Financial Planning Analyst

Job Purpose

As a member of the Bridgestone North Region (BSNOR) Finance team, the Financial Planning & Analysis Manager is responsible for working closely with the Regional Finance Director, the Regional Finance Team and the HQ FP&A network to ensure the completeness, timeliness and accuracy of reporting, planning, budgeting and forecasting in line with both Group and Regional requirements..

The role is required to participate and represent the FP&A network within the BSNOR business unit, preparing and ensuring that data and analytics are used to bring the right insights to the business in the most effective manner.

The role is expected to produce clear, timely and accurate financial analysis covering the Regional business, working with the Business Unit Financial Business Partners to provide insight regarding the results and forecasts to the Regional Leadership Team and the leadership of BSEMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), to support operational and strategic decision-making. 

 You are expected to lead and develop the FP&A activities within the Region and work with and influence the wider global Finance team enhance and digitise the FP&A activities and service model.

The role would suit someone who is keen to develop a well-rounded understanding of the whole business and who is able to think and communicate clearly, across geographic boundaries and cultures, with finance and non-finance colleagues. 

The candidate should possess strong organisational skills, have a good understanding of governance and be prepared to speak up and hold self and others to account.  The ability to think commercially and communicate in business language is also important

This is a key role in the Region, and the primary face of the Region to HQ Financial Planning & Reporting functions.

Responsibilities:

Reporting

• Ownership of the Regional management reporting process, including but not limited to governance, reporting templates and standards.  Ensure alignment with Group reporting requirements.
• Own the monthly Regional Business Review process.  Liaising with HQ to ensure requirements are clearly understood and translated into actions at a Regional level.
• Own the Local Reporting process, ensuring deadlines are met and explanations for performance variances are captured and documented.  Where variances indicate accounting misstatement, work with the Financial Control team in root cause fix.
• Own the Regional Risk and Opportunity tracking process, working with Business Unit Finance Business Partners, Financial Control and other functions to ensure completeness and validation
• Think beyond purely Financial reporting, supporting Regional and HQ initiatives such as Balanced Scorecard reporting, Market performance analysis and integrating sales, financial and credit reporting to create wider perspective on Customers.

Planning, Budgeting & Forecasting

• Own the deployment and oversight of the Planning, Budgeting and Forecast process for the Region (aligned to Group requirements).
• Run the governance and review process, manage stakeholders and hold to account for contributing to the successful delivery of the Regional financial planning to the required timescales.
• Build relationships with other stakeholders such as Business Operations, Shared Services Centre and HQ Finance to gain understanding of the wider business.
• Own the “desktop” forecast process, consolidating inputs, sanity checking, challenging and reporting status.
• Responsible for delivery and coordination of the long range and annual operating plans. 

Process and continuous improvement

• Drives for continuous improvement in forecasting accuracy and methodology and seeks opportunities to drive sustainable improvements.
• Identify and lead initiatives to improve the efficiency and accuracy of reporting and forecasting and creating insights which drive business performance. Be an active contributor in broader Finance change and development initiatives both within BSNOR and within BS EMIA FP&A Network.
• Own the FP&A and Reporting tools, working with the HQ to both influence and adopt process and systems into the Region.

Other

• Assist the wider finance team in completion of Planning, Budgeting, Forecasting and Reporting tasks where required
• Participation in Regional and European projects with the goal to create, develop, update reporting systems as well as policies and procedures from the area of financial planning and reporting.
• Represent the Region with key HQ stakeholders, aligning regional and HQ strategic initiatives and financial planning, reporting and modelling enhancements

Requirements:

• Education/professional certifications: A qualification from a recognised professional body (e.g. CIMA, ACA or ACCA) is essential.  Degree educated.
• Previous FP&A experience in a large Company / Group
• Ability to balance communication of headline messages supported by detailed analysis.
• Excellent presentation skills with the ability to present in a clear and succinct manner
• Organisational skills – demonstrating the ability to prioritise effectively and schedule work to meet deadlines consistently
• Influencing skills – demonstrating the ability to build strong relationships based on integrity, trust and respected financial judgement
• Demonstration of strong analytical, numerical, and problem-solving skills, looking beyond the numbers to identify root cause and find solutions
• Ability to create and maintain strong ownership of financial reporting in the business
• Experience working within a Multi-national environment an advantage
• Excel skills to an advanced standard, PowerPoint skills to a good standard
• Previous experience in either delivering continuous improvements and efficiencies through the adoption of new tools and/or ways of working
• Experience in modelling large data sets, with an eye for using technologies (e.g. Tableau, Power BI) to provide finance information in an engaging and accessible manner
• Take personal responsibility for the quality of outcomes.

Why should you apply?

• We are passionate about our people and want to offer them the opportunity to develop and grow.
• You never stop learning. You will have the possibility to develop yourself via our Learning Management System that is also connected to LinkedIn Learning
• You will have the opportunity to experience a dynamic and challenging environment and work on different and innovative projects.

 If you can demonstrate the skills we are looking for and would like to make a difference in a Pioneering company dedicated to shaping a sustainable future of real-world mobility solutions, join us at Bridgestone!

Process Next Steps: All applications will be reviewed. Our HR team will contact those applicants who we would like to invite for the next stage of the recruitment process.