Financial Planning & Analysis Manager

Head Hunted Recruitment are proud to be working exclusively with an award winning business who are one of the largest in their sector and boasting a strong market presence. The business is a Norfolk based importer, manufacturer and distributor of branded consumer goods supplying professional trade merchants, and retail partners across the UK.

The company are in the process of adding to their team by bringing in a Financial Planning & Analysis Manager. This is a new position and requires an individual with a proven track record in a similar role.

The Financial Planning & Analysis Manager will be a qualified accountant responsible for providing rigorous commercial and financial analysis to the CEO/CFO and the wider Senior Leadership Team. The role translates the operational realities of importing, manufacturing and distributing branded product landed cost, FX exposure, duty and freight, inventory holding, and channel/customer profitability into clear, decision-useful analysis that supports pricing, purchasing, and investment decisions.

This is a hands-on role suited to a qualified accountant (ACA/ACCA/CIMA) who is comfortable operating both strategically and at the transactional/data level in a business of this scale.

Financial Planning & Analysis Manager Key Responsibilities

Budgeting, Forecasting & Business Partnering

• Lead the annual sales and gross margin budget process and rolling forecasts (monthly/quarterly re-forecasts), coordinating input from Sales, Purchasing, Operations and Finance.
• Business partner with Sales and Commercial teams to model customer and product-line profitability, pricing decisions, rebate/discount structures, and promotional investment.
• Business partner with Purchasing/Supply Chain on landed cost modelling, covering FX rates, freight, duty, and supplier terms, and their impact on gross margin.
• Support the FC/CFO with board packs, investor/lender reporting, and ad hoc scenario modelling (e.g. new product launches, new supplier relationships, capex, warehouse investment).
• Take ownership of the accuracy of the master data across products, customers and suppliers, ensuring effective use of all relevant sources of data available to the business (eg EPOS data).

Management Information & Reporting

• Own the monthly management accounts commentary and variance analysis to gross profit level (budget/forecast vs. actual), with clear narrative on margin, volume, mix, and FX/duty movements.
• Develop and maintain KPI dashboards covering gross margin by product/brand/customer, stock turn, SKU profitability, and channel performance (trade, retail, export).
• Improve the quality, automation, and timeliness of MI, reducing reliance on manual spreadsheets where practicable (e.g. via AI tools, BI tools, ERP reporting, Power Query).

Margin, Working Capital & Risk

• Monitor and report on FX exposure arising from overseas purchasing, working with the FC on hedging strategy and rate risk where applicable.
• Analyse and optimise inventory levels, stock cover, and obsolescence risk across the product range, supporting working capital management.
• Track import duty, freight, and landed cost trends, flagging margin erosion risks early.
• Support pricing reviews to protect gross margin against cost inflation, FX movements, and competitor activity.

Systems, Controls & Process

• Maintain and improve budgeting/forecasting models and reporting templates to GP level, ensuring a robust, auditable, single source of truth.
• Provide support to the Financial Controller/transactional finance team to ensure trial balance data supports accurate and timely FP&A reporting.
• Support system improvements/ERP or BI implementations relevant to reporting and planning.
• Ensure appropriate financial controls are in place around forecasting assumptions and reporting outputs.

Leadership

• Line manage and develop junior finance/analyst resource as the team grows.
• Act as a key finance contact for non-finance stakeholders, translating financial analysis into commercially actionable insight.

Financial Planning & Analysis Manager Key Deliverables

• Accurate, timely monthly management information and variance commentary delivered to agreed deadlines.
• Robust annual budget and rolling forecast, with clear assumptions and sign-off from the FC/CFO.
• Demonstrable improvement in margin visibility by product, brand, and customer.
• Reliable FX/landed cost tracking that informs pricing and purchasing decisions.
• A reporting suite that is progressively automated and less reliant on manual data manipulation.

Financial Planning & Analysis Manager Person Specification

Qualifications

• Qualified accountant ACA, ACCA, or CIMA (essential).

Experience

• Proven FP&A, commercial finance, or management accounting experience, ideally gained in a product-based business (import/distribution, wholesale, or FMCG background highly relevant).
• Experience of businesses with international/multi-currency purchasing and an understanding of landed cost, duty, and freight dynamics.
• Track record of owning budgeting and forecasting cycles…