Financial Controller, Levy Merchandising
4 days ago
Manchester
Financial Controller - Levy MerchandisingSalary: Up to £60,000, depending on experience, plus benefitsHours per week: 37.5Location: Manchester city centre - hybrid working between office and home. Check out our Manchester office - Fourways | Manchester (fourwaysmcr.co.uk)We're looking for a commercially astute and proactive Financial Controller to join our growing business. Reporting directly to our Chief Financial & Growth Officer, this is a pivotal role for a finance professional with a strong background in online trading and stock control. Experience of navigating the financial complexities of e-commerce, including EU VAT compliance and cross-border transactions, will be critical to success in this position.You'll be responsible for ensuring the integrity of financial reporting, maintaining robust financial controls and leading core accounting processes across the business. Working closely with senior leaders, you will provide meaningful financial insight and challenge, helping the organisation understand performance, identify opportunities and support profitable growth across both B2C and B2B channels.Alongside ownership of the month-end management accounts process, budgeting, forecasting and statutory reporting, you will play a key role in managing working capital, cash flow and financial compliance. You will bring expertise in EU VAT regulations and international trading requirements, ensuring the business remains compliant while supporting continued growth.What you'll do:Own the month-end close and management accounts, ensuring timely, accurate and insightful reporting, including journals, reconciliations, accruals, prepayments and financial analysisLead budgeting, forecasting and financial planning, partnering with senior leadership and operational teams to understand business drivers, challenge assumptions and identify risks and opportunitiesProvide clear, commercially focused financial insight, analysing performance against budget, forecast and prior periods and turning findings into practical recommendationsSupport on cash flow forecasting, working capital and cash conversion, providing clear visibility of the company's financial positionOversee purchase ledger, sales ledger, invoicing, credit control and supplier reconciliations, ensuring accurate records, strong controls and effective working capital managementLead financial reporting and continuously improve the financial control environment, strengthening processes, systems and controls as the business growsOversee VAT, sales tax, audit and other statutory requirements, working with external advisers to ensure accurate and timely compliance, including EU VATOwn inventory costing and related controls, ensuring accurate stock, shipping and invoice postings and improving inventory visibility and profitabilityAct as a key finance business partner across commercial and operational teams, providing constructive challenge and helping stakeholders understand the financial impact of their decisionsSupport the evaluation of new opportunities, investments and projects through financial modelling, analysis and commercial insightIdentify opportunities to improve profitability, efficiency and scalability through better processes, systems, reporting and use of dataContribute to the development of the wider finance function, establishing scalable processes and best practice as the business growsLead and support ad-hoc strategic and commercial projects, providing financial expertise where requiredLead, coach and develop direct reports to achieve individual and team objectivesWho you are:Qualified accountant (ACCA, CIMA or ICAEW) with previous experience in a Financial Controller or senior financial accounting roleExperienced in a smaller or growing finance team, with the ability and willingness to take ownership across a broad range of finance activitiesExperience in an e-commerce business with an international customer base would be advantageousStrong knowledge of EU VAT regulations and experience with sales tax complianceCommercially minded, with the ability to understand business drivers, challenge constructively and turn financial information into actionable insightStrong technical accounting, financial analysis and modelling skills, with the ability to communicate clearly with non-finance stakeholdersHighly proficient in Excel and financial systems, with an interest in using technology, automation and data to improve efficiency and financial visibilityExcellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the confidence to work effectively across all levels of the organisationComfortable working in a fast-paced, evolving environment and able to adapt as the business growsHands-on and detail-oriented when required, while maintaining a broader commercial and strategic perspectiveStrong ownership mentality, with the drive to solve problems, improve how things work and make a tangible contribution to the businessA passion for sport and an interest in the sportswear industry would be advantageousWhy Levy Merchandising?Levy Merchandising is the merchandising arm of Levy UK & Ireland. Levy UK & Ireland are a market leader in the world of sports and entertainment experiences, boasting some of the biggest and best stadiums and leisure locations in Europe as its venue partners. Levy is part of FTSE 100 company and global leader in food services, Compass Group PLC.At Levy Merchandising, we design and manufacture a wide range of product direct from source. From technical products, fit for the highest level of performance, through to non-technical fanwear, we produce apparel at all levels of the product pyramid. We also source a comprehensive range of non-clothing products to complete the full range of categories available across the sales channels.We're proud to do things differently. We have an innovative commercial model which puts our partners first and makes decision making a joint responsibility. Building long lasting, sustainable relationships is central to our ethos and we want our partners to retain independence and control on key strategic direction whilst being able to leverage the benefit, scale, and expertise of our central teams across Buying, Licensing, E-Commerce, and Retail Operations.We're also committed to supporting the local communities where our factories are based. We work with charities and local outreach programmes to have a positive impact in the cities and towns where we do business.SUDU is our UK sportswear brand headquartered in Manchester. With aspirations to be a leading brand that not only equips individuals with the tools they need to excel in physical pursuits but also to empower mindsets with every motion, we offer a range of apparel and footwear products across 4 categories - Run, Play, Train and Rest.You'll also get a package that includes:competitive salary that recognises your skills and experience31 days holiday including bank holidays (rising with service)contributory employer pension schemecolleague health cash plan to keep you feeling your bestlife assurance cover of 4 x annual salaryemployee assistance programme - 24/7 confidential access to expert services including virtual GP, counselling, wellbeing support, and independent legal and financial adviceaccess to high street cashback and discountsdiscounts on SUDU and other Levy Merchandising products and servicesenhanced family leave and paywelcoming company culture and opportunities to develop as our business growstwice-yearly colleague events, payday socials and loads of exciting activities in betweenBuilding an inclusive work environmentWe're actively building diverse teams and we welcome applications from everyone. We take pride in fostering a workplace culture that celebrates diversity and promotes inclusion. We believe that our differences are our greatest strength, and we're committed to creating an environment where every individual is valued, respected, and empowered.If we invite you to take part in the recruitment process for any of our jobs, we'll ask you if you need any reasonable adjustments to enable you to participate.If you have questions or need support with your application, you can contact us at .TPBN1_UKTJ