Financial Planning and Analysis Manager

Job Purpose

Lead financial planning and analysis for the Companies corporate activities, owning the budget and rolling forecast for the corporate profit and loss account, monitoring performance against plan, and providing the CFO and business leaders with the analysis, insight and early warning required to manage cost, margin and financial performance.

• Analytical and planning role. Holds no custodianship of any sub-ledger or general ledger account, and owns no SGL accounts. Custody of each sub-ledger rests with the functional custodians and the general ledger with the General Ledger Manager, per Annex
  
  A.
• Owns the budget model, the rolling forecast model and the management reporting pack. Does not own the actuals: reported actuals are the certified general ledger position issued by the General Ledger Manager, and this role reports on them without adjusting them.
• Does not record, enter, certify or post transactions. Where analysis identifies a misclassification or a missing accrual, it is raised to the relevant custodian, who determines the correction and prepares the journal for General Ledger review and entry.
• Budget holders own their budgets and the commentary on their variances. This role administers the budget process, challenges submissions and consolidates them; it does not set another function's budget.
• Confirms budget availability against the approved budget for procurement and spend requests. Does not approve spend, does not approve purchase requisitions or purchase orders, and does not release payments; approval rests with the budget holder and the Group Delegation of Authority.
• Recommends but does not approve the annual budget, reforecasts, budget virements and reallocations, and business cases; these follow CFO, Board or Delegation of Authority approval as constituted.
• Holds no authority over the chart of accounts or the cost centre structure, which rest exclusively with the General Ledger Manager and General Ledger Assistant Manager. Defines the management reporting hierarchy within that structure and may request an account or cost centre but may not open one.
• Does not determine accounting policy or accounting treatment. Technical accounting positions and judgement areas rest with the General Ledger Manager and the Accounting Director.

None owned. Financial Planning & Analysis is an analytical function and holds no custodianship of general ledger or sub-ledger accounts. Reports on the accounts owned by the custodians set out in Annex A, using the certified close position issued by the General Ledger Manager.

• Own the annual budget cycle for corporate activities: issue the budget calendar, instructions, templates and assumptions, run the submission and challenge process, and consolidate the corporate budget for CFO and Board approval.
• Own the rolling forecast: reforecast revenue, cost and margin on the approved cycle, and explain movement against budget, prior forecast and prior year.
• Own the monthly management reporting pack for the corporate profit and loss account, including variance analysis against budget, forecast and prior year, with commentary obtained from budget holders.
• Monitor corporate performance against plan, identify emerging overruns, shortfalls and run-rate risks, and escalation early to the CFO and the budget holder before commitment where possible.
• Confirm budget availability for procurement and spend requests against the approved budget, and flag unbudgeted or exhausted lines to the budget holder and the CFO.
• Track commitments and open purchase orders against budget so that reported budget consumption reflects committed as well as incurred spend.
• Provide budget holders' committed but uninvoiced spend to Accounts Payable at cut-off to support accrual completeness.
• Own the financial KPI framework for corporate activities, define the metrics and their calculation basis, and report performance against them.
• Prepare business cases, scenario analysis, sensitivity analysis and cost-benefit assessment for corporate initiatives and investment decisions.
• Partner with department heads on cost control, headcount and resource planning, and translate operational plans into financial impact.
• Prepare the annual operating plan and long-range financial projections in support of the Companies strategic planning cycle.
• Provide the approved budget and rolling forecast to Treasury to support liquidity planning and cash flow forecasting.
• Align the planning and…