Commercial Finance Analyst at Lindt and Sprungli

Position Purpose 

• Responsible for working with various departments at Lindt South Africa and assisting with day-to-day queries, analysis on sales/profitability, providing support as well as producing information to enable management to make key decisions. Responsible for elements of the month end process, budget process, and financial forecasting.

Job Requirements
Key Responsibilities 

• Review the forecast monthly by brand, channel and customer in collaboration with sales leaders and supply chain & planning;
• Support the Finance Manager and Head of Commercial Finance with month end reporting, budget and forecasting processes, and ad-hoc reporting requirements and any related projects;
• Develop and maintain accurate customer and brand contribution statements and evaluate the financial data to provide meaningful insights to management;
• Assimilating financial data into valuable information to create daily, weekly, and monthly reporting of pertinent financial information to all departments and key stakeholders.
• Ensure all pricing and promotions for customers are reflected accurately in SAP;
• Monitor monthly promotional and operating expenses in comparison with Budget and latest estimates, providing accurate views on risks and opportunities;
• Analyze promotional ROI performance of promotional activity and make relevant recommendations, and monitor new product launches and sales in comparison with targets;
• Assist product managers with the costing for new product development;
• Financial modelling and price simulation analysis.
• Work closely with cross-functional teams, including sales, marketing, and operations, to understand their financial needs and provide proactive and reactive support to achieve business objectives;

Targeted Skills and Competencies

• University degree and ideally studying towards the CIMA degree;
• A minimum of two-years of experience in a finance analytical role;
• Highly numerate with excellent analytical skills and attention to detail;
• Knowledge and insights about customers and needs in confectionary FMCG industry and/or Retail;
• Expert ability in Microsoft Excel, SAP experience considered to be an advantage;
• Microsoft Office skills – Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook;
• SAP (S4 HANA) experience considered to be an advantage;
• High caliber of professional interpersonal skills, with excellent analytical, conceptual, and communication skills (both oral and written);
• Proven track record of delivering results within a major FMCG organization;
• Demonstrated strong leadership qualities;
• Performance driven, tenacious and goal orientated;
• Innovative problem solver and a facilitator of change;
• Well-organized and able to set priorities and clear targets;
• Proven ability to conduct complex, quantitative and statistical analyses complimented with qualitative inputs from multiple sources to draw conclusions and make recommendations;
• Capable of managing numerous projects at once in a high-paced environment;
• Ability to think outside the box when searching for solutions to problems;
• High degree of flexibility;
• Able to grow with the level of responsibilities and with the size and structure of the business.