Finance Analyst

It’s the people at Shakespeare Martineau that make us so special. By understanding what our people want, giving them the support they need, recognising everyone’s contribution and realising the unique power of teams, together we win.   As a firm we are focused on proactively building and developing diverse teams, bringing different backgrounds, personalities and perspectives together. We play to our strengths, pushing ourselves to be consistently better than yesterday and deliver amazing solutions for our clients. We empower our teams with a high degree of individual responsibility; we self-manage and encourage everyone to be responsible for their own learning, knowing it makes us even better at what we do!    

We believe in trusting our people to make the right decisions for themselves, from when and where you work, to how you dress; we focus on outputs.  

To provide truly outstanding client service we work as one team.  Our Business Operations Group is made up of business professionals who work with our legal professionals to provide market leading expertise to our clients.  The Groups include; Finance, Operations, HR, Clients & Markets, IT, Risk and the Executive Leadership team.

Our Finance team is made up of over 40 people who work from a variety of our office locations. The team work closely with our other business operations teams to provide a first class service. They are responsible for the sound financial management of the firm, including cash flow, budgeting, internal and external reporting and audit. They have responsibilities for the safe-keeping and operating of our clients’ funds held on account and also deal with credit control, work-in progress and billing, accounts payable and expenses. The team also work closely with the Commercial Managers within each Business Unit to provide reporting and analysis along with finance business partnering support to all other areas of the business.

The role:

We are looking for two Finance Analysts to join our Finance team as part of the firm’s Business Operations group. 

Working within the Financial Reporting and Analysis team, you will provide reporting and analysis on a number of key performance indicators for the business along with dedicated support to the Commercial Manager of one of our three Business Units. Your insightful analysis will be a key part in ensuring the Firm is performing on target to achieve its ambitions.

Your key duties will be:

• Preparing and distributing Flash reports leading up to month end tracking the Firm’s fees against forecast
• Maintenance of fee earner target hours
• Supporting the Business Unit Commercial Manager with analysis, information requests and reporting requirements, monthly WIP review meetings and assisting with Forecast preparation
• Assisting with month end reporting to include updating Central reports relating to Key Performance Indicators
• Preparing client profitability analysis for the Firm’s key clients and identifying areas for improvement
• Co-ordinating and analysing the quarterly WIP review
• Assisting with monthly commentary and variance analysis for Business Unit performance and identifying key trends
• Completing ad-hoc requests received both Centrally and from Business Unit
• Providing cover for other Finance Analyst(s) during periods of absence

Skills and experience you will have:

• a recognised Accountancy qualification or working towards Accountancy qualification (or a degree in Finance and Accounting)
• to be competent in Excel with the ability to handle large amounts of data; a working knowledge of Pivot Tables / Vlookups, index function is essential
• a minimum of 2 years’ experience in a similar role
• the ability to tailor reports to the end user and highlight and interpret key findings, turning data into information

Key competencies you will need:

• a strong attention to detail
• the capability and confidence to work on multiple tasks autonomously with minimal supervision required
• the ability to manage and prioritise a task-list well and meet tight deadlines
• the ability to self-manage workload and take ownership of problems
• strong interpersonal skills
• self-motivation with energy, commitment and a team player approach

About you – you will be:

• an excellent communicator with an enquiring mind
• highly enthusiastic, willing to go the extra mile and be happy to go beyond the job description
• respectful towards others and have a positive, willing and ‘can do’ attitude
• keen to learn, interested in driving your own career progression and be proactive in taking ownership of this

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Please be aware, for some vacancies, where we receive high numbers of applications we may need to bring the close date forward.

Due to the nature of the work undertaken, confirmation of employment will be subject to a variety of checks which will be carried out once an offer of employment is accepted. Details of the checks can be found here.

Shakespeare Martineau is a committed equal opportunities employer. We seek to attract, develop and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures. We value and respect individuality and encourage a culture within our business where people can be themselves and be valued for their strengths and experiences. Everyone who either applies to or works for the firm is treated equally, regardless of their gender, age, ethnic origin, nationality, marital status, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.