Finance Director in Dorking

Reporting to the Regional Managing Director (South Home Counties), this is a multi-faceted role incorporating a blend of accounting, commercial decision support and key stakeholder management. The ability to build relationships with and influence stakeholders is a key requirement as this role involves significant interaction with internal business areas including Sales, Commercial, Land, Construction and Customer Services. The Finance Director will be tasked with identifying opportunities to implement improvements which reduce costs, increase efficiency, and maximise net contribution while driving bottom line profit.

Main Accountabilities:

• Prepare four year forecasts for the region (South Home Counties) three times a year, working with the local board of directors to produce robust yet challenging targets for the region.
• Prepare, on a monthly basis, projections of current year profit for the region.
• Prepare, on a monthly basis, projections of the cash required by the region for the next six months.
• Build strong relationships with the region's management team and staff members to ensure a constant flow of information.
• Responsible for the monthly regional management accounts including journal postings, accruals, cost of sales, cash flow, variance analysis, and associated commentary.
• Implementation of ‘best in practice’ financial processes and procedures appropriate to the needs of the business, delivering a continuous improvement approach.
• Ensure a culture of commercial awareness is promoted and maintained across the company through effective business support.
• Liaise with non-finance internal stakeholders and provide high quality MI, budgetary support and key financial analysis.
• Review and approve weekly & monthly cash report and supplier payment runs.
• Ensure all balance sheet controls are in place and a monthly control file is maintained.
• Provide a year-end pack to Group for statutory accounts consolidation and liaise with external auditors regarding any accounting queries.
• Ensure compliance with regulations including VAT, SDLT and relevant accounting standards.
• Work with other members of the accounts department to ensure a good service is received by the region.
• Working flexibly between head office and the regional office.

About You

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Exceptional administrative and organisational skills.
• Commercial acumen and an understanding of key business drivers are essential to the role.
• Confident communicator with strong interpersonal skills.
• Attention to detail.
• Self-motivated with a ‘can do’ attitude.
• Flexible with regards to daily workload and able to work on a variety of ad hoc projects.
• Ability to explain financial metrics/concepts to other functional managers.
• Ability to work with tight deadlines.
• Ability to prioritise workload.
• Ability to work as part of a team and have skills to influence others.
• Degree educated.
• CA/ACA qualified and trained with an accountancy practice ideally, or alternatively trained CIMA or ACCA within an industry environment.
• Competent PC skills, including MS Word, Excel, Outlook.

We recognise that a diverse team makes us a stronger and more successful company. We value different ideas and perspectives as it helps improve our decision-making, products and services. And we’re striving to create an inclusive work environment, in which everyone can feel comfortable as themselves, uniquely contribute and do their best work.

About Us

The Cala Group is a major UK housebuilder and leading provider of desirable new homes across Scotland, the South of England & Midlands. Driven by a mission to create vibrant and sustainable new communities, our homes are characterised by exceptional design and sector-leading build quality, and we have a passion for providing our customers with a great home buying experience. This is an exciting time to be at Cala. Our approach to sustainability and technology is undergoing a dramatic transformation, and we’re aiming to create an industry-leading experience for both our staff and customers. At Cala, you can expect to be part of an environment which allows you to do meaningful work, while offering opportunities for personal growth. Our goal is to be the favoured employer in our industry and beyond. We encourage applications from those who want to be part of a culture where they can thrive, feel a sense of belonging and be comfortable being themselves at work.