Job Description

You will be responsible for all aspects of finance business partnering to enable MSO to exceed its business plan. You will benefit from significant exposure to the Director group (in both Finance and Operations) and will become embedded in the senior leadership teams of the businesses where your finance and accounting skills will be highly valued.

Principal Accountabilities

• Ensure the special operation business units achieve their financial targets and objectives.
• Essentially, you will ‘own’ numbers and have the capability to report both actual results and forecasts, understanding and explaining any variances.
• Work with the budget owners to understand all opportunities to either remain on plan or to over perform against the plan.
• Work with budget owners to regularly analyze and review performance vs. budget. Operating under a delegation of authority, review purchase requests and provide constructive challenge where appropriate
• Financial oversight of product development projects – tracking expenditure versus budget, performance against key milestones, spend to completion and project returns
• Continuously improve the financial tracking tools and outputs available to budget owners, driving accountability and allowing them to achieve budget objectives
• Proactively identify, record and seek to resolve financial risks and capitalize on opportunities. Exercise commercial judgment in understanding when to escalate issues.
• Challenge budget owner assumptions to ensure best value for money. Develop financial analysis that supports key decision making (allowing prioritization of investment)
• Monitoring debtors and providing support to initiatives that drive improvements to working capital
• Mentoring, development and management of junior team members
• Overseeing the month end accounting process, including working with the Central Control team to provide timely, accurate and complete financial reporting
• Project tracking – spend to date and spend to go analysis. Document and prepare monthly P&L actuals with meaningful variance analysis in a form that can be shared at Director and Executive Director level
• Develop and implement appropriate process area KPI’s, process and control documentation
• Lead the preparation of annual budgets and the subsequent updating of these budgets throughout the year to deliver rolling forecasts. Identifying balance sheet and cash flow impacts therein

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Fully Qualified Accountant (CIMA, ACCA, ACA or equivalent) with at least 5 years post qualification experience
• Experience of working within industry or a project accounting role
• Experience of developing presentations and analysis for senior management that underpin decision making
• Strong Microsoft Office skills
• Demonstrate a continuous improvement approach to work, including but not limited to, identifying and leading the implementation of areas for process improvements and implementing robust solutions
• Experience of would be advantageous
• While sector experience is not necessary, an enthusiasm for the luxury automotive segment and motorsport is welcomed
• A high energy, pro-active, passionate, confident and persistent individual
• Ability to work independently and under pressure to manage conflicting priorities and tight deadlines
• Comfortable with ambiguity
• Ability to work with operational (non-financial) colleagues as part of a cross functional team. Commercial acumen
• Strong attention to detail
• Team player, actively sharing best practice with peers
• Highly evolved communication skills