Finance Analyst

Position: Finance Analyst (Permanent)
Finance Analyst

Reporting to:
Financial Controller

Location:

Leicester (with occasional on-site interaction as required)

Role Overview

An established organisation is seeking a Finance Analyst to support the Finance function by delivering accurate, timely, and insightful financial analysis to support business decision-making.

The role focuses on management reporting, cost analysis, KPI dashboards, and data analytics, working closely with Finance, Operations, and Production teams. It is well suited to someone with a strong analytical mindset who enjoys working with ERP-derived data and translating complex information into clear commercial insight.

Key Responsibilities

Financial Analysis & Reporting

* Assist in the production of monthly management accounts, including variance analysis and commentary.

* Prepare and analyse cost of goods sold (COGS) and margin information for month-end reporting.

* Perform detailed cost analysis, including product costing, job costing, and investigation of variances.

* Support the Financial Controller with financial analysis, periodic returns, and audit requirements.

Costing, WIP & Operational Insight

* Analyse costing data from the ERP system to ensure accuracy, completeness, and integrity.

* Liaise with Production and Operations teams to establish accurate work-in-progress (WIP) figures.

* Maintain costing data throughout the month to support timely reporting and forecasting.

* Investigate anomalies and discrepancies in operational and financial data, providing clear explanations and recommendations.

Data, Analytics & KPI Reporting

* Design, build, and maintain Excel-based reports and KPI dashboards to support financial and operational decision-making.

* Extract and manipulate data from ERP and other business systems using Excel, SQL, and Power Query.

* Produce regular reporting, including weekly sales and orders, reconciling operational data to the general ledger.

* Improve the automation, reliability, and presentation of management information and analytics.

Business Partnering & Continuous Improvement

* Work closely with stakeholders across the business to understand reporting requirements and provide analytical support.

* Contribute to improvements in data quality, reporting processes, and financial controls.

* Support ad-hoc analysis and project work within the Finance team as required.

Skills & Experience

Essential

* Strong analytical skills with high attention to detail and accuracy.

* Advanced Excel capability, including pivot tables, formulas, and data handling.

* Experience analysing financial and operational data within a manufacturing or similar environment.

* Ability to interpret ERP system data and translate it into meaningful commercial insight.

* Confident communicator, able to explain financial information clearly to non-finance stakeholders.

Desirable

* Experience using SQL / T-SQL for data extraction and analysis.

* Practical use of Power Query or similar data transformation tools.

* Costing or management accounting experience within a production environment.

* Exposure to KPI development, dashboarding, or business intelligence reporting.

Personal Attributes

* Curious, proactive, and improvement-focused.

* Highly organised, able to manage multiple analytical tasks concurrently.

* Comfortable working with large and complex datasets.

* Commercially minded with a strong problem-solving approach