Financial Controller in Southampton

£80,000 - £100,000 p.a + Travel allowance + Bonus and extensive benefits package

I’m working exclusively on an excellent opportunity for an ambitious ACA-qualified finance professional to join the Group Finance function of a major, complex UK organisation. This is a particularly strong opportunity for someone currently at Manager / Senior Manager level within a Big 4 firm who is considering their first move into industry, or someone who has already made that move and is now looking for greater leadership responsibility, exposure and progression. Importantly, this isn't viewed as a role someone should sit in for years. There is a genuine opportunity for a high performer to progress again within approximately 12–18 months, making it an excellent opportunity to join a major complex organisation with multiple future career paths.

The role will include:

• Taking ownership of financial control, governance and reporting across a number of UK entities and central functions
• Ensuring accurate and timely delivery of monthly management accounts and Group reporting requirements
• Leading the statutory reporting process, including preparation and review of statutory accounts and coordination of year-end deliverables
• Managing the relationship with external auditors and ensuring an efficient and well-controlled audit process
• Taking ownership of balance sheet governance, including review of reconciliations, provisions, judgements and areas of financial risk
• Maintaining and continually improving the financial control framework, identifying control gaps and ensuring appropriate remediation
• Providing senior finance leadership with clear visibility of key accounting judgements, financial risks, provisions and control issues
• Working closely with Group Finance and other senior finance teams to ensure consistent accounting treatment, reporting and governance
• Partnering with Tax, Treasury, Legal, Procurement, Technology and other central functions on complex financial matters
• Overseeing intercompany accounting, Group recharges and the effective implementation of transfer pricing policies
• Supporting financial governance around supplier costs, payments and central functional expenditure
• Providing constructive challenge to stakeholders and ensuring appropriate financial discipline across the organisation
• Identifying opportunities to simplify, automate and improve finance processes, strengthening both efficiency and control
• Supporting changes to finance processes and operating models and ensuring new ways of working are successfully embedded
• Using systems, reporting tools and data to improve the quality, accuracy and efficiency of financial reporting
• Building strong relationships across a complex, matrix organisation and becoming a trusted point of contact for senior stakeholders
• Developing the capability and succession strength of the team, helping identify and develop future finance leaders
• Playing a broader role across the Group Finance function and contributing to wider finance transformation and improvement initiatives

Who I'm looking for:

Ideally, you'll be ACA qualified and have trained within a Big 4 or leading accountancy firm, with strong technical accounting, audit, financial reporting and controls experience. You could currently be a Big 4 Manager or Senior Manager looking for the right first move into industry, or already working within a large/complex business in a Financial Controller, Group Finance, Financial Reporting or similar role. You'll need to be technically strong, but this isn't just about technical accounting. The successful person will need the leadership potential, commercial judgement and stakeholder skills to build credibility quickly and develop into a broader senior finance role. This could be an excellent move for someone who doesn't simply want their next job, but wants to join an organisation where they can build a longer-term finance career and progress quickly based on performance.