Reporting to

Head of Strategic Corporate Finance and Group Financial Reporting

In a nutshell

The Financial Reporting team is responsible for all externally reported numbers, including the Annual Report and Interim Statement, and providing technical accounting advice to the Group. The team writes and owns the Group accounting policies, ensuring compliance with all external reporting requirements, provides group wide technical accounting advice on corporate and commercial transactions and plays a leading role across various projects

Working within the Financial Reporting team, the role provides key support to the Head of Strategic Corporate Finance and Group Financial Reporting, acting as a technical accounting specialist for the business. This includes staying up to date on accounting standards, advising the commercial teams on the accounting for new projects, preparing relevant accounting policy notes / papers and acting as accounting SME on various projects as and when they arise.

What you need to do

• Provide accounting support to the wider business on ad hoc technical queries, such as providing practical examples and proposing recommended accounting treatment
• Preparation of technical accounting position papers to support the Group's treatment of large or usual contracts
• Ownership and maintenance of complex financial models and detailed accounting transaction listings;
• Own and articulate key accounting judgements and estimates in relation to material transactions;
• Help ensure the business is up to date and prepared for all new IFRS standards, interpretations and exposure drafts on a timely basis, and that they are implemented properly
• Facilitate internal discussions on key areas of financial judgements, propose recommended accounting treatment and support Head of Group Financial Reporting and Financial Controller to conclude appropriately
• Help improve the Group's documentation of policies and procedures to enhance the quality of financial reporting
• Assist the Head of Strategic Corporate Finance and Group Financial Reporting in the Annual Report and Financial Statements and the Interim Report preparation process, including:
  • Draft sections of key papers for the Audit Committee, including accounting and tax updates and going concern / viability assessments
  • Support the co-ordination of the full accounts, including liaising with Corporate Affairs for the Strategic Review; Company Secretarial for Corporate Governance and Remuneration Committee Reports; and Investor Relations for presentation slides and analyst statements
  • The Financial Statements including all notes to the accounts, ensuring they are up to date, compliant with IFRS and in line with best practice
• Provide support and training on emerging accounting standards, including developing training materials, to finance and non-finance colleagues across the business.

What you need to know and show

• Professionally qualified ACA accountant with at least 3 years' PQE, either at manager level in a Big 4 firm, or within retail or an equivalent fast moving organisation (within a Group Finance team)
• Ideally will have FTSE 100 experience (working with or alongside)
• Detailed experience of technical accounting standards and statutory reporting
• Experience in corporate restructuring
• Excellent interpersonal, communication and influencing skills for managing senior level relationships
• Able to demonstrate previous experience of applying strong organisational and analytical skills
• Ability to work under pressure - providing accurate high quality work under tight deadlines,

What decisions I can make

• Identification and application of appropriate accounting treatment for technical areas

Support we will provide

• Working as part of a group reporting team with significant collective experience and expertise
• Access to technical guidance from Big 4 consultancy firms and audit teams where necessary
• Access to Finance development programme, including regular bitesize sessions, lunch & learns etc

Reasonable Adjustments:

Respect and equality are core values to us. We are proud of the diverse and inclusive community we have built, and we welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and perspectives. Our success is driven by our people, united by the spirit of partnership to deliver the best resourcing solutions for our clients.

If you need any help or adjustments during the recruitment process for any reason, please let us know when you apply or talk to the recruiters directly so we can support you.