Our client is a rapidly expanding and highly acquisitive market leader. As a direct consequence of this growth, the business is seeking to add an experienced Financial Controller to the team in Scotland.

A key focus for the Financial Controller is to contribute to bringing a ‘large corporate’ culture to the organisation and manage, develop and motivate a large team. Key responsibilities cover all aspects of financial and management reporting; budgeting, planning and forecasting; treasury and working capital management. In addition, there are a number of current and planned initiatives that this role will lead. These include an imminent financial system implementation and a series of business process, procedure and control projects.

The role forms a key part of the Management Team and provides the Financial Controller with a privileged position within the company. As such, the requirement is for an individual of the highest calibre.

The Role:

Reporting to the Finance Director, the position incorporates a blend of accounting, staff supervision and stakeholder management requiring interaction with the Head Office team, operations and external advisors.

The main duties and responsibilities are as follows:

• Liaising regularly with the board and senior operational stakeholders
• Oversee the running of the central finance department through a number of line managers
• Co-ordinate staff development and deliver staff appraisals, PDP’s and regular 1 to 1’s
• Ensuring all transactional processing is completed in an accurate and timely manner
• Overall responsibility for the production of monthly management accounts and board reports
• Responsibility for the delivery of the annual statutory accounts
• Overall responsibility for all tax compliance (Corporation Tax, VAT, etc.)
• Coordinate the preparation of all annual budgets
• Coordinate the long term and strategic planning process
• Working capital management and cash forecasting
• Overseeing treasury matters, such as foreign exchange and currency hedging
• Providing accounting support for acquisitions
• Management of the external audit process
• Managing external relationships with banks, auditors, tax advisors, etc.
• Implementing robust internal control systems
• Implementing and continuously improving accounting systems

The Individual:

The Financial Controller position requires a high calibre individual who is strong interpersonally, process driven and possesses excellent technical skills. It is essential that the individual is experienced in the accounting, commercial and operational requirements of a fast-paced, high volume environment, and has demonstrable experience of leading and developing large teams.

This role is aimed at a professionally qualified accountant with relevant post-qualification experience. The ideal candidate will be a strong people manager who is capable of driving process improvements, supporting operational decision making and developing good working relationships across the business. Experience of running shared services would be advantageous, especially in demonstrating experience of large volume ledger management and robust control environment awareness.

Finally, it is critical that the Financial Controller can work closely with the Finance Director. In particular, it is crucial they can take responsibility for decision making and possess sufficient gravitas to challenge current thinking and drive positive change. They will also be responsible for deputising for the Finance Director in a range of matters.

A summary of the key candidate requirements are as follows:

• Degree educated with a track record of high academic achievement
• CA/ACA/CIMA/ACCA qualified with a minimum of 10 years’ PQE
• Background in large, complex business environments
• Proven track record in managing sizeable (>30 staff) finance teams
• Excellent technical foundation in accounting and taxation
• Confidence and strong interpersonal skills, especially when interfacing with senior management, internal/external stakeholders or customers
• Ability to work to strict deadlines and motivate staff to do likewise
• Self-motivated and capable of developing the current role over time
• High level of accuracy and attention to detail
• Energy, drive, tenacity, professionalism and commitment
• Excellent IT skills with experience of implementing and improving systems
• Flexible approach to working hours in line with the needs of the business and happy to travel to other UK locations as required

Salary Details: £95,000 - 110,000 + car + bonus + private medical