CANDIDATE SHORTLIST REPORT

CANDIDATE SHORTLIST REPORT

Your Company Name

Commercial Finance Business Partner

Date of Submission

Prepared for: Your Name – Your Job Title

Prepared by: Your Consultant – Director

Search Parameters: Go-to-market search strategy to target individuals with the following job titles: (The indicative role titles targeted for this search are dependent on the structure of organization)

• Finance Business Partner (ACA/ACCA/CA/CPA/CIMA)

• FP&A (ACA/ACCA/CA/CPA/CIMA)

• Newly Qualified Accountant

• Commercial Analyst

• Finance Analyst/Accountant

Search Metrics: We currently have a total of 235 individuals identified: -

• Approached via LinkedIn – 94

• Approached via various job boards (Reed, Total Jobs and CV Library) – 132

• Referrals obtained - 9

Search Results to Date:

Candidate Name

Candidate Summary

Candidate 1

Candidate 1 is an experienced commercial analyst, he qualified in 2019 and he has 5 years relevant working experience. He is extremely likable and personable, I felt like he came across extremely well when I interviewed him. He was eager to tell me his previous key achievements and prove his commercial acumen. He has extensive experience with financial modelling and creating dashboards which he has implemented across the businesses he has worked for. He is a very confident finance business partner was enthusiastic when describing his examples of where he has influenced senior stakeholders and worked closely with non-finance heads of departments. I think his personality would be a great fit with your team and I think he would not require much hand holding. He is looking for a role where he can utilise his skills and most importantly a company he can really grow within as he feels like he is not getting this opportunity in his current role.

Candidate 2

Candidate 2 is a newly qualified ACA accountant, who is fantastic in person. I really warmed to him throughout the interview as he is extremely intelligent and articulate, and I believe he would be able to really develop very strong working relationships. He has exceptional financial modelling and dashboard experience with a passion for business partnering across various levels. I was really impressed with his attitude, passion and eagerness to learn and progress. In his own words he is looking for a mentor and a team in which he can learn from, grow and progress within and I think he has huge potential.

Candidate 3

Candidate 3 was a real joy to meet, she was very articulate, outgoing and enthusiastic. She has just recently qualified and is looking for a company and team that will enable her to utilise what she has learned so far and take it the next progressive stage. She is very commercially minded; she was extremely confident when talking about her business partnering experience. She is not afraid to challenge and influence and spoke about making an impact while building relationships, which was exactly the attitude I was looking for. She has very strong budgeting and forecasting experience and extensive analysis exposure. She has built and implemented financial models and business drivers and I think she would be a very efficient, independent, hardworking candidate.

Confidential Candidate Report

Candidate 1 Commercial Finance Business Partner

Notice Period – 3 Months

Salary – £55,000


DETAILS OF: CANDIDATE 1

PROFILE SUMMARY: Candidate 1 is a professional, diligent and personable ACCA Qualified

Accountant with first time passes. He has a strong track record in financial planning and analysis, with experience gained in the Engineering and Fintech Sectors. He is an extremely efficient communicator with the ability to think strategically and able to translate complex financial information to key business outputs. He has business partnered with senior stakeholders and executive level individuals and produced models and dashboards for reporting purposes. Candidate 1 is now seeking a new opportunity which will provide an opportunity to grow within an organisation and expand his skillset.

FURTHER DETAILS: ACCA Qualified – first time passes Association of Chartered Certified Accountants 2019 BSc in Accounting and Finance – 2:1 University of Leeds 2013 – 2016 A Levels in Biology (A*), Chemistry (A) and Economics (A) Wolverhampton Grammar School 2010 – 2012 SOFTWARE SKILLS: Advanced Microsoft Excel user including VBA, macros, pivot tables and V look

ups, Cognos, TM1, Oracle HFM & PBCS (management packs, ad-hoc reporting and upload tools)

CAREER DETAILS: GROUP FP&A ANALYST Paysafe Group Limited

March 2020 – Current Paysafe Group Limited is a multinational online payments company which offers services both under the Paysafe brand and subsidiary brands. The company has a turnover of £194.4 million. Key achievements:

• Automated a number of existing manual processes and introduced new processes surrounding the implementation of rolling forecasts and uploads into PBCS, and also creating automated dashboard reporting for cost centre owners

• Created an automated dashboard through PBCS for cost centre owners for monthly analysis

Duties and responsibilities:

• Preparing forecasts and budgets for group cost centres and analysing whilst monitoring performance against key metrics, and responsible for preparation of monthly business review reporting

• Responsible for business partnering across divisions with various senior stakeholders and heads of departments

• Responsible for preparing budgets and forecasts for the division with variance analysis

• Responsible for quarterly reforecasts

• Responsible for preparing a 5 year business plan for the division

• Creating financial models for forecasting and implementing this across the various divisions

• Responsible for data analysis to create reports in order to influence business decisions

• Business partnering focusing on costs and forecasts across the group, and influencing senior stakeholder with financial decisions

• Providing analytical support and business partnering to key stakeholders such as the executive leadership team including CFO and COO

Reason for leaving: Candidate 1 is seeking a new opportunity with an organisation which will offer him growth and an opportunity to expand his existing skills

FP&A ACCOUNTANT

IMI Precision Engineering February 2017 – March 2020 IMI Precision Engineering is a British-based engineering company headquartered in Birmingham. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index, and is a subsidiary of the £1.75 billion turnover engineering group IMI plc. Key achievements:

• Automated a number of time-consuming processes whilst also transitioning monthly management reporting from Cognos into TM1

• Created a forecasting model for Energy Vertical which involved modelling for sales and profits

• Created a KPI dashboard and implemented across the division which became a regular report

• Gained commercial finance experience through working directly with global leaders within Energy Vertical


• Prepared monthly results and quarterly forecasts for the division accompanied with commentaries which analysed sales, operating profit and cash

• Responsible for business partnering across functions with various senior stakeholders and heads of departments

• Produced board reports with analysis across EMEA

• Responsible for budgets and forecasts with variance analysis

• Produced three year business plans

• Responsible for creating financial models for forecasting and implemented across the central functions

• Responsible for consolidating and manipulating data to analyse and create reports to influence business decisions

• Conducted regression analysis on sales data and reported to senior management

• Responsible for the divisions central costs which involved the timely submission of monthly management accounts in addition to preparation of the annual budget

• Extensively business partnered with departments in order to prepare forecasts and budgets, capital expenditure proposals and provide support during key business decisions

Reason for leaving: Candidate 1 secured a new position with Paysafe Group Limited ASSOCIATE Deloitte LLP September 2014 – September 2015 Duties and responsibilities:

• Worked within the Global Employer Services Team to provide tax advice to a broad portfolio of clients on a range of factors

• Assisted with compliance requirements such as the preparation of tax returns and the review of modified payroll arrangements to the wider strategic priorities for businesses

• Performed a range of audit procedures and analysis whilst meeting all other objectives

Reason for leaving: Successful completion of industrial placement



Notice Period – 1 Month

Salary – £55,000


DETAILS OF: CANDIDATE 2 PROFILE SUMMARY: ACA qualified and now working as a senior FP&A analyst in a Private Equity

backed telecommunication company. Delivered high-quality board reporting with insight into both commercial and financial performance. Acted as a business partner to collaborate with different stakeholders in various complex projects and was able to drive new projects without detailed instructions. A highly skilled and meticulous individual with creative and structured thinking and problem-solving skills. Trained in PwC and had demonstrated a history of audit working with FTSE 100 clients in Pharmaceutical, Telecommunication and Retail industries.

FURTHER

DETAILS: ACA Qualified 2018 MSc in Project and Enterprise Management: Distinction University College London 2014 BA in Accounting and Finance University of Liverpool 2013 SOFTWARE SKILLS: Microsoft Office including Excel (Pivot tables / V look ups) Word, PowerPoint,

Sap CAREER DETAILS: SENIOR FP&A ANALYST

Lebara Group B.V. London June 2020 – To Date Lebara is a British telecommunications company providing services in many countries around the world, using the mobile virtual network operator business model. With over 1,400 staff members across 8 countries around the world.


• Responsible for finance business partnering across the group, influencing

senior stakeholders and providing financial information

• Assisted with creating financial models that were implemented to the

group

• Reported on business metrics and KPI’s

• Prepared presentation materials for senior business partners to present to

the board

• Deep diving into data to analyse, recognise trends and then report on,

this is used to influence business decisions and make recommendations

• Owned monthly Group Board Reporting cycle and liaised with different

stakeholders to deliver a high-quality report with insight into the Group

performance

• Critically analysed entity reporting submissions and performed high-level

variance analysis

• Re-designed the reporting process and re-built entity submission models;

reduced ineffective communications and procedures to reduce reporting

time from 2 weeks to 1 week

• Liaised with the director and the CFO to re-design the board reporting

format in 2021 to reflect the new 3- year strategic plan and delivering

more relevant and insightful information in a more effective manner

• Monthly Outlook Reporting, designed and built a monthly outlook model to

collect and consolidate short term performance forecast of each business

unit to report to the CFO

• Critically analysed key performance indicators including Net additions,

Churn rate, MNO cost and ARPU and conducted performance analysis

using market and business knowledge

• Cash Alignment Project, owned the project to align cashflow between

direct and indirect method

• Built up the alignment model by re-shaping the cash flow statement to

align with the 13-week cash flow forecast model; this model improved the

quality of assumptions used in the forecasting and helped track cash

movement week by week

• Liaised with the treasury team to align 13-week cash flow forecast with

FY21 budget using the alignment model and reported directly to the CFO

• Partly worked in UK entity FP&A team to support monthly reporting to the

Group FP&A

• Gained deeper insight into telecommunication business operations;

supported FP&A job including new MNO commercial terms analysis and

digital transformation initiative analysis

• Helped re-build reporting model to deliver more in-depth KPI analysis

such as M2 churn analysis, data usage tracking and product migration

analysis

• Collected data, consolidated and Produced a monthly dashboard that

was presented to the CFO

• Assisted with the 3-Year Plan and FY21 Budgeting

• Involved in Lebara 3-year strategic planning process and FY21 Budgeting

in both Group level and entity level

• Supported UK FP&A team to collect relevant commercial information and

assisted the head of FP&A build up to create their budget the commercial

performance forecasting model for each product line under different

scenarios

• Performed consolidation of business unit submissions and added group

overlays to deliver the final report

• Datalake Reconciliation with AX, involved in delivering Lebara’s new data

platform (DataLake) project by providing insight assistance from the Used

PowerBI to perform reconciliation between the new commercial data

platform and accounting system (AX) and dig into the general ledger level

to identify the reason for differences

• Involved in the dormant entities’ liquidation process; applied finance

knowledge to assist balance sheet clearing and intercompany settlement

• Liaised with banks and legal service providers to retrieve remaining funds

stayed in the bank accounts

Reason for leaving: Looking for a more commercial and progressive role ASSISTANT MANAGER PwC LLP, London April 2015 – May 2020 PricewaterhouseCoopers is a multinational professional services network of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. PwC ranks as the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four


• Acted as assistant manager and led audit engagements of various FTSE

100 clients including GSK, Diageo and Centrica; responsibilities highlights

include

• Analysed audit impact of post-deal finance function transformation and

assessed the integrity and accuracy of customer credit management

model

• Led the SOX control review of three main financial cycles, independently

held interviews with control operators to build up to end - to - end

understanding of the whole business process and designed testing

methodologies

• Combined accounting knowledge with knowledge of wine to assess my

client’s business model of fine wine futures

• Trading and independently conducted revenue testing job

• Reviewed the financial due diligence report to assist business

combination risk analysis as well as earnings quality assessment

• Applied accounting standards and business knowledge to analyse the

asset structure of the purchased entity

Reason for leaving: Left for industry experience



Notice Period – 1 Month

Salary – £50,000


DETAILS OF: Candidate 3 PROFILE SUMMARY: Candidate 3 is a reliable, motivated and competent individual with an extensive

range of skills and experience in finance. Enthusiastic, organised and hard working with a natural tendency to ensure completion of tasks whilst meeting strict deadlines. A commercial mind, with strong analytical skills and a willingness to learn. She has the desired to match her personality with a demanding and stimulating job, in order to drive personal and professional growth.

FURTHER

DETAILS: ACCA - Qualified 2021

BSc Financial Economics 2:2 University of Leicester September 2013 – June 2016

3 A-Levels & 11 GCSE (A* - B) Woodford County High School 2006 - 2013 SOFTWARE SKILLS: Microsoft Office including Excel (V-lookups and Pivot Tables, basic macros),

Navision, Sage, Maconomy, Tagetik, Power BI CAREER DETAILS: COMMERCIAL FINANCE ANALYST

Hogarth Worldwide December 2019 – Present Hogarth Worldwide is a WPP-owned global company that provides marketing Implementation services, including all-channel production and language services to blue-chip international companies.

Duties and responsibilities: • Supported the Commercial Finance Director on RFPs/pitches, preparation

of rate-cards and pricing models

• Responsible for business partnering across departments with senior level

stakeholders to influence and provide financial information

• Analysed global client budgeting and forecasting information &

implementing automated budgeting/forecasting tools to increase team

productivity

• Built complex financial models to enable effective decision-making

• Prepared monthly board packs and variance analysis on budgets

• Developed internal and external reporting packs and presenting in a

succinct manner to non-finance colleagues

• Reviewed key P&L movements and interpreting financial impact and

explained variances to budgets/forecasts

• Responsible for manipulating, consolidating and analysing an extensive

amount of data, using this to present and provide financial information to

senior stakeholders

• Responsible for preparing presentations to senior stakeholders across the

business

• Responsible for revenue reporting for individual clients

• Updating rebate and retainer schedules on a monthly basis and liaising with

UK Revenue team

Reason for leaving: Looking for career progression FP&A ASSISTANT ANALYST Entertainment One UK February 2018 – December 2019 Entertainment One Ltd (eOne) is Canadian multinational entertainment company that currently serves as the content production and distribution subsidiary of American toy manufacturer Hasbro. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by Hasbro on December 30, 2019. Duties and responsibilities: • Consolidation of Film Distribution Budget & Forecast (P&L, Balance Sheet,

Cash Flow)

• Prepared monthly re-forecasts, working closely with Commercial Managers

to create commercial packs to analyse revenue/cost by stream, variance

and trend analysis to improve their financial performance

• Created budgets and forecasts with variance analysis

• Responsible for business partnering across departments with senior level

stakeholders to influence and provide financial information

• Identified and quantify risks and opportunities

• Scenario modelling and sensitivity analysis on different outcomes per film

and territory

• Calculated amort and royalties on a multi-territory basis and update period

end ultimate’s

• Understand the key drivers of business performance and assist in

communicating the results to executive teams during monthly review

meetings

• Created business packs this included KPI’s that were implemented across

the business

• Responsible for manipulating, consolidating and analysing an extensive

amount of data, using this to present and provide financial information to

senior stakeholders

• Responsible for preparing presentations to senior stakeholders across the

business

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasbro

• Managed Film Distribution Release Schedule across the territories for the

Finance & Commercial teams

• Managed the Box Office Tracker across all Film Distribution Territories

• Management of UK Film MG payment schedule and hedging of MGs

• Preparation of rolling 16 week cash flow forecast

• Analysis of variances between cash forecast and budget, forecast and

previous submissions

• Monthly bank reconciliations for month end and management of direct

debits/ standing orders.

• Agreement of month end intercompany loan balance and posting of interest

accruals

• JPMorgan quarterly compliance reporting

• International Home Entertainment management accounting

• Provision of daily/ weekly cash balance reporting

• Management of UK Film investment in content and royalty monies

Reason for leaving: Left for a new opportunity

ACCOUNTS ASSISTANT Modern British Canteen Ltd July 2017 – February 2018 Sleek, contemporary arts centre cafe-bar attracting the hip and arty to cocktails and a global menu

Duties and responsibilities: • Assisted with month end for two companies

• VAT returns, Office for National Statistics

• Monthly & Fortnightly Payroll and Tronc allocations for payroll

• Accruals and prepayments, updating fixed asset register and depreciation

journals

• Bank reconciliations, preparing weekly/monthly BACs/cheque payments

• Credit control, intercompany recharge invoicing and issuing external

invoices

Reason for leaving: Left for a new opportunity ACCOUNTS PAYABLE CLERK Brewin Dolphin Ltd January 2017 – July 2017 PAYMENTS ADVISOR Santander August 2016 – January 2017

Documents

CANDIDATE SHORTLIST REPORT