Accounting and Finance Associate

Responsibilities:

• Maintain accurate accounting records, transaction classifications and general ledger entries.
• Reconcile bank accounts, cash, supplier statements and other control accounts.
• Maintain accounts receivable and payable schedules and identify overdue balances.
• Issue customer invoices, retain supporting documents and follow up on collections with the sales team.
• Support monthly close and prepare timely management accounts and financial schedules.
• Monitor expenses, payment approvals and compliance with financial controls.
• Maintain fixed asset records and reconcile inventory accounts with physical stock.
• Prepare cash-flow forecasts and monitor liquidity, working capital and funding requirements.
• Maintain budgets and rolling forecasts aligned with the transformation plan.
• Analyse actual results against budgets, explaining variances and business-line or project profitability.
• Maintain KPI dashboards covering revenue, gross profit, collections, costs and agreed operating targets.
• Validate KPI data with business leads and reconcile financial measures to the accounts.
• Track transformation milestones, action owners, deadlines, dependencies and spending commitments.
• Follow up on agreed actions and flag delays, missed targets, cash constraints and cost overruns.
• Prepare management review packs and recommendations to support business planning and capital allocation decisions.
• Track approved investment spending and resulting benefits against the business case.
• Support tax filings, statutory reporting and external audits, maintaining organised digital records.
• Support Odoo Accounting and related reporting processes across business lines.
• Escalate discrepancies, unusual transactions and control weaknesses; support process improvements.
• Coordinate reporting submissions and document management decisions and follow-up actions.

Business Analysis and Capital Allocation:

• Research market demand, customer segments, competitor pricing and industry trends to assess growth opportunities.
• Build business cases for new products, partnerships, locations and capital expenditure, documenting sources and assumptions.
• Model margins, cash requirements, returns and payback; test demand, pricing and foreign-exchange scenarios.
• Compare investment options and recommend priorities based on expected returns, strategic fit, risk and available capital.

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance or a related discipline.
• 2+ years of relevant accounting and finance experience, including management reporting or budgeting.
• Chartered Accountant, ICAN or ACCA, preferred. Strong part-qualified candidates may also be considered.
• Strong understanding of accounting principles, reconciliations, accounts receivable, accounts payable and financial reporting.
• Strong Excel skills, including financial modelling, scenario analysis, variance analysis and KPI dashboards.
• Experience using accounting software or ERP systems.
• Ability to assess financial, operating and market data, challenge assumptions and present clear recommendations to management.
• Ability to conduct structured market and competitor research, evaluate sources and prepare concise business cases.

Preferred Experience

• Experience in electrical, engineering, construction, building materials, distribution, project-based businesses or a similar industry is preferred.
• Experience with inventory accounting and stock reconciliation.
• Experience with cash-flow forecasting, budgeting, KPI reporting or transformation tracking.
• Exposure to commercial analysis, investment appraisal, pricing analysis or business planning is an advantage.
• Odoo, Power BI or other ERP and reporting tools are an advantage.

Skills and Attributes:

• Strong numerical and analytical ability.
• Excellent attention to detail and accuracy.
• High level of integrity and confidentiality.
• Strong organisation, disciplined follow-up and confidence working with business leads.
• Clear communication of financial results, commercial opportunities, risks and recommended actions.
• Ability to take ownership of assigned responsibilities.
• Comfortable working in a growing and evolving organization.