EMEIA Lead Accountant

At Burberry, we believe creativity opens spaces. Our purpose is to unlock the power of imagination to push boundaries and open new possibilities for our people, our customers and our communities. This is the core belief that has guided Burberry since it was founded in 1856 and is central to how we operate as a company today.

The Lead Accountant will be responsible for execution of Record to Report ("RTR") EMEIA tasks within the BBS Finance function in accordance with the Group Policies, IFRS and local GAAP requirements, agreed service level agreements and key performance indicators. In addition to relevant technical accounting expertise, this position requires a strong manager of people, processes and projects as responsibilities also include supervising a small team of accountants and improving BAU processes to achieve efficient ways of working.

The successful candidate will actively participate in the development of the team, helping to transition work into the BBS function ensuring processes are identified, transferred and improved to ensure a streamlined, efficient team within the overall BBS Finance function.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Service Delivery

• Execution and/or review and approval of RTR transactions and reports.
• Perform his/her own balance sheet reconciliations and also review those prepared by direct reports.
• Preparation and/or review and submission of local compliance work, such as VAT and tax periodic returns.
• Responsible for timely completion of compliance tasks associated with entities accountable for.
• Responsible and accountable for the end-to-end solution and performance of an integrated set of EMEIA processes.
• Manage relationship with key internal stakeholders, including Group Finance and Commercial team, and external stakeholders, including External Audit.
• Expected to run an effective and sustainable team, which has the capability to deliver the agreed services now and in the future.
• Accountable for training and managing a small team, which in turn will be responsible for a set of small entities accounts and service functional shared service requirements.
• The successful candidate will conduct regular 1-2-1s and provide regular feedback on performance of accountants.
• Ensure compliance with the Group Policies, including operating effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting.
• Role may require some travel at times and work on some weekend/public holidays during half year and year end periods.
Leadership
• Contributes to and makes authoritative recommendations on how the EMEIA entities processes are to be structured and what services will be delivered to stakeholders; taking transformation projects to completion by overseeing the change and its implementation.
• Managing a small time. Being a service organisation, they will need to ensure there is the necessary clarity across the team about roles, goals, timescales, urgency of deliverables and standards of work to achieve in order to meet expectations and ensure the good reputation of the team and BBS.
• Ensures that Group Finance, Tax, Commercial Finance, Operations and BBS business goals and performance objectives are reflected and achieved in the process improvement projects and operations of the end-to-end process.

Continuous improvement

• Sets future objectives to align to BBS customer and business strategies.
• Apply understanding of assigned business processes to identify gaps and propose continuous improvement measures.
• Work closely with the process owners to understand root causes and represent process procedures, practicalities and exceptions.
• Proactively seek feedback from fellow team members and other internal and external customers, and use this to inform future delivery of services.
• Work with other Burberry Group functions to leverage potential upgrades or consolidate shared systems and processes.

PERSONAL PROFILE

Qualifications & Experience

• Professional accounting qualification is required e.g. ACA, CA, ACCA or CIMA.
• At least 3-5 years of relevant accounting experience, 1 year of which must be post qualification.
• Strong technical background with experience in a FTSE company applying IFRS or local accounting GAAP is required.
• SAP training and certification is desirable. Experience of BPC is an advantage.
• Must be able to fully grasp the broader issues and provide functional guidance to those reporting to them, rather than rely on their own technical skill set.
• Worked within a multicurrency environment, analysing and understanding the impact of movements in exchange rates on reported results is desirable.
• Advanced Excel skills with experience of building and working with complex models and large data sets.
Skills
• Demonstration of management/supervisory experience, including history of hiring, training, motivating and retaining accounting personnel is desirable. Can provide examples of effective leadership and getting the best out of people, including during demanding periods.
• Has track record and appetite for delivering continuous improvement. Able to generate commitment to change amongst own team.
• Can provide evidence of working collaboratively with peers.
• Uses a variety of techniques to influence a range of technical and non-technical stakeholders across a range of operational issues. Able to establish personal credibility at all levels.
• Builds effective relationships through interpersonal skill and technical expertise to aid cross-functional working, delivery and a sense of collaboration and teamwork.
• Can operate both at the tactical and, where required, detailed level.
• Displays an affinity for technology's ability to drive efficiencies and enhance service delivery.