Financial Controller in North Yorkshire

Leaders Insight - with Steve Hammell, Experienced CFO, Industrials & Technology markets

The latest instalment of our “Leaders Insight” series is with Steve Hammell, experienced CFO in Industrials & Technology markets. In an insightful interview conducted by Michael Ball, Partner at The CFO Partnership, Steve shares his journey, the strategic initiatives he’s spearheading, and his vision for the future of finance.Steve Hammell brings a wealth of experience and a unique perspective to his role at Pressure Technologies. With a career spanning over two decades in various financial leadership positions, Steve has navigated through numerous economic cycles and industry shifts. His expertise in mergers and acquisitions, financial strategy, risk management, and operational efficiency has been instrumental in driving the company’s growth and resilience. Join us as we delve into Steve’s experiences, explore the evolving responsibilities of a CFO, and uncover what defines successful financial leadership in today’s environment.What are both the best and the most challenging aspects of being the CFO of a fast paced, listed business?Best aspects; Supportive shareholders with capital to inject into the business, including the ability to provide innovative financing instruments (e.g. convertibles, quasi debt-equity instruments) High quality Boards with NEDs who bring in-depth experience and a steady hand. The public profile helps to attract and recruit high quality candidates and offer incentive structures not available in private companies. Challenging aspects; Everything plays out in the public domain, so the interplay of strategic projects and business performance need to be carefully handled. Short-term share price movements can become a barometer of success rather than progress against strategic objectives and long-term improvements to the business. Regulatory burdens are heavy and the costs of being listed can be prohibitive for any plc with revenue < £30m. What are your opinions about the relationship between a CFO and CEO? What is critically important in building a successful partnership and providing the right support to the CEO?CEO and CFO must have each other’s back and provide a united front with all stakeholders, especially the Board, shareholders and employees. They should complement one another in terms of skills/expertise, leadership style and teamwork. Each needs to have strong leadership characteristics and deliver on their own responsibilities aligned to common strategic objectives. CFO needs to be the financial authority in the company and have command of the numbers, with the ability to simplify complex areas and deliver concise analysis for the CEO to use commercially. CFO should recognise that being CEO can be a lonely place with responsibility for almost every facet of the organisation. The CFO should be a strategic sounding- board and challenge the CEO regularly as an outspoken partner. What new key skills or attributes do you think the next generation of CFO’s are going to need to develop?Technology; Cyber security is becoming a core competence and leadership responsibility of the CFO; ability to develop the cyber defence strategy of the company and work with internal and external resources to provide a robust operating framework and a response capability if the business is attacked. Ability to lead and deliver ERP and data analytics projects as Board sponsor. Ability to harness Artificial Intelligence and automation to deliver value to the business; in manufacturing, this translates to delivering full integration of manufacturing and financial data to drive operational improvement. Procurement; Supply chain integrity, performance and reliability has become a significant issue post-pandemic. CFOs need to be able to develop and lead high performance procurement functions to serve the business and manage operational and financial risk. People; The world of work has changed in the last 5 years with many competing pressures emerging. CFOs need to develop a core set of values to guide their recruitment decisions. CFOs need to develop high performance cultures by harnessing a broad range of skills across the increasingly integrated functions of finance, IT and procurement to deliver first class support to the business. CFOs should focus on big-picture priorities and determine what gets done, not how it gets done; CFOs should therefore prefer to empower their teams and encourage collaborative decision-making. You have worked in some challenging turnaround environments in your career. What specifically are the most essential skills and personality traits that a finance leader needs to be able to steer a business through a turnaround project?Resourcefulness – CFOs must be able to draw on a broad array of skills and a network of dedicated advisors and funders to find their way through complex situations. Resilience and being strong-willed – CFOs must be acutely risk aware but be able to carry on regardless in a dark, uncertain and ambiguous situation where the route to success is not clear and the odds may be stacked against you; CFO’s need a plan B if things go wrong. Change management – turnarounds involve significant change for organisations and create new priorities, pressures and working relationships; CFO is normally in the eye of this storm. Working patterns and individual priorities have never been as much at the forefront of working life as they are for people now. Is it possible to maintain a reasonable work life balance at C-suite or do you have to accept that there will be personal sacrifices in order to succeed at that level?C-suite responsibilities are time consuming, and you are usually dependent on the performance of others, which requires flexibility and ability to handle time pressure. However, by organising the activities of your internal and external teams, space can be created for your personal life, albeit at certain times the job has to come first. You come from an advisory background yourself. How important is it to put time and effort into building and maintaining a network of trusted advisors that you can go to time and again?Developing long-term relationships of trust with CF advisors, lawyers, diligence providers, tax advisors and a range of debt and equity funders is critically important and enables a CFO to deploy the full suite of skills and expertise required. As a CFO, the businesses I have worked for have been employing not only myself but my entire network (whether they realised it or not!) What is the one single best piece of advice you were given early in your career that still holds true today?Frame your career and skills in terms of the market you operate in and develop the flexibility to deploy those skills in new ways. For myself, I have served the Yorkshire M&A market for over 25 years in diverse roles including CF advisor, corporate banker and most recently CFO and have been able to re-invent myself a number of times using a core set of skills and relationships. Looking forward, I have ambitions to move into non-executive roles and expect the flexibility I have developed over the years to serve me well again. Looking for your next career move in finance or accountancy? At Sharp Consultancy, our expertise lies in matching your potential with the perfect temporary, interim, or permanent position. With a well-established presence in Leeds and Sheffield, our seasoned team of consultants extends their services across Yorkshire and beyond. Don't wait for opportunity to knock, reach out to us TODAY and let's chart your career path together.

Read article

Job description

A hugely successful business based in York currently require a Financial Controller to join their team. This is a very inspiring and ambitious organisation that are wanting likeminded individuals to join their business to play an integral part in their success.

The role is for a Financial Controller - offering an excellent all round finance opportunity, with varied responsibility. They will provide huge scope for progression both parallel and vertical opportunities that will open up during your time in this business.

Reporting Directly into the Finance Director you will be responsible for:
* Perform day to day accounting duties including overseeing the upkeep of all primary ledgers, cash books and safe accounting system.
* Oversee preparation of payments to suppliers and implementation of Group payment terms in co-operation with ops team.
* VAT returns and sales lists
* Generation of regular cashflow reporting, monitoring cash flow ensuring fixed and working capital is aligned with budgets and forecasts highlighting potential corrective action.
* Calculation of accruals.
* Intercompany invoicing and balance confirmation.
* Production of salaried payroll, generation of payroll payments and journals.
* Including integrity of allocations and generation of pension schedules.
* Coding of benefits invoices & any necessary reconciliations.
* Class 1A Accruals and P11D generation and submission.
* Create customers and vendors in local system and perform periodic reviews ensuring the integrity of master data.
* Responsible for IFRS16 calculations and integrity within group monthly reporting package, generating reconciliation to statutory reporting.
* Prepare information for, and host audits required for production of statutory accounts and compliance with Group Reporting Requirements.
* Manage develop and train the Assistant Accountant.
* Balance sheet reconciliation according to Group policy.
* Responsible for preparation of Monthly Management Reports including specific Group Reporting requirements, including sales flash, internal sales reports, TAGETIK input, MD&A excel and PowerPoint in accordance with the time lines dictated by Corporate.
* Responsible for maintenance of local system SAGE, including cost centre structure and site splits for local management.
* Approval and verification of Inter Company Balances.
* Development and maintenance of adequate financial controls in order to ensure compliance with UK GAAP, IFRS and Companies Act.
* Assist with preparation of budgets and forecasts as required by Corporate - in particular responsible for input into Group Reporting System - TAGETIK.
* Internal Controls - overall responsible for internal controls. Creating procedures and implementing control steps to secure segregation of duties within a small finance organisation.
Ideally you will be able to demonstrate the below experience:
* ACCA/CIMA/ACA qualified/part qualified with previous strong experiences within the finance function.
* Strong Excel skills
* Ability to adapt and pick up projects on an ad hoc basis.

This is a huge opportunity ideally for anyone looking to take their next step in their career and join a supporting business to accelerate their career in the direction of Financial Director.

Sharp Consultancy is a finance and accountancy recruitment specialist assisting accounting and finance divisions of businesses in the Yorkshire and Derbyshire area. With over 30 years' experience we pride ourselves on sourcing excellent finance professionals across all divisions of an accounts function, from finance administrators through to senior Finance Director appointments. Please visit our website www.sharpconsultancy.com for more information on accountancy jobs or accountancy recruitment; finance jobs or finance recruitment.

Candidates must be eligible to work in the UK full time without restriction. To apply please send your CV to the e-mail address stated, quoting our reference and specifying which website you saw this position advertised on. Due to the high volume of applications we receive it is not always possible to respond to unsuccessful applicants. Therefore if we have not responded to your application within seven days please note that on this occasion your application has not been successful.