The role of Head of Finance is a key appointment. The individual will be a key senior executive of the Organization in India. Responsibility for much of the London entity’s Finance processes will ultimately transfer to the Finance team in India with plans to grow the team to at least 5 people. This role will also be responsible for driving other Finance shared service opportunities with the Chicago and Hong Kong entities. Accountability for these processes will remain with employees of the relevant regulated entity.

Leading the transfer of certain responsibilities from the London Finance team to the Kolkata location

• Assisting the CFO in determining which Finance responsibilities will be carried out in Kolkata and leading the effort to achieve this goal
• Hiring additional staff as necessary for this purpose
• Ensuring that processes are well-documented and that appropriate training is available to Kolkata staff
• Considering additional Finance shared service opportunities related to the Hong Kong and Chicago entities/locations

Finance shared service responsibilities for the UK entity

• Daily Treasury/cash management processes
• Monthly ledger close and financial reporting due diligence
• Monthly Consolidation of the Group entities
• Monthly Financial Reporting packs
• Accounts Payable/Employee expenses
• Budgeting
• VAT returns
• Preparation of FCA financial/regulatory capital/client money returns
• Cost Control processes
• Maintaining up to date accounting policies under IFRS
• Involvement in the preparation of the annual financial statements and related audit
• Involvement in ad-hoc projects to assist the CFO
• Organizing regular meetings to facilitate supervision of the shared services by the CFO/London Finance team

This is not an exhaustive list and the successful candidate will work with the CFO to determine the appropriate split of responsibilities between London and Kolkata.

Finance responsibilities for the Indian entity

• Responsibility for all Finance functions for the organization.

Leadership / Team management

• Recruiting staff and building a cohesive company culture in the Kolkata office
• Resource planning – ensure sufficient cover is always available for all key tasks and operations
• Train, develop and lead staff members
• Deliver end of year appraisals and personal development plans

Other

• Clear and accurate reporting to UK-based management
• Driving and managing change – developing practices, routines and solutions to help improve productivity and quality. Challenge and always strive to improve everything whilst maintaining a strong control focus
• Ensure that the business’ key policies and procedures are fully documented and up to date
• Lead the continuous improvement and automation of key processes

ROLE-SPECIFIC COMPETENCIES

• Experienced qualified accountant with at least 15 years post-qualification experience
• Ideally, experience of delivering financial reporting and control functions in similar highly-regulated financial services organizations
• Demonstrated strong leadership and effective communications and delegation across a Finance Team
• Able to present recommendations and results of complex analyses to cross-functional stakeholders and to interface with cross-functional teams at all levels, ability to operate in a matrix environment.
• Demonstrated experience in sound financial and risk management
• Builds effective relationships with relevant stakeholders
• Maintains in depth knowledge of financial reporting standards and requirements impacting the Group and reporting deadlines attached thereto
• Organized and focused on both internal and external deadlines
• In depth knowledge and understanding of compliance with local accounting standards, taxation and other financial norms

CORE COMPETENCIES

The ideal candidate will:

• be a confident leader who is self-motivated and who is excited about building an important new part of the organization.
• have a control focus and great attention to detail as well as being flexible in adapting the Finance department to the Group’s business needs
• have excellent communication skills in English as well as local languages

Leadership:

• Positively strives to inculcate and promote company culture and values
• Uses relevant economic, financial, risk and industry data to assess business performance
• Recognizes and acknowledges personal impact on the wider business

Culture and Conduct:

• Demonstrates and promotes collaboration across the Group
• Embraces change, challenges existing processes and innovates improvements
• Understands and complies with all internal and external regulatory and legislative frameworks, policies, procedures and controls
• Believes the fair treatment of customers must be central to decisions made and customer outcomes
• Shows integrity and honesty in dealing with clients and colleagues
• Demonstrates a high energy level and strong work ethic, as well as being organized and disciplined
• Resilient and works well under pressure

Technical Skills and Knowledge:

• As per relevant role-specific competencies earlier

Relationship Management:

• Demonstrates an ability to effectively communicate across the business by building rapport and working collaboratively with all relevant stakeholders.

Team Leadership, Management and Development:

• Self-motivated and driven to maintain high levels of activity and produce consistently high-quality output within agreed deadlines
• Promote the generation and sharing of knowledge and learning in order to enhance the collective knowledge of the team and organization

Judgement and Decision Making:

• Makes decisions dealing with changing circumstances and problems and recommends action
• Makes decisions or takes action consistent with authority and responsibility

Training and Competence:

• Keeps abreast of accounting, regulatory and business developments in both the UK and India
• Ensures and solicits / accepts feedback from superiors and other colleagues and responds to constructive feedback

Communication:

• Creates appropriate levels of impact by using verbal and non-verbal communication skills to influence and/ or negotiate win-win agreements to proposals, plans or ideas
• Uses appropriate presentation and facilitation techniques to engage an audience and help them understand, retain and respond appropriately to the message being presented

ORGANISATIONAL COMPETENCIES

Communication and Impact

Ability to communicate with peers, managers and stakeholders, both verbally and in writing, in a manner which is effective

Stakeholder Focus

Ability to understand both internal and external stakeholder requirements

Conduct

Show clear evidence that in meeting principal responsibilities you have ensured that the goals are achieved professionally through honesty, integrity, trust and commitment

Achievement and Drive

Demonstrate the drive to achieve challenging organizational goals, to go that extra mile for the organization

Teamwork

Demonstrate the ability to work co-operatively and flexibly with others, to achieve a common goal