We are pleased to be partnering with an extremely well-known and important UK charity to recruit a Senior Management Accountant on a 7-month fixed-term contract.
This is a hands-on management accounting role supporting a sizeable and complex retail operation through a particularly busy period, including year-end. The role sits within the Financial Planning team and will take the lead on management accounts across the retail function, working closely with both finance colleagues and a wide range of operational stakeholders.
The retail operation is significant, with around 400 shops and a large P&L covering approximately £120m of income and £100m of costs. The organisation has also been through considerable change, including a substantial programme of shop closures, so there is plenty of complexity and variety within the role.
About the role
Reporting to the Retail Finance Manager, you will take ownership of high-quality monthly management accounts for the retail division, including month-end, investigation of variances, analysis and year-end preparation.
You will work closely with budget holders across a large and varied stakeholder group, helping them to understand financial performance and providing clear, useful financial information to support decision-making. The role will also involve supporting budgeting and forecasting activity and identifying opportunities to improve processes and reporting.
You will work closely with a part-qualified Management Accountant within the team, providing day-to-day direction and support. Formal line management is less important for this FTC, but you should be comfortable reviewing work, coaching others and helping maintain high standards across the team.
This is a busy role with large data sets, multiple systems and a broad stakeholder base, so it would suit somebody who enjoys getting into the detail while also understanding the wider commercial and operational picture.
About you
You may be formally qualified or qualified by experience, but you will need a strong and demonstrable management accounting background and the ability to produce high-quality management accounts with minimal supervision.
- Strong management accounting, month-end and financial reporting experience
- Experience working in a large or complex organisation
- Advanced Excel skills and confidence manipulating large data sets
- Good experience of finance systems
- Strong attention to detail and the ability to manage a busy workload
- Confidence working with multiple stakeholders across finance and the wider organisation
- A proactive approach and an interest in continuous improvement
- Experience supporting budgeting and forecasting
Retail experience would be useful but is not essential. Business partnering experience would also be advantageous, particularly where you have worked closely with non-finance stakeholders.
Contract and working arrangements
This is a 7-month fixed-term contract, expected to run until around mid-May, covering an important period including the organisation's March year-end.
The role is based in Stratford, with a highly flexible hybrid working model. In practice, the team would normally expect someone to be in the office around once a week, typically on a Tuesday or Wednesday.
The salary is £47,000-£54,000, depending on experience.
They are ideally looking for somebody who can start relatively quickly, with a start within two to four weeks preferred, although up to one month's notice can be accommodated for the right person.
The interview process is expected to be a single-stage online competency-based interview, with interviews taking place on a rolling basis.
There is also the possibility that the contract could be extended or potentially become permanent depending on the circumstances at the end of the FTC.