Purpose of the role:
To ensure integrity, accuracy and consistency in financial reporting and working capital management across branches including contracts and branch indirect and overhead costs.
To ensure effective financial control, project forecasting and reporting, understand variances to plan and provide support to decision-making across the entire project life cycle from bidding to close-out
This role demands a commercially aware individual with a firm understanding of project accounting including revenue recognition, cost management, contract agreements, billing and financial analysis.
Key Roles & Responsibilities:
Pre-contract assessment
• Input to bid submissions on risk/exceptions basis e.g. contract conditions, cost assumptions, payment terms/cash flow, fx risk, bonding etc.
• Undertake customer credit risk assessments, reviewing available credit insurance levels / exposure and proposing appropriate terms / mitigation strategies
Project maintenance
• Validate initial project budget and set up in ERP (e.g. revenue basis) on award. Oversee changes in project status in ERP
Project performance review
• Attend and input to weekly & monthly project/branch weekly financial summaries including presentation to senior management
• Analyse, investigate and explain variances to plan
• Validate weekly revenue in line with Keller policy including reconciliation to production and project manager adjustments
• Support project managers as applicable in identifying & tracking change opportunities
• Monitor/ensure completeness & accuracy of project cost (GRNI, materials, labour, equipment, Procurement Card, expenses) including cost accruals and loss provisions
• Support project managers in ensuring quality & phasing of end of forecast project revenue and costs
• Monitor weekly project dashboard performance
Branch budgeting & forecasting
• Support project managers & branch management in preparing branch budgets, quarterly forecasts (and one month look forward).
• Accurate reporting of project work in hand
Cash & working capital
• Monitor aged unbilled revenue, change proposals and aged/overdue cash & retentions and escalate with project managers, customers, commercial and credit insurers as required
• Assist in cash allocation for customer receipts
• Prepare/input to weekly cash receipts forecasts
• Support billing process such as preparing customer applications / certificates and invoices
• Coordinate, monitor and chase issuance & collection of outstanding bonds
Process discipline
• Monitor supplier invoices on hold and oversee clearance by the EME finance shared service centre / operating business
• Drive process discipline – e.g. adherence to group standards and internal controls, purchase order compliance, timely receipting, billing, forecasting
• Provide tax advice / support to the branch, including payroll taxes, VAT and CIS treatment or highlight to the financial controller / finance director if further support is required
• Support timely and accurate of branch timesheets to payroll
Indirect and overhead costs
• Monitor indirect and overhead costs including labour recharging and utilisation
Customers
• The role will collaborate closely with project managers and site teams, procurement, EME finance shared services and branch leadership to ensure effective financial control, project forecasting and reporting, understand variances to plan and provide support to decision-making across the entire project life cycle from bidding to close-out
Other
• Support/input to branch capex requests (as required)
• Primary contact between project teams and EME finance shared services on transactional activity
• Support with internal/external/customer audit requests relating to projects
• Ad-hoc analysis & support tasks as required
• Liaise with payroll (timesheets, cost allocation) and procurement (POs, supplier queries) teams as required
Experience/Skills/Qualifications/Personal Attributes:
Minimum
• Experience in a project-based or commercial finance role
• Good knowledge of project accounting
• Familiarity with commercial contract environment
Desirable
• Higher/professional education in relevant subject preferred
Personal Attributes
• Proven experience in construction project-based accounting, including tracking and managing project costs, revenue recognition, WIP and milestone billing
• Strong analytical skills with ability to identify trends, interpret and explain complexity, identifying opportunities for improvement
• Open minded and prepared to challenge and influence where required
• Effective communicator and strong interpersonal skills with ability to articulate financial information to project managers and other stakeholders
• Problem solving – proactively approach to identifying challenges & proposing solutions
• Strong organisational, time management and presentation skills
• Resilience - can prioritise tasks effectively and can work to deadlines under pressure.
• Ability to manage a range of tasks across multiple stakeholders
• Commercial acumen
• Collaborative – team player and works effectively with project and operational teams
• Flexibility - adapts to changes in business priorities, project environment and accounting next practice
• Proficient in using ERP solutions
• Strong excel and analytical skills