Founded in Sheffield in 1912, Irwin Mitchell began as a small local firm. For over 100 years, it has represented clients in landmark cases and grown into a national full-service law firm. The firm now has more than 3,000 colleagues, working across 21 offices throughout the UK. Its team brings deep expertise in some of the most complex and specialised areas of law – from personal injury and medical negligence to commercial litigation, family law, employment, and property.

Due to exciting developments’ across Irwin Mitchell’s businesses in Scotland, they are now looking to appoint the newly created role of Finance Director, which can be based in Glasgow or Edinburgh. This will be a highly visible appointment offering great exposure and will provide an opportunity for an ambitious professional to drive the financial and operational improvements needed to underpin the next phase of growth and profit delivery. This role also offers an excellent salary and benefits.

A summary of some of the main responsibilities are below:

• Director of IM owned/affiliated/invested entities in Scotland
• Member of various management committees including WJM Exco, WJM Risk Committee and attendance at WJM Board and IM Scotland partners meetings
• Responsible for driving the financial results and commercial activities of the Scottish businesses, working closely with leaders and partners to deliver the expected outcomes
• Responsible for financial planning, leading managing the preparation of budgets and forecasts
• Responsible for the accurate and timely reporting of financial results, to management and external stakeholders
• Responsible for compliance with the Group’s tax policies and compliance, working with the Group tax team
• Leader of the Scotland Finance team, delivering financial and credit control, financial operations, financial and management reporting, process improvement, planning and commercial finance support
• Collaborating with the Group Finance and Tax teams (IM LLP) to provide tax, payroll, accounting, treasury, financial operations and FP&A support to the Scottish businesses
• Providing coaching and development support to direct reports and other leaders, cultivating high performance
• Responsible for ensuring compliance with relevant accounting standards, maintaining the compliance with IFRS
• Responsible for the financial control environment, ensuring appropriate governance and suitable delegated authorities in conjunction Group Finance and General Counsel Team
• Managing the relationship with the Statutory Auditor, delivering a clean audit report and statutory reporting
• Responsible for the efficient and effective management of financial transactions, cash flows and debt balances
• Responsible for the local relationships with banks and lenders (where relevant)
• Ensuring compliance with the Revolving Facility Agreement between IM Scotland and IM LLP, monitoring and actively managing cash flows and debt drawings
• Working closely with the Cash Room Partner to ensure the float is appropriately controlled and managed
• Managing the relationship with the LSS to ensure compliance and clean inspections
• Responsible for the financial analysis, business cases and financial integration of M&A targets
• Responsible for the management and mitigation of risks relevant to financial activities
• Acting as a sounding board to the Chairman and senior partners, providing appropriate challenge and advice

Qualifications and knowledge

• Qualified accountant, with appropriate post-qualification experience in a complex, medium sized business
• Experience of dealing with external regulators
• Strong technical finance skills and good knowledge of UK tax principles
• Previous experience of implementing and managing strong financial control environments
• Previous leadership experience, with the ability to build and manage finance teams

Skills

• Excellent communication skills and ability to maintain effective working relationships with peers and colleagues
• Sets high standards and ensures delivery of high quality outputs
• Exhibits high levels of integrity and accountability
• Able to operate autonomously and accountable for own actions
• Strong attention to detail and a focus on delivering results
• Strong business acumen
• Resolves problems proactively, seeking support and input as required

For more information on this opportunity, please contact Hazel Wynn at Rutherford Cross: [email protected].