Finance Analyst - 6M Fixed Term Contract in Leicester

About The Role

This position is a 6-month Fixed-Term Contract (FTC) and is therefore best suited to candidates who are available to start immediately or at short notice. Due to the nature of the requirement, we are particularly interested in speaking with candidates who can commence employment as soon as possible.

There’s plenty about Topps Tiles that might surprise you. Like the scale of our Support Office in Leicester. We have Finance, Marketing, Buying, Central Operations, HR, Property, Customer Service and IT all under one roof. Tight-knit teams of talented people working together and working hard to get things done and drive results. But then, would you expect anything less from an ambitious, dynamic, market-leading, multi-million-pound retail business? After delivering our 20% market share goal of “one in five” in 2023, we have launched our new goal – Mission 365 – targeting £365 million of sales.

Purpose: To support various financial planning activities for Topps Tiles, e.g. store/company budgeting cycle, forecasting, central functions budgeting and forecasting etc. To support the team in completion of monthly management accounts, reporting, performance reporting, and in particular support central functions leaders in understanding monthly costs and impacts on future plans. To ensure that appropriate analysis of business performance is available in an accurate and timely fashion and that sufficient information exists to allow key business users to take appropriate action to ensure performance is maintained in line with plans agreed. To support the business in understanding the financial impact of new initiatives and put in place mechanisms to track and monitor performance against targets.

Key Accountabilities:

• To ensure there is timely and accurate reporting and analysis to business managers, ensuring accuracy and relevancy of insight.
• To work with the finance team to ensure that key aspects of the monthly management accounting and financial accounting processes are appropriately administered and information is available in a timely fashion.
• Ensure there is open communication within the finance team around the period end accounts preparation – including any areas of judgement.
• Communication with other departments who either feed information to the accounts or utilise information generated.
• Close off the ledgers within agreed timescales and ensure that all key balance sheet control accounts have been reconciled and approved on a monthly basis.
• Supporting the wider Finance team to deliver budget and annual reforecasting which will help the business deliver its strategy and goal.
• Supporting with various other financial activities as required, e.g. financial analysis, commercial opportunities that may drive performance, reviewing performance against plan, etc.
• Supporting Topps Tiles stores with queries in relation to their P&Ls.

People/Leadership:

• Develop close and effective working relationships within Finance.
• Ability to communicate confidently and concisely to a range of stakeholders across the business.

Financial / Commercials:

• Support in the preparation of month end management accounts and presentation to key stakeholders on a monthly basis.
• Ensure that the Finance Business Partner is well appraised of the financial performance (e.g. variances vs budget) and emerging long-term trends.
• Supporting in the preparation of information for presentations across the business, for example weekly reporting (including KPIs, etc.), Board reporting, etc.
• Support financial control and ensure that key balance sheet control accounts have been reconciled on a monthly basis.

Risk and process:

• To ensure appropriate processes exist both within finance and across the organisation and to identify key areas of risk, and agree with the Finance Business Partner and Senior FP&A Manager appropriate plans to manage those risks.
• To ensure that appropriate controls exist across the businesses (e.g. Balance Sheet reconciliation, analysis of key control accounts), including compliance with key regulatory areas.
• Look to drive improvements where possible to increase the reliability and robustness of information and controls. This will include process simplification and automation initiatives across the finance function.

Decision Making/Freedom to Act:

• Freedom to liaise with other departments outside of finance to obtain all necessary information as required.
• Day to day responsibility covering the activities listed above and controlling/administering the company’s financial processes, with flexibility to drive improvement.
• Communication with key business teams to support the creation of monthly accounts and provide reporting and analysis to support the business.

Stakeholders:

• Finance Business Partner
• Senior FP&A Manager
• Head of FP&A
• Financial Controller
• Rest of finance team
• Topps Tiles business functions

Knowledge, Skills and Experience Required:

Essential:

• Part qualified accountant – we offer a comprehensive study package to support your accountancy development.
• Good working knowledge of core finance processes – monthly management accounts (including commentary on variances), weekly reporting, budgeting & planning, decision/commercial support.
• Good working knowledge of accounting systems – general ledger, purchase ledger, sales ledger, bank recs etc.
• Good level of commerciality – be able to participate in commercial/operational discussions.
• Effective communication skills – both on a 1:1 basis and in a group environment.
• Strong analytical skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to influence and support non-finance teams.
• Ability to prioritise, multi-task and manage deadlines.

Desirable:

• Knowledge and experience of Microsoft Dynamics or Bright Pearl.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills including the use of formulas, VLOOKUP, pivot tables etc.
• Experience of Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Outlook.
• Good working knowledge of other business areas e.g. commercial, operational and supply chain.

What we’ll do for you:

In a culture where hard work is recognised and great results are rewarded; you can look forward to a company bonus that will give you a share of our success (up to 20% of your base salary). Then there’s generous staff discount, pension and life assurance, a holiday allowance that increases with length of service and a wide range of other benefits. Plus, flexible working, free on-site parking, generous discounts on products and services and more. A lot more. We’re committed to promoting talent from within too, which means you’ll be well-supported to build a rewarding career with an individual development plan and lots of training on offer.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: At Topps Group we believe that diversity isn’t just a box to tick. We are committed to creating an authentic ‘One Topps’ culture, where our colleagues feel included and supported regardless of who they are or where they are from. We actively welcome applications from individuals of all races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, abilities, ages, religions, and socio‑economic backgrounds. If you need any adjustments during the recruitment process, just let us know—we’re here to support you. Join us in shaping a culture where inclusion is more than a policy—it’s a daily practice.

A career with Topps Group: Think you know Topps Group? Think again. There's plenty about Topps Group that might surprise you. Like the fact that you don't need to be a DIY or tile expert to work in one of our stores or our Leicester based Support Centre. Or the fact that we're Britain's largest specialist tile retailer, with more than 1,600 in-store specialists providing world class customer service to homeowners and tradespeople in over 300 stores nationwide.