Finance Business Partner

Montagu Evans is a UK property consultancy that helps clients unlock value from complexity, because that’s where the most meaningful opportunities live. Our purpose is to bring clarity, creativity, and conviction to the complex. We are experts who collaborate to create value, not just preserve it and our team is built for impact, not oversight. We specialise in high-value, complex assets across the property lifecycle, where political, technical or commercial challenges demand a joined-up approach.

The Finance team are an integral part of the firm and the Central Management Services department. The team is responsible for managing the firm’s finance function in all areas: from credit control, to accounts payable, expenses, management accounting, billing, payroll, cash flow, budgeting and forecasting, as well as business partnering with the firm’s fee earning departments. We work with all areas of the firm and, in conjunction with other teams within the Central Management Services function, support and advise the firm’s partners, departments and fee earners. Finance also provides financial information on a regular basis to the executive committee and to the salary and remuneration committees.

The team currently consists of a Chief Finance and Operations Officer (CFOO), Head of Finance, a Finance Business Partner (FBP), Financial Controller (FC), Senior Management Accountant, 3 Credit Controllers, Accounts Payable Manager, Partnership Accountant, and 2 assistant accountants. This role will report into the Head of Finance, jointly business partnering with the incumbent business partner to provide business partnering and financial analysis support to all areas of the business. In addition to working closely with the wider finance function on billing, reporting, forecasts and budgets.

The individual will be responsible for supporting fee earners in the departments to help prepare forecasts and budgets, provide financial analysis on profitability and pricing for new, prospective and current jobs, and provide that partnership link between the fee generating departments and the central finance team. They will act as a central contact for any financial analysis and internal and external departmental reporting, including to clients.

The role will support the fee-earning departments in maintaining (and improving) WIP schedules, reconciling these to the Finance system, communicating monthly forecasts to the Senior Management Accountant and providing appropriate support (and challenge) to Heads of Department as to revenue trajectory. A key part of the role will be ensuring that reporting is accurate, timely and robust, so that partners, department heads and senior management can rely on it when making commercial decisions. The individual will also provide feedback and recommendations for improvement on departmental billing and process issues.

Despite being a well-established function in the firm, the role holds considerable scope for growth and development. Central to the role is improving reporting, forecasting and billing practices and processes for the departments, and beginning to create/adopt standardised procedures for pricing work and calculating profitability. The individual will work closely with fee earners to ensure that delivering value and driving profitability are embedded into the department’s decision-making processes. This role would also liaise with the departments administrative and support staff, ensuring all financial administrative tasks and duties are completed with timely, efficient processes.

We are looking for a qualified finance professional (1+ PQE), with a proactive approach and a keen eye for detail. The individual will need to be “hands on” and able to work closely with team members, whilst building relationships with the wider departments. This is an ideal opportunity for an individual that is willing to grow and change with the Finance team. The firm has recently implemented a new Business Information System (Oracle Netsuite), with a Business Intelligence layer (Qlik) so will be fully involved in making this a success from day 1.

Responsibilities

• Business partnering with the 3 fee earning departments and central management function, developing relationships with department sub-teams and fee earners, and providing real-time support and high quality analysis to inform commercial decision-making.
• Support departmental leadership in maximising revenue, profitability and cash conversion, using financial insight to identify risks, opportunities and practical corrective actions.
• Preparing accurate, timely and clearly-presented financial reporting for the departments, in the most appropriate format for various forums, meetings, committees and other groups, in line with each department’s reporting cycles.
• Working with fee earners to calculate and review the profitability and pricing of prospective, new and existing jobs and projects.
• Provide constructive and evidence-based challenge to Heads of Department and fee earners on forecasts, pricing, profitability, expenditure, billing and financial performance, while helping stakeholders identify workable solutions.
• Providing analysis of market information to identify and track competitor trends.
• Supporting ad-hoc business projects, for example helping business cases for senior lateral hires and preparing analysis reports.
• Analysing cost drivers and value including benchmarking costs and making recommendations for improvement.
• Maintaining (and supporting the evolution of) WIP, Pipeline and invoicing schedules, ensuring the records are complete and up to date and reconcile to Finance department systems.
• Work with fee earners to assess and evaluate, on a job-by-job basis, the likelihood of jobs completing, and in so doing produce monthly forecast figures.
• Improve financial understanding across the business through clear communication, targeted training and practical guidance on pricing, job profitability, forecasting, WIP, billing and cash collection.
• Controlling the department’s month end billing process, performing checks to ensure that invoices are issued in line with Finance department procedures and encouraging/enforcing compliance.
• Reporting promptly to the Head of Finance, FC and CFOO on billing issues, forecast variances and reporting risks, while considering practical solutions and corrective actions.
• Calculate and verifying WIP values for the year-end financial statements and assisting with the audit process.
• Working with department partners, FBP, Head of Finance, FC, and CFOO on the management and continuous improvement of fee-earning departments.
• Ad hoc pieces of analysis and reporting, as and when required by the department’s fee earners.
• Ad hoc project work including support and training on the new Business Information System ("BIS"/ Oracle Netsuite) and other systems development as required.

Qualifications

• Strong communication skills – both written and verbal.
• A keen desire to drive improvement, with a solution driven mindset.
• Full accounting qualification (ACA, ACCA or CIMA).
• Minimum 1 years PQE.
• Advanced Excel skills preferred including Pivot tables and advanced formulae.
• Business partnering experience. Ability to build trust and rapport with business stakeholders (junior and senior).
• Ability to juggle and prioritise competing priorities.
• The energy and dynamism to identify, and pro-actively deliver improvements.
• Real Estate background preferred but not essential.
• Experience of implementing new systems preferred but not essential.
• Experience of using Oracle Netsuite preferred but not essential.
• Experience of Qlik preferred but not essential.

We are committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels they belong and has access to equitable opportunities and clear pathways to success. We welcome applications from all backgrounds and experiences and are proud to be an equal opportunities employer, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, socio-economic background, caring responsibilities, neurodiversity, or any other characteristic protected by law. If you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know and we will work with you to support your needs where possible.