What’s the role about?

The Planning team are at the centre of the Partnership’s short and long term financial planning processes, delivering both Strategic and long term forecasts alongside the provision of enterprise level performance reporting and short term projections, supporting the Executive team to deliver their key objectives.

Working within a pool of 12 analysts, covering planning, reporting and analysis of our Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Cash flow statements, the Senior Finance Analyst will support the business in setting stretching top down budget targets, creating long term strategic planning business models, providing realistic in-year re-forecasts and analysing businesses performance against its key objectives.

You will work closely with other Finance teams (Commercial Finance, Centre for Accounting, Treasury and Tax) to understand the key drivers of trade and costs, business and operational risks and opportunities or the impact of Accounting judgements, and apply your knowledge and experience to develop our forecasting capabilities, improve forecast accuracy and create insightful reporting for our Executive leadership teams.

You can listen to what some of our Senior Finance Analysts have to say here!

Please note, this position is a fixed term contract for 12 months.

What will you be doing?

As a Senior Finance Analyst, you will be responsible for the production and delivery of financial planning outputs in your area of responsibility and to communicate the financial plan to stakeholders at all levels of seniority, providing appropriate ‘storytelling’, insight and challenge to enable effective decision making. This will require strong knowledge of financial planning principles, financial modelling expertise across the financial statements and working collaboratively with stakeholders across Finance to gather inputs and ensure the outputs are grounded in reality and commercial context.

This role will focus on In-Year Delivery and Long term strategic Planning of the Balance Sheet & Cash Flow, with particular emphasis for working capital.

The Cash team provides expert reporting and forecasting across the Balance Sheet and Cash Flow statements, supporting the business and Treasury, in managing direct cash flow, working capital, investment spend and debt obligations.

In addition to the above, there will be the opportunity to drive the next generation of planning and reporting capability, supporting the Finance Data Transformation Project in cleansing data structures and introducing new tools, such as Tableau, to improve the quality, accuracy and timeliness of reporting or to source consistent and robust data and drivers to support fast and flexible planning processes.

To view the job outline:

External candidates - please view via the attachment

Internal candidates - please view the job outline in this folder here using your internal email address only

Why do our Senior Finance Analysts love working for us?

The Planning team, as part of the wider Commercial Finance function are at the heart of the Partnership’s future success. With links across all finance teams, our analysts have full visibility of the Partnership’s financial performance, providing them with the opportunity to genuinely influence decision making at the most senior levels.

Our analysts are given a large amount of autonomy and are empowered to act as independent experts in their area of specialism, enabling them to provide robust challenge, and drive forward the performance of the business.

The Planning team are not just about planning! We are experts in data management, with a desire to simplify activities and fully utilise the new tools and technology that is constantly being developed to create slicker and more efficient budgeting and reporting processes. There are therefore plenty of opportunities to get involved in small project “squads”; in order to progress and develop the quality, capabilities and efficiencies of the function.

What you'll have:

• Qualified Accountant or equivalent experience

• Strong spreadsheet and presentation skills

• Experience working with complex financial models

What else could you bring?

• Deep knowledge of financial statements for central planning roles, in particular cash flow and working capital experience

• Ability to engage across multiple Finance teams, leveraging and utilising knowledge to evolve and develop reporting and planning capabilities

• Proactive, solution focused approach to problem solving

• Knowledge of lease debt accounting principles

Please note:

• We occasionally close vacancies early in the event that we receive a high volume of applications. Therefore, we recommend that you apply early.
• The application form consists of a CV upload, an online test followed by application questions. Please ensure you refresh the page each time you complete a task to ensure you complete everything that you need to in time. (If internal, please check your Workday notifications).
• This role can be based at either of our Head Offices in Bracknell or London, with blended working. It will require working in the office and times when you will work from home. If you are offered the role, you can discuss with your People Manager when you will be needed to work in the office.