Senior Commercial Finance Manager

South Western Railway is committed to equal opportunities employment, and your application will be reviewed by the hiring panel with personal information removed. In order to assist this process please ensure that any attachments such as CV's or covering letter have personal details removed (this includes your name, address and email address). Any other attachments such as professional qualifications can be left unedited. Applications not following this guidance may be rejected.

Main Purpose

Partnering the business to ensure that they understand, are working towards and deliver their objectives within the financial plan agreed and revised as appropriate. To support the Directorate in development of the Financial Plan to support the Directorate objectives and strategy.

Principal Accountabilities

• Responsibility to sign off the Directorate P&Ls on a periodic basis. Working closely with the Management Accounting team to ensure that they have;
• Correctly recognised and classified costs, for example, by GL, IWO, Initiative, Asset Code, and Intercompany Partner etc, and
• Correctly recognised and classified revenues.
• Responsible for the management of the preparation of periodic results presentations to the Executive Director, Heads of and Budget holders through the Finance Steering Group governance process.
• Partner with the Executive Director, Heads of and Budget holders to develop the financial plan that supports the Directorate level strategy and deliverables. Working with the other Commercial Finance Managers to ensure consistent assumptions are used and are documented completely. Working with the Financial Systems Development Manager to ensure that the respective GLs, IWOs, Initiatives and Asset Codes are setup and available to be used.
• Manage the preparation, communication and roll out Annual Budget and Business Plan presentations and packs to Stakeholders. Ensuring that these submissions meet the instructions provided and the requirements of our stakeholders.
• Manage the preparation of quarterly updates / re-forecasts to the Directorate level financial plan, based upon the latest available information. Working with the other Commercial Finance Managers to ensure consistent assumptions are used and are documented completely. Working with the Financial Systems Development Manager to ensure that the respective GLs, IWOs, Initiatives and Asset Codes are setup and available to be used.
• Manage the preparation, communication and roll out of quarterly forecast presentations and packs to Stakeholders. Ensuring that these submissions meet the instructions provided and the requirements of our stakeholders.
• Manage the capture, calculate and communicate to stakeholders the impact of Automatic Cost Budget Change Events.
• Manage the provision of budgetary management training to all Directorate budget holders.
• Guide and assist the Directorate on compliance with and implementation of Financial Policies.
• Manage the preparation of Business Plan Commitment tracker and reporting to stakeholders.
• Working with FRH to continue to develop our forecasting toolset, including, implementation of further forecasting modules.
• Partner with the Executive Director, Heads of and Budget Holders to develop and maintain establishment plans & forecasts. Supporting the Directorate to navigate through HR and stakeholder approvals processes, and the development of business cases to support staff cost changes.
• Partner with the Executive Director, Heads of and Budget holders to
• model changes to operations. Supporting the development of business cases to evaluate the impact of any proposed changes. For example, Work Force Reform, Arterio Introduction.
• model risks / issues identified. Supporting the Executive Director and Heads of in the financial quantification of their Directorate level risks. Additionally, feeding information in as appropriate into the financial evaluation of Corporate level risks that impact on the Directorate.
• identify and deliver cost efficiencies. Supporting the development of business cases to evaluate the impact of any proposed cost efficiency measures.

• Partner with the Executive Director, Heads of, Budget holders, and procurement during contract negotiations to ensure that the business achieves the best value. Supporting the evaluation of the financial propositions and commercial scoring evaluation.
• Manage the preparation for and attendance at;
• Industry Groups and Forums. Supporting the development of business cases to evaluate the impact of proposed measures arising from these forums.
• Divisional Groups and Forums. Supporting the development of business cases to evaluate the impact of proposed measures arising from these forums.
• Company Level Groups and Forums. Supporting the development of business cases to evaluate the impact of proposed measures arising from these forums.
• Manage the preparation of annual and periodic Performance Based Fee evidence of Good and Efficient Operator actions taken by the Directorate. Supporting with financial analysis to evidence the impact of actions taken.
• Manage the analysis and interogation of large non-financial and financial data sets, and the presentation of findings and the development of actions with the Executive Director, Heads of and Budget Holders.

Line Management

• Direct line management of Commercial Finance Manager(s) and Finance Manager, indirect line management of Management Accountant(s).
• Working closely with all team members (through direct reports) to ensure successful achievement of objectives and to enhance and develop the team's overall capabilities and expertise. Including but not limited to:
• Performance review
• Develop development plan
• Prepare succession planning and manage staff turnover
• Promote and support talent
• Supplementary reports and ad-hoc analysis requests.

Minimum Requirements

• Fully Qualified accountant with minimum of 2+ years of PQE
• A self motivated and self-starter with 2+ years of finance business partnering experience
• Excellent inter-personal and communication skills.
• Effective and proven negotiation skills with ability to influence decision making.
• Confident in Excel, Word and SAP/SAP BI/SAP BPC an advantage.
• Qualified Accountant CIMA &/or ACCA.

Working Pattern

Working an average of 37 hours per week over 5 days

Monday to Friday, managerial hours

In return we offer a competitive salary and a variety of valuable benefits including free duty and leisure travel on SWR services for employee, free leisure travel for spouse/partner and dependants (criteria dependant), 75% discount on many other train operating companies, a range of retail benefits and an excellent pension scheme.

Please note applicants who require a visa, must have at least 6 months remaining at the time of their appointment. 

At SWR we believe our people are our greatest asset.

Our vision is to recruit and retain the best talent from the most diverse pool of candidates across our regions.

We are committed to establishing a sense of inclusion for all and to value each person for the unique contribution they bring.