Business Controller

Lotus Bakeries; St Albans; On-site; GBP 50,000 - GBP 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthy snack company located in St Albans is seeking a Business Controller to act as a finance partner to the brands BEAR and Peter’s Yard. The ideal candidate will be a qualified accountant with strong analytical and Excel skills, responsible for monthly account closures, profitability improvements, and supporting senior management. This full-time role mainly involves on-site work and offers opportunities for professional growth within a dynamic environment.

Benefits

Delicious branded snacks daily

Opportunity for professional growth

Team spirit and open dialogue culture

Qualifications

• Several years of relevant experience in finance.
• Experience with month-end closings and budget processes.
• Ability to analyse financial data and identify trends.

Responsibilities

• Act as the finance business partner to the Managing Director of BEAR and Peter’s Yard.
• Ensure timely and accurate closure of accounts monthly.
• Analyze reported margins and identify cost drivers.

Skills

Qualified accountant

Strong Excel skills

Analytical capabilities

Strong verbal and written communication skills

Good relationship building

Experience with SAP

Education

Bachelor’s degree in analytical/economic/finance

Tools

SAP

Job description

Business Controller - Urban Fresh Foods & Peter's Yard

United Kingdom

St Albans

About Us Lotus Natural Foods, the healthy snacking division of Lotus Bakeries and a portfolio of 5 incredible brands; BEAR, TREK, nakd. Kiddylicious and Peter’s Yard, all having their own distinct proposition and role within our business. We have great ambitions for all our brands, ensuring that as a business we deliver sustainable growth over the long-term. We believe that taste and quality are 100% of what underpins us as brand leaders within our categories, and what pulls us apart from our competitors. All of our brands started right here in the UK, as the first market for distribution, but over the years we can now be found across the globe, our ranges have got bigger, along with us as a business. To date we have achieved so much, but there is still plenty of room to grow further and that means we need more brilliant people, those that share an ambition for making a difference and want to join us in delivering the next chapter of growth. Fancy getting involved, then read on…

The Business Controller – BEAR and Peter’s Yard role acts as finance business partner to these UK Sales Offices. The role is based in St Albans reporting into the Finance Director Natural Foods UK.

You will be part of the leadership team of BEAR and Peter’s Yard, collaborating closely with the Managing Director and Sales, as well as Marketing and Operations where needed too. Close alignment with the G/L Accountant, and AP/AR teams is required to ensure the quality and precision of our results.

The key focus areas of the role and where you will spend the majority of your time are:

• Business Partnering:
  • Act as the finance business partner to the Managing Director of BEAR and Peter’s Yard, along with the wider commercial team, managing and driving various projects and providing ad-hoc analysis on commercial and other cases
  • Be the first point of contact to support the business and closely monitor and improve profitability and efficiencies.
• Challenge & translate commercial volume forecasts to sales and related costs
• Template & process owner of planning, budgeting & forecast process for the two brands
• Ad-hoc forecast updates, simulations and analyses.
• Monthly Closing:
  • Ensure timely and accurate closing on a monthly basis of accounts, including all necessary accruals and prepayments
  • Template & process owner of commercial reporting, and other areas on an as needed basis.
  • Provide key input in the monthly report that is distributed to ExCo
  • Ensure accuracy of both P&L and B/S for areas of responsibility.
• Pricing, Costing & Profitability Management
  • Ensure provisions for rebates & discounts are created, followed-up and corrected frequently
  • Ensure reported margins are analyzed, disseminated and improved where needed
  • Identify cost drivers and ensure long term cost improvements
• Other
  • Prepare business reviews for senior management
  • Support with audit queries
  • Support SAP implementation: testing

Team

• Be a team player, we all get stuck in to achieve results here at Lotus Natural Foods and we love our team to look beyond their own role, whether that be contributing to innovation workshops or building upon ideas to amplify the overall result that perhaps sit outside of your role.
• Culture is hugely important to us here at Lotus Natural Foods and we look to our employees to positively contribute to that.

Please note this role is a full-time position at our beautiful offices in St Albans, with four days a week spent on-site. Please only proceed if this works for you.

Profile

About You

From playful snacks like BEAR to artisanal treats like Peter’s Yard, this is your chance to make a real mark.You will need:

• To be a qualified accountant, with several years of relevant experience.
• A bachelor’s degree, in an analytical/economic/finance field preferred, from a good university
• Strong Excel skills – experience in compiling and analysing financial data
• Strong analytical capabilities, analysing financial data, identifying trends, writing commentary and making informed recommendations
• Strong verbal and written communication skills are essential
• Robust analytical capabilities, analysing financial data, identifying trends, writing commentary and making informed recommendations
• Demonstrated experience of month end closings, reporting and budget process.
• Good relationship building and stakeholder management qualities, with experience working with and presenting information and ideas to senior staff members.
• An agile personality – you enjoy working on a variety of tasks, and supporting the wider finance team as needed.
• Experience with SAP preferred

"Not many people would say that they love going to work…but that’s absolutely me, I love my job and the opportunity to take these brands and business to the next level!"

Grasp the opportunity to join an ambitious and driven team with a mix of talents! Being part of a fast growing, international company, you will get tons of on-the-job-learning and acquire new insights.

In addition, you will be part of a culture where passion, team spirit and open dialogue are our main drivers.

And of course, on top of that, you can enjoy delicious branded snacks every day!

Do you want to be part of a terrific team with the ambition to create small momentsof happiness every day? Meet our people, discover their unique skills and get excitedto join them in a great work environment.