Financial Controller

About the role

This contract position is based in London on a hybrid basis, supporting a fast‑paced retail business. As the Financial Controller you will own the month‑end close, provide high‑quality financial information to senior stakeholders and act as the key finance contact for audit, statutory reporting and tax compliance.

Key responsibilities

• Own the end‑to‑end month‑end close process, ensuring timely and accurate financial outputs.
• Review and approve journals, accruals, provisions and revenue recognition treatments.
• Maintain balance‑sheet integrity through regular review, challenge and resolution of reconciling items.
• Produce high‑quality financial information for senior stakeholders, highlighting risks and key movements.
• Manage short‑term and medium‑term cash‑flow forecasting and liquidity monitoring.
• Act as the primary finance contact for audit, statutory reporting, tax compliance and external advisors.
• Ensure appropriate financial controls, approval frameworks and documentation are in place and followed.
• Support budgeting, forecasting and longer‑term financial planning activities.
• Partner with commercial and operational teams to provide financially sound input into decision‑making.
• Lead and support a distributed finance team across accounting, payables and receivables functions.
• Address ad‑hoc finance queries, issues and requests from senior management.
• Drive continuous process improvement and support finance systems changes.
• Provide clear, concise financial updates to non‑financial stakeholders.

Required profile

• Fully qualified accountant (ACA or equivalent) from a top‑10 firm.
• Proven experience operating at Financial Controller level.
• Background in fast‑paced, multi‑entity environments such as retail or consumer product businesses.
• Strong technical accounting knowledge combined with sound commercial judgement.

Required skills