business and team’s needs.

Support in process and tools revision: continuously improve the process/tools that support regular analyses, reporting and forecasting, seeking efficiency, avoiding redundancies and focusing on relevant and value-add metrics. This includes ensuring the team delivers on activities such as the following:

• Support in the revision/simplification of monthly reporting processes;
• Support in the preparation of Standard Operating Procedures and manuals whenever adequate;
• Support in answering Internal Audit queries and in closing Internal Audit Open Actions;
• Support in the implementation of the new budgeting tool, ensuring that it properly reflects the key budgeting drivers based on the most up-to-date information as well as improvement initiatives;
• Support in the implementation of any other financial system or reporting tool, as adequate.

Education & Experience

• Bachelor's degree (B.A. / B.S.) in Accounting, Business, Finance or related field
• Working towards a professional qualification in Finance such as ACA / ACCA / CPA / CIMA etc.
• Min 2 years of experience as a financial analyst or related financial systems and reporting
• Advanced Microsoft Office skills, particularly Excel; experience with BI tools is a plus (e.g., Tableau / Power BI)
• Experience with SAP and other accounting systems
• Fluent written and spoken English is required; additional languages will be a plus