Management Accountant

How often do you get to build a finance function from scratch? Sewell Wallis is working with a food manufacturer opening a new £15m manufacturing facility in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, with production starting early next year. They need a part-qualified/qualified Management Accountant to own the accounts from day one and help shape how finance works in a modern, automated factory.

Why this role stands out

This is a finance function built to be lean and automated from the start. The whole business runs on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, from production through to financial reporting. Purchase invoices are automated, customers are invoiced through EDI, and bank matching is automated. So you will spend your time on analysis and control, not keying in data. You will be encouraged to use AI tools such as Claude, Copilot or ChatGPT to work faster and more accurately, and to keep pushing automation further.

What you will be doing?

Reporting to the Finance Director, you will own the accounts from the ground up and work closely with the General Manager, Production Manager and Supply Chain Manager. Your work will include:

* Owning standard costing in Business Central, including bills of materials, routings, standard costs and overhead absorption rates

* Analysing purchase price, usage, yield, labour and overhead variances, and investigating them with production and supply chain

* Producing a weekly flash report on volumes, yield, waste and labour against standard

* Delivering the monthly close and preparing the management accounts and KPI pack

* Leading the monthly cost review meeting with the site leadership team

* Attending stock counts, owning stock valuation and walking the factory floor with the production team

* Overseeing the ledgers:
Continia invoice exceptions, EDI invoicing, supplier payment runs and credit control, including retailer deductions

* Preparing quarterly VAT returns and the year-end audit file, and supporting the budget and rolling forecast

* Acting as the finance lead for Business Central and improving automation and controls

What skills do we need?

* Management accounting experience in manufacturing, ideally food or FMCG, including standard costing, variance analysis and stock control

* Part-qualified CIMA, ACCA or ACA

* A track record of accurate, on-time month-end closes

* Experience of VAT returns and supporting a statutory audit

* Strong Excel skills

* Confident, practical use of AI tools, with examples of how they have helped you work better

* Based in or within commuting distance of Sheffield

Business Central experience is a real advantage, ideally the inventory and manufacturing modules, but experience of another ERP will also be considered. Power BI skills, or experience of a factory start-up, rapid scale-up or ERP implementation, would also stand you in good stead.

What’s on offer?

* Salary of c. £40,000 - £43,000

* Flexible start and finish times

* Chance to work in a growing business with substantial financial backing

* An opportunity to progress as the business grows

To apply , please send us your CV, or contact Kayley Haythornthwaite for more information.

Sewell Wallis is a leading specialist accountancy and finance, HR and business support recruitment agency, headquartered in Sheffield. With two decades of specialist knowledge, we build high-performing teams for businesses across Yorkshire, North Derbyshire and North Nottinghamshire.

We recruit permanent, temporary, contract and interim roles at every level. In finance, that runs from Purchase Ledger and Credit Control through to Financial Controller and Finance Director. In HR, it runs from HR Administrator and HR Advisor to HR Business Partner and HR Director. We also cover business support roles and offer executive search for senior appointments.

We receive a high volume of applications. If you haven’t heard from us within seven days, you haven’t been shortlisted on this occasion, but we’d still like to hear from you about future roles.

Sewell Wallis is acting as an employment agency/employment business in relation to this vacancy