Finance Manager in City of London

Position: Finance Manager

Reporting to: Managing Director

Location: St Albans or London (4 New Concordia Wharf, Mill Street, London)

Working pattern: Full-time, fully on-site (not work-from-home). Time split between St Albans and London by agreement.

Salary: £50,000 per annum

ABOUT THE BASIC INGREDIENTS LTD

Established in 2018, The Basic Ingredients Ltd is a BRCGS Grade AA certified food company headquartered in London with a Dutch trading entity (The Basic Ingredients B.V., Rotterdam). Under our trademark brand Emma Basic, we specialise in clean-label ingredients for home cooking. Emma Basic promises: "Never Any Additives" — no emulsifiers, sweeteners, colourings, or ultra-processed elements such as refined oils. With a high-performing team of just ten, we generate annual revenues of just under £10 million across the UK, EU and Far East. We move fast; every team member has commercial impact. You will work with genuine autonomy — trusted, respected, with the budget to keep your skills sharp and stay ahead in your field.

THE ROLE

We are looking for a CIMA-qualified Finance Manager to take ownership of our finance function across our UK and Dutch entities. This is a hands-on, commercially focused role. You will run the day-to-day finance operation, control cash and stock as our two largest balance-sheet items, challenge supplier costs, and partner with the Managing Director on the numbers that drive the business. Equally important: we want a Finance Manager who actively uses AI and automation to modernise our finance function — reducing manual bookkeeping so that more of the team's time can be redirected to financial control, analysis, and commercial optimisation. You will own this transformation.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Cash and working capital

• Lead the weekly cashflow meeting; prepare the rolling 13-week cashflow forecast and chair the supplier payment prioritisation discussion.
• Manage daily bank balances across UK and NL accounts; flag funding requirements early.

• Critically review and challenge supplier invoices prior to MD authorisation — verify pricing against POs and contracts, identify overcharges, recover credits, and hold suppliers to agreed terms.
• Own the accounts payable and receivable processes end-to-end. Supervise the Assistant Accountant on invoice posting, statement reconciliations, credit control, debtor reporting and queries.

• Own the integrity of stock as a balance-sheet asset across UK and NL: valuation, ageing, slow-moving and obsolete provisioning, write-offs.
• Lead monthly stock reconciliations between SAP, the warehouse and physical counts; investigate and resolve variances.
• Coordinate periodic stocktakes; partner with the Inventory Buyer on stock-turn analysis and working-capital efficiency.
• Maintain the fixed asset register, including additions, disposals and monthly depreciation.

• Produce monthly management accounts and the monthly stock report, with commentary on variances and key drivers.
• Review and submit monthly UK VAT returns and other statutory returns; manage import duty calculations and HMRC correspondence.
• Lead year-end accounts preparation and act as the primary contact for our external accountants.
• Support the Dutch entity's reporting and ensure inter-company transactions are properly recorded and reconciled.

• Run monthly payroll and pension contributions; own the incentive pay calculations.
• Manage employee expense claims and company card reconciliations.

• Identify and deploy opportunities to apply AI and automation across the finance function — invoice capture and matching, bookkeeping, bank reconciliations, expense processing and reporting — to materially reduce manual work.
• Lead the upgrade of finance tooling and SAP Business One workflows; build the business case, scope vendor selection, and own delivery.
• Redeploy capacity freed up by automation toward stronger financial control, deeper analysis and commercial decision support.
• Maintain and improve internal financial controls, particularly around invoice approval, payment release and stock movements.
• Oversee day-to-day bookkeeping and reconciliation across sales, purchase and expense ledgers.

You may be required to undertake other duties from time to time as the Company may reasonably require.

KEY REQUIREMENTS

• CIMA qualified.
• Hands-on experience with SAP Business One (or substantively similar SAP module).
• Demonstrable use of AI tools and finance automation to reduce manual bookkeeping, with a track record of process improvement and successful system or ERP upgrades.
• Proven track record of challenging supplier invoices, identifying overcharges and recovering credits within an accounts payable function.
• Demonstrable experience managing stock as a balance-sheet item, including reconciliations, provisioning and stocktake oversight.
• Strong working knowledge of UK VAT, import duty and HMRC compliance.
• Experience producing monthly management accounts to deadline.
• Exposure to Dutch reporting or familiarity with EU VAT regimes is desirable.

WHAT WE OFFER

• Basic annual salary of £50,000.
• Year-end bonus based on Company and personal performance.
• Personal development budget of £2,000 per year — books, courses, certifications and trade events.
• Workplace pension with 5% employer contribution.
• 30 days annual leave (in addition to UK bank and public holidays).
• Free supply of Emma Basic products for personal use.
• A clear mandate to modernise the finance function with the AI tools and automation you believe in.

HOW TO APPLY

Please send your CV to talent@thebasicingredients.com with a short covering note explaining: (a) your CIMA qualification status, (b) your SAP Business One experience, (c) one example of an invoice or supplier cost you have successfully challenged, and (d) one example of how you have used AI or automation to reduce manual finance work.

Closing date: 2 June 2026 — early applications encouraged; we will interview on a rolling basis.