Finance Analyst

Company Description

Informa is a leading academic publishing, business intelligence, knowledge, and events business, creating unique content and connectivity for customers all over the world. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the FTSE 100.

Taylor & Francis is one of the world’s largest publishers of high-quality, peer reviewed scholarly journals, books, e-books and reference works. We empower learners, thinkers and doers with trusted knowledge that advances research and enriches lives. We bring together diverse people, ideas and opinions to validate and publish the experts, theories and truths that matter. And we’ve been doing this in an unbroken arc since 1798.

Our purpose is to foster human progress through knowledge. We strongly believe that this requires us to encourage and examine different ideas and voices, so that any work that meets our exacting levels of quality deserves to be included in our publications. This requires open minds, the opportunity for robust debate, and the courage to defend perspectives that stand up to scrutiny, even if they conflict with our personal beliefs or values. Because that’s the only way to find the best obtainable version of the truth and, ultimately, foster human progress. If you agree, then we’d love to hear from you.

Job Description

This role will be based in the UK and you must have the right to live and work in the UK. Taylor & Francis has flexible hybrid working options for how employees can work based on their role. We anticipate this role being appointed on a hybrid basis, with the majority of your time spent working from home, with regular visits to our office in Milton Park, Oxfordshire. You must therefore be based within a reasonable commuting distance from this office. 

Closing Date: Applications will close on 5th August 2024. Applications are shortlisted on a rolling basis, and we will be interviewing alongside advertising. We therefore encourage you to apply at the earliest opportunity.

This role supports the financial planning and performance of our c.£200m Direct cost base. The role reports into the Finance Business Partner – Direct costs and helps provides insight, analysis and reporting on the KPIs and value system drivers for Direct costs and marketing. You will be responsible for generating executive level insights by applying a financial lens to business decisions and assessing opportunities and risks by being a trusted partner to key stakeholders across the company.

Reporting to our Finance Business Partner – Direct costs, you will:

• Work with the business to understand and analyse direct cost models ensuring that they are accurate, robust and in line with accounting policies
• Prepare actionable insight and analysis to support the business with understanding direct cost performance against budget and forecasts
• Work closely with business stakeholders and finance colleagues to deliver the annual planning cycle (Budget, 3YP and forecasts) and generate high-quality accurate forecasting through robust modelling of costs
• Provide clear, consistent, and timely reporting on performance and value metrics
• Proactively identify potential areas for cost rationalisation
• Partner with Marketing and other Business teams to analyse performance measures and the impact on revenue and return on investment of spend
• Develop new reporting as required to support the operational and marketing decision-making processes
• Prepare robust financial models, business cases and data driven analytical tools for direct cost investments
• Monitor and report on risks and opportunities
• Work closely with the Finance Control team to ensure that all month end data and reporting is accurate and delivered on a timely basis
• Work closely with the Finance Operations team to build system-based FP&A solutions
• Support the design and development of automated cost reporting, including PowerBI dashboards
• Ensure all budget, forecast and 3YP data in TM1 is up to date and accurate
• Provide insight, analysis and reporting on other areas of the business as required by the Finance Business Partner – Direct costs

Qualifications

The ideal candidate will have knowledge & experience of:

• Part qualified or a Professional qualification (ACCA, ACA, CIMA or equivalent) or equivalent QBE is essential to success in this role.
• Prior experience in financial reporting / forecasting / budgeting / business partnering
• SAP, PowerBI and Planning Analytics (TM1) desirable
• Comfortable manipulating large data sets and visualising complex financial information to non finance stakeholders
• Technical awareness of industry and developments in accounting standards that may impact the business
• Strong MS skillset, especially advanced Excel and Powerpoint
• Attention to detail 
• Financial modelling skills 

Skills and Behaviours Required

• Excellent communication/presentation skills and the ability to maintain strong working relationships
• A high level of numerical and analytical capability with a strong eye for detail
• Experience working in a fast-paced, high growth, technology focused organisation
• Ability to manage workload in challenging and busy environment
• Ability to prioritise and balance multiple and often conflicting requests/timeframes
• An interest in driving finance planning solutions and passionate about data needing to be both accurate and of a high quality to make better decisions
• Commitment to continuous improvement and the ability to drive improvements based on data analysis and evidence-based learning
• Ability to handle and communicate information sensitively and professionally
• Strong influencing skills and stakeholder management
• Self-starter and problem-solver with the ability to work with minimal supervision. Be hands-on and open to new ways of doing things

Additional Information

What we offer in return:

At Taylor & Francis we care about our colleagues, promoting work-life balance, wellbeing, and flexible working. You will be joining a thriving business, working alongside an exceptional group of people. We believe that the skills and experience you bring to Taylor & Francis are invaluable. We want you to have the opportunity to develop your abilities, and to innovate and develop in areas which you are passionate about.

UK Benefits:

• An excellent work/life balance with a fantastic, flexible working culture.
• 25 days annual leave per year plus Bank Holidays
• 3 additional discretionary days off during the holiday season at the end of the year
• 4 paid volunteering days each year
• Employee assistance programme – offering 24/7 well-being support
• Annual bonus scheme
• Share Match – Plan that matches every share purchased with two free shares.
• Pension scheme
• Life assurance, plus optical and medical care.

Training And Professional Development:

We’re passionate about ensuring you have all the tools and resources at your fingertips to reach your short and long-term career goals. We’ll support you in your journey by working together on your own bespoke Taylor & Francis Development Plan, ensuring you have the resources, tools, support, and coaching that will get you where you want to be.

Interview process:

Once you have submitted your application, we may get in touch with you for an initial screening conversation or ask you to complete a short video interview to enable us to better understand your skills, experience, and motivation. Following this, you will be invited to attend a competency-based interview, either virtually or in person. Typically, we’d then finish the interview process with a final, 2nd stage interview before extending an offer to the successful applicant.

Taylor & Francis Group an Informa Business

We want all our candidates to shine in our recruitment process. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to ensure you are able to show us your best self. This could include having the application form in a different format, more time for questions, or anything else – please ask us, we are happy to be flexible! Please contact [email protected]

Being Yourself at Taylor & Francis

 If you’re excited about working with Taylor & Francis to foster human progress through knowledge, we invite you to apply even if your existing skills and experience don’t fit every item listed above. At Taylor & Francis, we are at our best and most successful when colleagues can be themselves and contribute regardless of their identity or background. As a colleague, you will have the opportunity to further innovate and develop in areas that you are passionate about. Our goal is to empower you with the resources, incentives, and flexibility you need to enjoy success at work and to live a healthy, balanced life.

Taylor & Francis is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We believe in and value diversity of people and thought, fostering a supportive and inclusive environment where all colleagues can learn and succeed as their true selves. Taylor & Francis recruits, develops, and retains colleagues without regard to any protected personal characteristics or other non-merit-based factor.

We genuinely care about our colleagues, promoting work-life balance, wellbeing, and flexible working. We believe that the skills and experience you bring to Taylor & Francis are invaluable. We want you to have the opportunity to develop your abilities, and to innovate and develop in areas which you are passionate about. To find out more about our business and the great career opportunities please go to our Careers Site: http://www.taylorandfrancisgroup.com/careers

Or better yet check out our LinkedIn ‘Life’ Page, highlighting our accomplishments, employees, and company culture. It’s also a good way of meeting our recruitment team, who will be happy to advise you on your journey here at T&F.

https://www.linkedin.com/company/taylor-&-francis-group/life/79e0c27c-afdf-4bbb-84e6-5f8ed5e10bb8/