P.F. Cusack
Financial Controller - Number 1 in Finance
Get notified of more jobs like this · No spam, ever
How your CV stacks up
Upload your CV to see how well it fits this job role
?%
Location: Enfield, primarily site-based with occasional UK travel
Reporting to: Managing Director
Direct reports: Six-person transactional finance team
Career opportunity: Genuine potential to progress to Finance Director
About the business
We are a long-established, profitable and privately owned B2B distribution business with revenue exceeding £50 million.
The business employs approximately 200 people across several UK locations and carries a significant stockholding. It has been built on strong customer relationships, product availability and a practical, entrepreneurial approach.
The business is now strengthening its financial reporting, controls and management information in preparation for the next stage of its growth.
The opportunity
We are looking to appoint an experienced Financial Controller as the number one finance professional in the business.
Reporting directly to the Managing Director, the Financial Controller will lead a six-person transactional team and take responsibility for the complete internal finance function.
This is a very hands-on role. The successful candidate will initially be the only professionally trained accountant in the business. They must therefore be able and willing to personally manage the technical accounting, prepare the management accounts and investigate issues within the underlying records.
Historically, financial reporting has focused primarily on annual compliance, with accounts prepared by an external accountant after the year end. The immediate priority is to establish a reliable internal month-end close and produce accurate monthly management accounts, analysis and commentary.
The current records and processes were not designed around a monthly reporting timetable. The Financial Controller must be comfortable working through incomplete information, reconciling historic balances and improving the processes that produce the numbers.
This is not a role for someone accustomed only to reviewing accounts prepared by a large qualified team. It requires someone who can personally produce the numbers while building a stronger finance function around them.
There is a genuine opportunity to progress into the Finance Director role as the business develops. Progression will be based on delivery, leadership capability and the ability to become a trusted commercial partner to the Managing Director.
Key responsibilities
Month-end and management accounts
- Personally own and deliver the complete monthly close.
- Introduce a clear close timetable with defined responsibilities and deadlines.
- Prepare monthly management accounts from the underlying records through to the final reporting pack.
- Calculate and post journals, accruals, prepayments, depreciation, payroll entries and other adjustments.
- Establish reliable cut-off procedures for revenue, purchases, goods received and stock movements.
- Produce monthly profit and loss accounts, balance sheets and cash-flow information.
- Complete and review balance-sheet reconciliations, resolving historic and current differences.
- Maintain appropriate supporting schedules and audit trails.
- Initially deliver accurate accounts within ten working days of month-end, shortening the timetable as processes improve.
- Bring routine financial reporting in-house and reduce dependency on the external accountant.
Reasons to use Rodeo
Start with a chat, not a search bar
Grad scheme, placement, apprenticeship? Not sure what you want yet — that's fine. Your agent talks it through with you and turns "I have no idea" into a shortlist.
It searches the market for you
Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
Reporting and commercial analysis
- Produce a clear monthly management pack with concise commentary.
- Explain performance, significant variances, risks and opportunities.
- Develop reporting by depot, customer, product and other relevant commercial dimensions.
- Improve visibility of revenue, gross margin, operating costs and profitability.
- Investigate unusual trends and understand the operational activity behind the numbers.
- Develop meaningful financial and operational KPIs.
- Support the Managing Director and wider management team with commercial analysis and decision-making.
Stock and working capital
- Take financial ownership of stock accounting, valuation and reconciliation.
- Work with Operations and Procurement to improve stock quantity, purchase-cost and movement information.
- Ensure stock records reconcile appropriately to the general ledger.
- Support robust stocktakes and cycle-counting processes.
- Investigate stock adjustments, write-offs, damaged stock and unexplained differences.
- Improve reporting of aged, obsolete and slow-moving stock.
- Establish confidence in reported cost of sales and gross margin.
- Improve reporting and control of cash, debtors, creditors and stock.
- Produce regular cash-flow forecasts and identify opportunities to improve working capital.
Team leadership
- Lead and develop the six-person transactional finance team.
- Clarify responsibilities and establish appropriate segregation of duties.
- Set clear standards, objectives and deadlines.
- Ensure purchase ledger, sales ledger, credit control and cash processing operate accurately and efficiently.
- Develop the team’s capability and understanding of the wider business.
- Document key processes and reduce reliance on individual knowledge.
- Build a finance function capable of supporting monthly reporting, growth and audit readiness.
- Address performance or capability gaps constructively and promptly.
Budgeting and forecasting
- Lead the annual budgeting process.
- Introduce regular forecasting and forward-looking financial analysis.
- Challenge budget owners and ensure forecasts reflect current commercial information.
- Report actual performance against budget and forecast.
- Support longer-term business planning, investment appraisal and scenario modelling.
- Help establish appropriate financial targets for depots and functional managers.
Controls, systems and compliance
- Assess the current financial control environment and develop a practical improvement plan.
- Introduce proportionate controls suitable for a £50 million-plus business.
- Improve purchase-to-pay, order-to-cash and record-to-report processes.
- Establish appropriate authorisation levels and evidence of review.
- Improve the quality of financial data captured at source.
- Reduce unnecessary manual work, duplication and spreadsheet dependency.
- Improve the use of existing systems and recommend further investment where justified.
- Act as the principal internal contact for the external accountant, auditors and tax advisers.
- Coordinate the statutory accounts and annual audit process.
- Ensure VAT returns and other relevant filings are accurate and submitted on time.
- Maintain appropriate accounting policies, records and a fixed-asset register.
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
Candidate profile
The successful candidate will be a qualified accountant with strong technical foundations and demonstrable experience preparing accounts from the underlying records through to meaningful management information.
A practice-trained ACA or ACCA with hands-on accounts-preparation experience would be particularly attractive. Candidates trained in industry will also be considered where they can demonstrate equivalent end-to-end technical capability.
Candidates should demonstrate:
- ACA, ACCA, CIMA, or QBE
- Experience as a Financial Controller, Head of Finance or similar.
- The ability and willingness to personally prepare complete management accounts.
- Strong knowledge of reconciliations, cut-off, accruals, prepayments, stock and revenue recognition.
- Experience establishing or materially improving a month-end close.
- A record of resolving incomplete or inconsistent accounting information.
- Experience managing and developing a transactional finance team.
- Strong budgeting, forecasting and cash-flow experience.
- The ability to explain finance clearly to non-finance managers.
- Practical experience improving controls, systems and processes.
- A hands-on, pragmatic and commercially curious approach.
Experience in distribution, wholesale, manufacturing or another stock-based business would be advantageous but is not essential.
Relevant background
Private equity or investor-backed experience would be valuable, particularly where the candidate has worked with demanding reporting, forecasting or board packs.
Experience in a privately owned SME is equally relevant where the candidate has personally dealt with underdeveloped processes, incomplete information and a finance function requiring improvement.
What success will look like
Within the first 6 months:
- A reliable monthly close operates within an agreed timetable.
- Complete monthly management accounts are produced internally.
- The Managing Director receives clear analysis and commentary.
- Material balance-sheet accounts are reconciled.
- Historic accounting issues are understood and being resolved.
- Confidence in stock, cost of sales and gross-margin reporting improves.
- The finance team has clear responsibilities and accountability.
- Budgeting, forecasting and cash-flow reporting are established.
- Core controls and processes are documented and improved.
- Financial information is capable of standing up to scrutiny.
- The Financial Controller has established a credible path towards becoming Finance Director.
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London
Skills
Location