Finance Business Partner

Job family definition

Roles within the Support Services job family are dedicated to optimising professional, technical and administrative services, which support the work of other job families in making Eden successful.

Role purpose

Our finance department are a motivated and effective team, providing support and working collaboratively with colleagues throughout Eden. You will work with our management teams to provide information, analysis and financial insight, working to achieve Eden’s goals from a finance perspective and support business development. You will have the ability to influence and build relationships with key people throughout Eden, working to provide all aspects of budgeting, financial reporting, management reporting, variance analysis and KPIs.

Key accountabilities

Conducting accurate and timely month end financial processes for specific operational areas.  Ensuring accurate technical financial treatment with a true and fair view of financial performance. 

Building and maintaining effective relationships with individuals across Eden. Producing monthly management accounts with relevant analysis and contextual narrative to inform management reporting and conducting regular P&L review meetings. Drafting narrative and analysis for board meeting papers.

Budget process planning, detailed budget model creation, analysis across cost centres, reconciling to actual results, and subsequent reforecasting as the year progresses.

Providing positive challenge to support, inform and help the Leadership Team to deliver to budget. This includes identification of revenue increasing and cost saving initiatives for consideration by the CFO and the relevant member of the Leadership Team.

Ensuring effective compliance with Eden’s financial policies, procedures and controls.

Approval of budgeted capital expenditure and recruitment/payroll requests within budget.

Ad-hoc analysis, for example business cases, customer profitability analysis, CRM/Big data / correlations, what-if scenarios, statistical models.

Demands of the role

Decision-making

Reporting to the Head of Financial Planning and Analysis, the jobholder generally works to  project objectives and a monthly accounting cycle. They are accountable for the probity and accuracy of financial data and for the professional advice they provide to Heads of Department and the Leadership team to influence and have a significant bearing on Eden’s future financial performance.

Regularly makes decisions on requests by the business to vary from the budget plan.

Resourcefulness

Regularly required to generate, test and model new initiatives, theories and recommendations, which support the strategic economic objectives of Eden.

Provides pro-active professional advice and guidance to other areas of Eden, to influence, test, analyse and evaluate the financial implications and impact of operational areas to achieve the optimal economic outcomes balanced with societal and educational outcomes.

Pro-active identification of revenue increasing and cost saving initiatives over and above budget for consideration by the CFO and the relevant Leadership Team owner.

Occasional negotiation with external parties on key procurement and financial transactions to optimise the financial position when contracting for goods and services.

People & asset management

Delegated responsibility to authorise recruitment/payroll requests within budget.

Shared responsibility for the security, care and maintenance of financial and salary data within the Finance systems and budgets.

Communication & customer experience

Excellent report writing and presentation skills, regularly distilling complex commercial models and financial performance into a succinct key narrative for communication to Executive level stakeholders.

Operational environment

The role generally operates in a pleasant office environment with occasional site visits, sometimes to areas under construction. There may be an occasional need to travel for customer/supplier meetings. Currently each member of the team has the option to work from home one day a week, to help reduce carbon emissions.

Eden Values

Eden are an educational charity focused on building relationships between people and the natural world, this underpins everything we do.

Job Title:

Finance Business Partner

Job Reference:

BSS035

Education and Qualifications

Essential:

A qualified Accountant (ACA, ACCA or CIMA) and chartered membership of relevant awarding body.

Strong part qualified applicants may be considered.

Desirable:

Knowledge and Experience

Essential:

An accomplished practitioner, with the theoretical knowledge and extensive technical skills working in a Financial Reporting or Audit role.

Experience of month-end financial processes across multiple cost centers.

Experience of creating budgets and long term (5 years +) forecasts in Excel with dynamic adjustments and scenario analysis.

Desirable:

Finance business partnering experience

Use of Business Central

Use of PowerBI

Knowledge of Charity accounting SORP

Experience of trend identification, statistical analysis and “big data” analytics.

Skills

Essential:

Strong Excel modeling and presentation skills.

Strong communication and interpersonal skills – the ability to build and maintain relationships at all levels and tailor any communication to the audience

Flexibility – in attitude and working patterns when necessary

Teamworking

Accuracy - Attention to detail

Problem solving

Can-do attitude – ability to approach every challenge positively

Desirable:

Intermediate PowerPoint and Word skills.

The ability to influence and negotiate positively and effectively