Finance Manager

The Finance Manager is a pivotal role in the regional finance function. The role is to manage the region’s finance personnel and function, running controlled finance processes and delivering accurate outputs in a timely manner. The Finance Manager is accountable for all aspects of the business unit’s (BU) finance processes, including the preparation of consolidated monthly management accounts, assistance in modelling of financial forecasts and plans for the BU, reporting of data and information to Division/Group, and management of the cash book/treasury function, sales invoices, accounts payable and staff expenses processes.

The Finance Manager will engage as a business partner with colleagues from other disciplines, being able to review and challenge with the aim of enhancing financial and business performance. The role will deputise for the BU’s Finance Director (FD) at business unit management team (BUMT) Board/ other meetings. The individual will have a process improvement mindset / approach

Primary Responsibilities

Management of Finance Department

• Line manager of 4 finance staff within the team. Manage the team members through a positive, engaging approach, ensuring that processes are robust and controlled, and outputs delivered correctly and in a timely manner.
• Develop team members through on the job training and external training programmes, including finance and soft skills courses (as necessary), objective setting, performance management and succession planning.
  
  

Accounting, reporting and control

• Manage the consolidated monthly close process, ensuring a clean close of all sub-ledgers, interfaces, and accounting judgements, with the general ledger closed by WD3.
• Oversight and approval of changes made by the Accounts Clerk to the BU payroll.
• Submission of actuals and forecast data to Division and Group (via OneStream) on WD4, confirming the accuracy of all data in the P&L, balance sheet, cash flow and other submitted operational data.
• Preparation of monthly management reporting for the BU. Include commentary which explains both YTD and full-year forecast variances from budget (or forecast), for review by the FD and incorporation in the monthly BUMT Board Report. The analysis will reflect operational understanding.
• Review balance sheet reconciliations, including entries and accounts managed by central teams (e.g. payroll accounting), ensuring that items are correctly analysed and any accounting anomalies are cleared on a timely basis. Highlight issues to the FD during review and gain overall FD sign off.
• Account, forecast and report on cost excesses/ savings, and attend cost variation meetings.
• Account and forecast for the complex areas of notional interest (IAS) on land acquisitions, land overage payables and closed sites.
• Update Group Treasury with cash forecasts and advise of any significant unexpected cash movements.
• Preparation of annual statutory accounts and the annual tax packs.
• Ensure Finance Manual procedures are complied with and timely dispensation sought where appropriate.
• Liaise with external audit and manage the process of delivering information required.
• Review and manage VAT and CIS returns for accuracy, before submission to Group Tax.
• Review and obtain sign-off for monthly payment runs and ensure they are in line with group limits.
• Review WIP and land recoverability reports, to ensure that all planned balance sheet amounts will be recovered by end of phase/ site. Liaise with the commercial and land departments to resolve any over/ under-recovery issues.
• Monthly review of WIP commitment and spend commitment carried out in conjunction with the Commercial Manager.
  
  

Forecasts and Budgets

• Preparation of forecasts and projections sourced from the COINs environment, for approval by the FD, and submission to Division/ Group. These presently consist:
• o 2 Year Profit and Cashflow Forecast
• o Forward land bank profit projection
• Preparation of the biannual detailed business plan/forecast, with support from the FD and with key decisions taken by the business and members of the BUMT. Interaction on plan creation with JVs where applicable. The modelling process includes:
• o Detailed modelling of site financial performance within the COINs environment (sites with detailed planning permission) and integration of offline modelling of sites without planning.
• o Agreement with BUMT, facilitated by the FD, on outlet opening/closing, sales rates, production profile & WIP commitment, land acquisition and payment terms, and housing association forecasts.
• o Creation of plans for direct selling expenses, overheads and other P&L categories.
• o Creation of the BU income statement and cashflow, production of the BU balance sheet created with assistance of the Anaplan tool.
• o Reconciliation of financial information between systems, e.g. COINs, OneStream and Anaplan and preparation of separate analysis and templates for submission to Group.
• o Explanation and demonstration of the key budget outputs across BU departments, often to a non-financial audience.
• o Post-plan performance monitoring and creation of a feedback loop.
  

Other

• Deputise for the FD, attending meetings on his/her behalf.
• Proactively support and business partner managers/ directors from the BU’s other TW functions. Provide information to enable robust decision making and constructively challenging those decisions (where necessary) to ensure the business is managed to deliver shareholder value.
• Visit the main active sites in the region, every 6 months.
• Analysis of direct selling expenses reporting output to the Sales Director.
• Respond to data and analysis requests from across the Division and Group
  
  

Experience, Qualifications & Technical Requirements

• Qualified Accountant – ACA, ACCA, CIMA, with prior experience of working as a financial accountant (or external auditor) and management accountant
• Staff management (required) with development of staff (preferred)
• Good working knowledge of MS Office and Excel in particular
• Previous industry experience
  
  

Inclusivity Statement

As a proud Disability Confident Employer, Taylor Wimpey is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workforce. We actively collaborate with individuals who have disabilities and long-term health conditions which have an effect on their ability to do normal daily activities, ensuring that barriers are eliminated when it comes to employment opportunities. In line with our commitment, we guarantee an interview to applicants who declare to us during the application process that they have a disability and meet the minimum requirements for the role. Join us in building a truly diverse and empowered team.