Finance Manager at Brown-Forman

Job description

Scope

Job Description

• Leads, directs, develops and administers the financial activities of the Africa region including the local/country finance teams.
• The Finance Manager will be a member of the IMEA & CCSA team and the South Africa-based B-F market team. The incumbent will also liaise externally with local distributors on financial and commercial matters.
• The Financial Manager will provide timely and impactful analysis to help drive our commercial, brand and, business development initiatives across Africa with a primary focus key Priority Markets.
• The incumbent will both coach the broader team in financial and commercial matters and challenge the status quo by driving for efficiency and effectiveness throughout B-F’s operations in Africa.
• This position will have the responsibility to create solid foundations and build best in class financial capabilities to support the long term growth of this region. Position is also responsible for the talent management of the regions’ financial personnel.
• Ultimately responsible for the financial strategies, reporting and analysis for all Africa. Oversees whole range of accounting, tax, treasury, and financial issues related to various countries in Africa.
• The Senior Commercial Financial Analyst will report to this position. BASIC FUNCTIONS:
• Long Term and strategic thinking
• Develops and drives the analysis to support the long-range planning process with regional leadership through the development of comprehensive financial models and a strategic roadmap of “how to achieve the goals”. Serve as a key advisor to GM by analyzing business results and recommending strategic initiatives to build related brands and increase profit growth. As an advisor, the position interprets and analyzes brand and country results and trends using both internal and external data. Identify opportunities for sales and profit improvement.
• Planning and performance analytics
• Oversee annual budgets and interim forecasts; analyze drivers of performance as compared to budget, projection and history. Develop and maintain a rolling view of risks and upsides,. Support brand and country management in all aspects of the business planning process, including as necessary: building and maintaining long-term strategic plans, supporting development of country and brand annual business plans and supporting the quarterly review process.
• Distributor Management
• Assist GM’s in management of distributor relations. Monitor distributor performance by analyzing distributor sales data and by tracking compliance with performance and incentive metrics. Liaise with counterparts at distributor concerning operational management of the distribution agreement: data interchange, supply / demand forecasting, reimbursements, periodic activity reconciliations.
• Price and profitability
• Develop and maintain actionable analyses and reports to drive understanding of profitability across all relevant dimensions: channels, customer, brand and SKUs to support commercial decision making. Develop and maintain value-chain analyses to enable commercial decision making about pricing, discounting, channel strategy, and route-to-consumer efficiency. Together with GM’s and in alignment with marketing, develop and drive pricing strategy.
• Cost analyses
• Understands and explains variances of selling, general and administrative expenses, so they can be optimized and effectively allocated to activities and cost owners (departments, brands, channels)
• Brand investment effectiveness
• Oversee the issuance of reports and analyses to understand the effectiveness of brand building activities to maximize the exploitation of long term brand potential.
• Production Planning and Logistics Support
• Collaborate with corporate and the local team in the process of supply /demand planning across an extended and complex distribution pipeline in Africa. Work with Corporate Logistics and distributor partner to develop sales forecasts as an input to the production planning system (the Sales Operations & Planning process). Lead s analytics to enable proper logistics/customer service business decisions..
• Sales analysis
• Communicates and interprets sales results by brand and channel with an eye to opportunities and issues and assist in the development of sales enhancement strategies.

Must

REQUIREMENTS:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, Finance or Business Administration or CPA/Chartered Accountant plus 3-5 years of relevant business experience; or 7 years equivalent education/general business experience combination. Master’s in Business Administration is preferred.
• Proven leadership, strategic thinking and decision-making abilities.
• Outstanding oral and written communications skills with the ability to develop and integrate comprehensive marketing, sales and production plans as well as to discuss financial strategies and translate into actionable plans
• Understanding of all financial activities and structures across the region.
• Demonstrated ability to manage and complete diverse activities within an established time frame.
• A Proven track record in an international / global company as business analyst, management accountant or finance manager would be a distinct advantage. Prefer experience in FMCG industry.
• Excellent general PC skills (Microsoft Office Suite, Google Apps), advanced or expert level user of Microsoft Excel, familiar with enterprise software (SAP or similar), planning tools (COGNOS or other) and business intelligence tools (BW, Business Objects or similar)
• Solid accounting, financial.
• Ability to think conceptually, strategically and proactively.
• Proven ability to effectively handle confidential information and materials.
• Demonstrated interpersonal skills to develop and maintain effective work relationships with all levels of personnel with the ability to challenge constructively.
• The ability to work independently in a matrix structure and execute responsibilities in a high volume, deadline oriented environment; the willingness and ability to organize, implement, and complete multiple tasks with limited direction; can maintain accurate documentation and perform quality work with accuracy and attention to detail.

Preferred

• A professional accounting license, such as a CPA or CMA. (Or relevant RSA qualifications)
• An advanced business degree, such as an MBA.
• Experience in the beverage alcohol industry or other FMCG industry.
• Experience in international financial analysis.