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Purpose: (Brief statement of purpose and main objectives of the position)
- The Financial Analyst plays a critical role in supporting financial planning, performance tracking, cost control, and profitability analysis for both manufacturing operations and sales & distribution activities. This role ensures decision-makers across production, logistics, and sales are equipped with timely and accurate financial insights to drive efficiency and growth.
- To undertake financial feasibility analysis, evaluations or business projects and advise on the optimisation of resources and profitability of projects. To furthermore conduct special studies to analyse financial actions and prepare recommendations for policy, procedure, control or action. The role includes budgeting, forecasting, reporting, and providing insights that support strategic planning and performance management.
Reports to the Financial Manager
Key Performance Areas:
- Daily Accounting, Expense Control & Business Partnering
- Financial Planning and Forecasting
- Revenue & Sales Performance Analysis
- Pricing & Margin Management
- Logistics & Distribution Cost Analysis
- Customer & Product Profitability Analysis
- Sales Commission Management & Control
- Management Reporting and Performance Analysis
- Financial Modelling and Business Case Support
- Budgeting and Cost Management
- Strategic and Operational Support
- Data Analysis and Visualization
- Process Improvement and Efficiency
- Compliance and Financial Controls
- Stakeholder Management
- People Management
Key Performance Areas
Daily Accounting, Expense Control & Business Partnering
- To ensure accurate daily financial accounting and effective business partnering by maintaining correct journal allocations, monitoring expenses, and managing purchase requisition approvals.
- This KPA supports financial integrity and provides timely insights to business unit managers, enabling effective decision-making and cost control.
Financial Planning & Forecasting
- To support strategic decision-making by producing accurate and insightful financial forecasts and long-term plans.
- Develop financial forecasts using historical data, market trends, and input from key stakeholders.
- Align financial planning with business objectives.
Revenue & Sales Performance Analysis
- To provide clear, data-driven insights into sales activities, enabling the business to track performance against targets, identify revenue opportunities, and make informed sales strategy decisions.
- Analyse and monitor sales trends across product lines, regions, channels, and customers.
- Prepare regular sales performance dashboards and reports, highlighting key trends, growth areas, and underperformance.
- Partner with the sales team to support performance improvement initiatives and pipeline management
Pricing & Margin Management
- To ensure pricing strategies maximize profitability while maintaining market competitiveness, and to safeguard margins across all product and customer segments.
- Monitor pricing models and analyse the impact of pricing decisions on gross margins.
- Evaluate pricing deviations, promotional pricing, and customer-specific deals. Support price simulation, discount controls, and margin optimization across the product portfolio
Logistics & Distribution Cost Analysis
- To control and optimize logistics-related expenses, improving cost-efficiency in warehousing, transportation, and distribution without compromising service levels.
- Analyse freight costs, warehousing fees, third-party logistics charges, and delivery costs across channels.
- Calculate cost-to-serve per customer or region and identify improvement opportunities. Support logistics strategy with financial insights.
Customer & Product Profitability Analysis
- To identify high- and low-margin customers and products, enabling smarter sales strategies, portfolio management, and cost optimization efforts.
- Conduct detailed profitability analyses by customer, product, and channel. Factor in direct costs, trade spend, and cost-to-serve to determine true contribution margins. Support management decisions on customer retention, product mix, and pricing adjustments.
Sales Commission Management & Control
- To ensure sales commissions are aligned with performance, accurately calculated, and controlled to avoid financial discrepancies and promote the right sales behaviours.
- Manage and review sales commission plans and payout processes.
- Validate sales performance, track commission budgets, and provide clear reconciliation of payments. Support development of new commission models and monitor their financial impact on the business
Management Reporting & Performance Analysis
- To provide leadership with data-driven insights into financial performance and key business drivers.
- Deliver regular and ad hoc financial reports with commentary and visualizations that explain variances and performance trends.
Financial Modeling & Business Case Support
- To assess the financial viability of strategic initiatives and investment opportunities through robust modeling.
- Create and maintain detailed financial models to support decision-making around projects, pricing, investments, and strategic changes.
Budgeting & Cost Management
- To support cost control and operational efficiency through effective budget planning and monitoring.
- Work with departments to develop, track, and analyse budgets while identifying opportunities for cost optimization.
Data Analysis & Visualization
- To improve the accessibility and impact of financial data through advanced analytics and visual tools.
- Leverage tools such as Power BI, Tableau, or Excel to create dashboards, KPIs, and visual reports that enhance decision-making.
Process Improvement & Efficiency
- To enhance finance function performance through the optimization of reporting, forecasting, and analytical processes.
- Continuously identify and implement improvements in processes, tools, and workflows within the finance function.
Strategic & Operational Support
- To partner with business units to provide financial guidance and strategic input that aligns with business goals.
- Support decision-makers by translating financial data into strategic insights and offering financial perspectives on operational challenges.
Compliance & Financial Controls
- To ensure accuracy, integrity, and compliance of financial information within corporate and regulatory frameworks.
- Support internal controls, compliance requirements, and financial policy adherence in all analyses and reporting activities.
Stakeholder Management
- To ensure the effective and efficient management of all relevant internal and external business stakeholders, with specific emphasis on those directly or indirectly impacting the financial function
Key Activities / Duties / Tasks
- Ensure all daily journal entries are correctly captured and allocated to the appropriate accounts and cost centres.
- Review and monitor operating expenses, ensuring alignment to budgets and correct classification.
- Validate and approve Purchase Requisitions (PRs) in line with policy and budgetary control.
- Partner with business unit managers to provide financial insights, highlight variances, and support decision-making.
- Resolve accounting queries promptly and maintain accurate audit trail
- Develop monthly, quarterly, and annual forecasts.
- Support strategic and operational planning cycles.
- Incorporate scenario and sensitivity analysis.
- Collaborate with business units to gather inputs and validate assumptions.
- Track daily/weekly/monthly sales vs. targets.
- Analyse revenue by region, product, customer segment.
- Prepare sales performance reports and dashboards for senior management.
- Identify sales trends and potential opportunities for growth or corrective action.
- Collaborate with the sales team to assess sales pipeline and conversion rates.
- Track product pricing and assess its impact on overall margins.
- Analyse price elasticity and recommend pricing adjustments.
- Monitor gross margin trends by product and customer.
- Collaborate with sales and marketing teams to implement pricing changes and review their impact.
- Analyse logistics costs, including transportation, warehousing, and freight.
- Assess cost-to-serve by customer segment and distribution channel.
- Collaborate with logistics and supply chain teams to identify cost-saving opportunities.
- Recommend strategies for optimizing transportation and distribution efficiency
- Analyse the profitability of individual customers, products, and regions.
- Identify underperforming customers or products and suggest corrective actions.
- Support pricing and discount strategies by providing insights into profitability.
- Monitor product life cycles and recommend adjustments to product portfolio.
- Calculate and validate commission payments for sales teams.
- Monitor commission budget vs. actual payouts and flag discrepancies.
- Support development and adjustment of commission schemes based on performance.
- Collaborate with HR and Sales to ensure commission structures are aligned with business objectives.
- Prepare monthly management reports and dashboards.
- Analyse key metrics (revenue, expenses, margins, KPIs).
- Perform variance analysis vs. budget, forecast, and prior periods.
- Identify performance drivers and recommend improvements
- Build financial models (e.g., DCF, ROI, breakeven, NPV).
- Evaluate business cases for capital expenditures and new initiatives.
- Conduct scenario and sensitivity analysis.
- Present financial outcomes and risk assessments to senior management.
- Coordinate annual budgeting process.
- Track and report on budget adherence.
- Identify cost trends and areas for savings.
- Analyse fixed and variable costs.
- Participate in strategy meetings with cross-functional teams.
- Provide financial input on pricing, sales performance, and expansion plans.
- Recommend initiatives to improve profitability.
- Bridge communication between finance and operational teams.
- Create and maintain real-time financial dashboards.
- Analyse large datasets to uncover trends and anomalies.
- Present financial data in a visual and intuitive format.
- Automate repetitive reporting tasks.
- Streamline reporting and analysis workflows.
- Introduce or improve templates, tools, or systems.
- Reduce manual processes and increase automation.
- Document standard operating procedures (SOPs).
- Ensure reporting is in line with internal policies and accounting standards.
- Support internal and external audits.
- Maintain audit trails for models and reports.
- Ensure data confidentiality and integrity.
- Identify all potential internal and external stakeholders
- Work collaboratively with internal & external stakeholders by establishing and maintaining effective working relationships and clear lines of communication
- Represent company in meetings with internal & external stakeholders.
- Solve problems creatively whilst demonstrating a high level of integrity in line with company core values as well as UGR’s
- Provide advice and guidance on internal & external stakeholder related matters.
- Manage relationships and accompanying expectations in accordance with policies and procedures and legal requirements.
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