Group Retail Financial Controller

at  Lush

WHO WE ARE

You might know us as the inventors of the bath bomb, but there’s more to this great-smelling, partly employee-owned, family-run company than pioneering cosmetics. We believe our business should put more back into the world than it takes and demonstrate that capitalism can be a force for good.
The Living Wage Foundation’s statement ‘a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay’ is one that we are proud to commit to in the UK. As an accredited Living Wage employer, we put our people first and fight cruel practices like animal testing, promote regeneration, and show that it is what’s inside that counts - whether that’s an ingredient in a product, or the minerals in a smartphone.

SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERTISE

• Qualified accountant ACA / ACCA / CIMA / Equivalent
• Experience in high volume, vertically integrated retail and digital operations.
• Managerial background and experience working within a retail finance team.
• Experience with Retail systems and a passion for technology-driven process improvement.
• Excellent communication skills and relationship building.
• Experience in commentary writing and the ability to effectively communicate finance to non-finance people.
• Proficient in Excel/Google Sheets and the creation of engaging presentations in Google Slides
• Ability to build relationships quickly and work collaboratively with people across the business
• Willingness to travel abroad
• Foreign languages are helpful but by no means essential.

ROLE OVERVIEW:

As the Group Retail Financial Controller, you will play a critical role in overseeing the financial operations, teams and reporting across our retail markets. You will ensure the integrity and speed of financial reporting, the compliance with regulations, and quality of the local finance teams. This role requires a strategic thinker with excellent leadership skills and a deep understanding of operational finance. We are looking for someone who can build a network of relationships and keep up to speed with business developments, always working with pace and enthusiasm.
Reporting To: Retail Finance Director/FBP
Location: Must be in the Poole office 2-3 days a week and available 5 days during month end.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Active management, recruitment and training of the local financial controllers/managers in the UK, Europe, Australasia and Greater China. Supporting the local directors in other regions where necessary (North America, Japan and MENA) to recruit and train excellent financial controllers/managers.
• Market by market review of group retail management accounts including P&L, Balance Sheet, Capex and Cashflow. This will include the monthly actuals, changes to the forecast, a thorough review of commentaries and also ensure;
• Any issues are identified and corrected in a timely manner, ahead of final submission. Training of local teams to avoid repeat issues in the future.
• Communication with the Group Finance Director throughout the month end to keep them informed of any material changes or potential delays.
• Preparation of a monthly finance commentary to cover the consolidated Retail P&L in conjunction with the Group Retail FBP. This would explain key variances in sales and profitability and provide a wealth of market level insight for the Group Finance Directors and Retail Leadership.
• Ensure that best practice is adopted in all markets. Areas of focus include the reporting quality, efficiency of key financial processes and working towards a finance transformation by leveraging systems, technology and automation.
• Providing accounting and reporting guidance to local teams and ensure standards are consistently followed.
• Work alongside the Retail, Digital and Brand FBPs to coordinate and review the periodic sales forecast updates, annual budgets and ad hoc financial modelling requests.
• Work alongside the Property, Buying, Tech and other FBP’s to ensure our forecasts reflect the latest plans and are correctly charged within our chart of accounts.
• Work alongside the Global Manufacturing FC to review the impact of intercompany transactions, such as stock/other purchases, cost of goods and internal pricing.
• Analyse and report on the Sales & Admin costs within the Retail entities, highlighting opportunities for profit growth to the relevant Global Business Partners in those areas.
• Ensure that in every market there is clear accountability for compliance with all relevant financial regulations, including tax laws, accounting standards, and corporate policies. Support where required to improve.
• Guide and encourage the local finance teams to adopt the UK best practice model for finance business partnering and operational support.
• Support the Group Tax and Audit managers in all aspects tax, audit and statutory reporting.
• Significant Ad Hoc project work and support for the Group Finance Director and wider business as required.