Group Financial Reporting Manager in City of Westminster

Equals Money is a fast-growing regulated payments business on a mission to make money movement simple. As Group Financial Reporting Manager, you will be the technical accounting authority for the group - owning the preparation of year-end statutory accounts, driving a tight audit timetable, ensuring full tax compliance in partnership with our external advisors, and taking ownership of the Finance function's risk and control environment. Reporting to the Director of Accounting and Finance Operations, this is a broad and substantive role at the centre of the Finance function.

Responsibilities

• Statutory Accounts
  • Own the preparation of year-end statutory accounts for all group entities, working directly in NetSuite and ensuring accounts are completed accurately and on time.
  • Prepare and review consolidated group financial statements in full compliance with IFRS and UK GAAP, including all required notes and disclosures.
  • Draft technical accounting memos and position papers on complex or judgemental areas, and monitor the impact of new and emerging standards on the group.
  • Maintain and develop robust supporting schedules, reconciliations, and working papers that provide a clear audit trail from the general ledger to the published accounts.
  • Coordinate inputs from across the business - finance, legal, treasury, and operations - to ensure all entities are closed accurately and consistently.
  • Monitor the regulatory capital positions of group entities on an ongoing basis, ensuring each entity remains appropriately capitalised and flagging any emerging pressures to the Group Financial Controller.
  • Support and co‑ordinate capital flows across the group - including dividends and intercompany loans - ensuring these are correctly structured, accounted for, and documented in line with regulatory and legal requirements.
• Annual Audit
  • Lead the annual statutory audit end-to-end: plan the timetable, manage deliverables, and hold internal stakeholders accountable to deadlines.
  • Act as the primary day‑to‑day contact for external auditors, ensuring they have everything they need to work efficiently and that queries are resolved promptly.
  • Prepare and own the full audit file - schedules, supporting documentation, variance analyses, and management representations - to a standard that minimises auditor review time.
  • Proactively identify and resolve accounting or disclosure issues ahead of fieldwork to avoid surprises and keep the audit firmly on track.
  • Communicate audit progress and findings clearly to the Group Financial Controller and senior leadership, flagging risks early and with recommended solutions.
• Tax Compliance
  • Manage the group's tax compliance calendar, coordinating with external tax advisors to ensure Corporation Tax and VAT returns are prepared, reviewed, and filed on time.
  • Provide advisors with accurate, well‑organised underlying data and act as the internal point of contact to ensure returns reflect the group's position correctly.
  • Support tax planning initiatives and help implement advisor recommendations in a practical, controlled manner.
  • Stay current with changes to UK tax legislation and assess their impact on the group, escalating material issues appropriately.
• Finance Risk & Control
  • Own the Finance function's risk and control environment: maintain the financial risk register, ensure risks are assessed to an appropriate standard, and drive the implementation of mitigating controls and associated action plans.
  • Co‑ordinate financial risk assessments across the Finance function, working with process owners to ensure risks are identified, documented, and managed on an ongoing basis.
  • Design and embed financial controls that are proportionate, effective, and auditable – ensuring the group's control framework keeps pace with business growth and regulatory expectations.
  • Monitor control effectiveness, track action plan completion, and report the status of the Finance risk and control environment to the Group Financial Controller and, where appropriate, to the Group Audit and Risk Committee.
  • Act as the Finance function's primary point of contact for the Head of Internal Audit, co‑ordinating internal audit activity, facilitating access to information, and ensuring agreed actions are tracked and implemented on time.
  • Identify and implement improvements to month‑end and year‑end processes, reducing manual effort and increasing the reliability of outputs.
  • Support the business through evolving compliance and regulatory reporting requirements, including those relevant to Equals Money's status as a regulated payments institution.
  • Champion best‑practice use of NetSuite across the Finance function, working with the team to improve how the system supports reporting, consolidation, and control.

Key Stakeholders

The role is primarily Finance‑facing. Day‑to‑day you will work closely with the Group Financial Controller and the wider Finance team, with interaction across treasury, legal, and operations as needed to support the reporting and control agenda. You will also have periodic engagement with the Head of Internal Audit and the Group Audit and Risk Committee in the context of the Finance risk and control environment. Externally, you will be the key relationship owner for the group's external auditors and tax advisors – managing these relationships with professionalism and ensuring they remain productive and commercially efficient.

Qualifications

• ACA qualified with at least 2 years post‑qualified experience, ideally gained in practice followed by a move into a corporate or fintech environment.
• Strong technical knowledge of IFRS and UK GAAP, with the ability to apply standards to real‑world situations and document your conclusions clearly.
• Proven experience preparing statutory accounts and managing group consolidations – you have done this before and can own the process end‑to‑end.
• Demonstrable experience running audit timetables and coordinating cross‑functional inputs; you know what it takes to keep an audit on track.
• Exposure to financial risk and control frameworks – whether through internal audit, a controls‑focused role in practice, or ownership of a risk register in industry.
• Exposure to UK Corporation Tax and VAT compliance, with experience working alongside external advisors to deliver accurate returns.
• Advanced Excel skills and familiarity with ERP‑based general ledgers; NetSuite experience is a meaningful advantage.
• Technically rigorous – you set a high bar for accuracy and take pride in the quality of your work and the robustness of your workings.
• Clear communicator – you can translate complex accounting and control positions into plain language for non‑finance colleagues and senior stakeholders alike.
• Delivery‑focused – you manage your own deadlines with minimal oversight and escalates the right matters at the right time.
• Commercially curious – you want to understand the business behind the numbers, not just report them.
• Continuous improver – you proactively look for ways to do things better and have the confidence to drive change rather than wait to be asked.