Commercial Finance Manager

Who are we?

South Western Railway (SWR) operates over 1,500 services each weekday across the network and employs more than 5,000 people. We provide easy and convenient mobility, connecting people and communities in South West London, southern counties of England, and the Isle of Wight.

Join our team and help us continue to bring people together to get the most out of life.

About the job

To support the Senior Commercial Finance Manager in partnering the business to ensure that they understand, are working towards and deliver their objectives within the financial plan agreed and revised as appropriate.

To support the Senior Commercial Finance Manager and Directorate indevelopment of the Financial Plan to support the Directorate objectives and strategy.

Principal Accountabilities

• Assist the Senior Commercial Finance Manager deliver on their responsibility to sign off of the Directorate P&Ls on a periodic basis. Working closely with the Management Accounting team to ensure that they have;
• Correctly recognised and classified costs, for example, by GL, IWO, Initiative, Asset Code, and Intercompany Partner etc, and

• Correctly recognised and classified revenues.

• Assist the Senior Commercial Finance Manager in the preparation of periodic results presentations to the Executive Director, Heads of and Budget holders through the Finance Steering Group governance process.

• Assist the Senior Commercial Finance Manager to partner with the Executive Director, Heads of and Budget holders to develop the financial plan that supports the Directorate level strategy and deliverables. Working with the other Commercial Finance Managers to ensure consistent assumptions are used and are documented completely. Working with the Financial Systems Development Manager to ensure that the respective GLs, IWOs, Initiatives and Asset Codes are setup and available to be used.
• Assist the Senior Commercial Finance Manager to prepare, communicate and roll out Annual Budget and Business Plan presentations and packs to Stakeholders. Ensuring that these submissions meet the instructions provided and the requirements of our stakeholders.
• Assist the Senior Commercial Finance Manager in the preparation of Quarterly updates / re- forecasts to the Directorate level financial plan, based upon the latest available information. Working with the other Commercial Finance Managers to ensure consistent assumptions are used and are documented completely.
• Assist the Senior Commercial Finance Manager to prepare, communicate and roll out Quarterly forecast presentations and packs to Stakeholders. Ensuring that these submissions meet the instructions provided and the requirements of our stakeholders.
• Assist the Senior Commercial Finance Manager to capture, calculate and communicate to stakeholders the impact of Automatic Cost Budget Change Events.
• Assist the Senior Commercial Finance Manager in providing budgetary management training to all Directorate budget holders.
• Guide and assist the Directorate on compliance with and implementation of Financial Policies.
• Assist the Senior Commercial Finance Manager to preparation the Business Plan Commitment tracker and reporting to stakeholders.
• Working with FRH to continue to develop our forecasting toolset, including, implementation of further forecasting modules.
• Assist the Senior Commercial Finance Manager to partner with the Executive Director, Heads of and Budget Holders to develop and maintain establishment plans & forecasts. Supporting the Directorate to navigate through HR and stakeholder approvals processes, and the development of business cases to support staff cost changes.
• Assist the Senior Commercial Finance Manager to partner with the Executive Director, Heads of and Budget holders to;
• model changes to operations. Supporting the development of business cases to evaluate the impact of any proposed changes. For example, Work Force Reform, Arterio Introduction.
• model risks / issues identified. Supporting the Executive Director and Heads of in the financial quantification of their Directorate level risks. Additionally, feeding information in, as appropriate into the financial evaluation of Corporate level risks that impact on the Directorate.

• identify and deliver cost efficiencies. Supporting the development of business cases to evaluate the impact of any proposed cost efficiency measures.

• Assist the Senior Commercial Finance Manager to partner with the Executive Director, Heads of, Budget holders, and procurement during contract negotiations to ensure that the business achieves the best value. Supporting the evaluation of the financial propositions and commercial scoring evaluation.

• Assist the Senior Commercial Finance Manager in the preparation for and attendance at;
• Industry Groups and Forums. Supporting the development of business cases to evaluate the impact of proposed measures arising from these forums.
• Divisional Groups and Forums. Supporting the development of business cases to evaluate the impact of proposed measures arising from these forums.

• Company Level Groups and Forums. Supporting the development of business cases to evaluate the impact of proposed measures arising from these forums.

• Assist the Senior Commercial Finance Manager in the preparation of periodic Performance Based Fee evidence of Good and Efficient Operator actions taken by the business. Supporting with financial analysis to evidence the impact of actions taken.

• Assist the Senior Commercial Finance Manager in the analysis and interrogation of large non- financial and financial data sets, and the presentation of findings and the development of actions with the Executive Director, Heads of and Budget Holders.
• Supplementary reports and ad-hoc analysis requests.

Minimum Requirements

• An ambitious self-starter with a minimum of 3-4 years experience working in finance
• Excellent inter-personal and communication skills.
• Confident in Excel, MS Office; with SAP/SAP BI/SAP BPC an advantage.
• Qualified CIMA or ACCA

Working Pattern

Working an average of 37 hours per week over 5 days

Monday – Friday, office hours

The Reward

In return we offer a competitive salary and a variety of valuable benefits, including:

• Free duty and leisure travel on SWR services for employees
• Free leisure travel for spouse/partner and dependants (criteria dependent)
• 75% discount on many other train operating companies
• Full training and support with development
• Excellent pension scheme

We all belong at SWR. Our vision is to provide an inclusive environment for all colleagues, ensuring all candidates have an equal opportunity to access meaningful employment.

We value our differences such as age, gender, LGBTQIA+, ethnicity, religion, and disability. We maintain a zero tolerance towards any form of prejudice towards our colleagues, customers, and future talent.

We celebrate and encourage diversity of thought, progressive ways of working and seeing all our colleagues grow and thrive.

If you require additional support to complete your application due to a disability or neurodivergent condition, for example, dyslexia, dyspraxia, or autism, please follow the links below. We encourage you to share any additional needs you may require so we can provide a fair and equal process for all who apply.