Cedar is currently partnered with dynamic fast growing Management Consultancy based in the West End. To help facilitate growth they are looking to hire an experienced Head of Finance to oversee and drive the financial performance of the organisation. The ideal candidate will be someone who can provide strategic financial guidance and insight to take the business to the next level of growth. A forward-thinking person, with a desire to contribute to leadership decisions in a dynamic and occasionally ambiguous environment, will thrive.
An integral part of our Operations and Leadership teams and central to the whole firm, the Head of Finance will balance the responsibility for financial stewardship with a commercial outlook that supports business development.
Duties
- Providing strategic financial leadership to guide business growth and success.
- Providing insightful financial analysis, pressing for continuous improvement, and making recommendations to influence decision making at an executive level.
- Overseeing financial planning, budgeting and cash flow forecasting processes.
- Managing financial risks and ensuring compliance with regulations.
- Leading the firm's ESG reporting initiative, driving sustainability goals; collaborate with various teams to collect, analyse and report on ESG metrics.
- Managing the internal and external reporting and compliance cycles for accounts and taxes.
- Engage with external stakeholders such as client, auditors and advisors.
- Financial Policy Setting (in coordination with Leadership team) and defining internal controls.
- Collaborate with other departments to optimise financial processes and drive operational efficiency.
- Managing and mentoring our team of two Management Accounts, fostering a collaborative and high-performing environment.
Skills and experience
- Fully qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA)
- Proven track record of progressively responsible financial leadership roles
- Experience of managing a Finance department or a small Finance team
- Exceptional analytical, problem-solving, and strategic thinking abilities
- Effective leadership skills with the ability to mentor and manage a finance team.
- Experience of AP and AR
- Experience of producing budgets in the multi-millions
- Experience in preparing and running annual audit
- Experience in preparing individual and consolidated financial accounts.
- Understanding of corporation, employee, and LLP taxation and how to optimise tax savings
- Knowledge of accounting software such as Xero
- Excel and modelling with intermediate Excel skills as a minimum
- Experience of working within a professional services business
- Experience of working within a small business
Desired behaviours
- Progressive and forward-thinking, with a desire to contribute to leadership decisions in a dynamic and occasionally ambiguous environment
- Highly organised, with a superior attention to detail
- Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills.
- Assertive and confident in dealing with senior stakeholders; able to socialise new concepts and tailor style/ the content to suit a variety of individuals
- Tenacious and driven
- A strong understanding and sense of when to 'put the brakes on' when possible, issues arise
- Great problem-solving skills and critically, the ability to think around a problem without a roadmap, coming up with solutions to then discuss with others
- A desire to continuously improve and iterate processes and ways of working to achieve optimum efficiency and quality
- A high level of professionalism and appreciation of confidentiality
