Finance Manager
Job description
Original text imported from Reed
Finance Manager - Fixed-term
Cambridge
Salary £50,000 - £60,000
Heap & Co are partnering with a well-established and highly respected organisation to recruit a Finance Manager on a fixed-term contract basis.
The Role
As Finance Manager, you’ll play a key role in delivering accurate financial reporting, supporting budgeting and forecasting, and driving improvements in financial processes and systems.
This is a brilliant opportunity for someone who enjoys a hands-on, fast-paced environment and wants real influence across the business.
Key Responsibilities
• Monthly management accounts (P&L, balance sheet, analysis)
• Monthly balance sheet reconciliations with insightful commentary
• Financial and commercial analysis
• Annual budgeting and forecasting processes
• Support year-end audit
• Ensure compliance with internal controls and financial regulations
• Contribute to process improvements and controls enhancements
• Play a major role in implementing a new accounting system
• Business partner with leaders and colleagues across the business
Who We’re Looking For
• Qualified (CIMA/ACCA/ACA) or QBE
• Experience with Accounting Software / ERP systems
• Excellent Excel skills
• Confident communicator who can work across teams
• Organised, proactive, and detail-driven
Why This Opportunity Stands Out
This organisation truly invests in its people. With a strong culture of growth, wellbeing, and collaboration, employees consistently highlight the excellent development opportunities and supportive environment.
Benefits Include:
• Competitive salary
• Consistent bonus scheme
• Private medical and Life assurance
• Clear progression and development pathways
Interested?
If this sounds like the right next step for you, or someone in your network, feel free to get in touch for a confidential chat.
Key skills
AI-extracted from the job advert
Application advice
5 AI-generated recommendations to maximise your chances.
⭐ Place your CIMA/ACCA/ACA qualification prominently in your Personal Statement and beside your job title — the advert lists this as the primary requirement.
📊 Quantify your management accounts experience: e.g. 'Produced monthly P&L and balance sheet packs for a £40M turnover business, reducing close cycle from 10 to 6 days.'
🛠️ Highlight any ERP or accounting system implementation experience explicitly — the advert calls out 'implementing a new accounting system' as a major responsibility, so name the systems (e.g. Sage, NetSuite, Xero, SAP).
🤝 Include a dedicated 'Business Partnering' example in your CV, showing how you presented financial insight to non-finance stakeholders, as this is a stated requirement.
🎯 Tailor your skills section to include 'budgeting & forecasting', 'internal controls', and 'process improvement' — these are repeated throughout the advert and are likely ATS filter terms.
Suggested CV bullets
3 bullets our AI drafted for this specific advert, mirroring its ATS keywords.
Add these 3 bullets under your most recent experience:
- •Delivered monthly management accounts pack (P&L, balance sheet, variance commentary) for a £35M turnover business, reducing the close cycle from 9 to 5 working days.
- •Led implementation of a new ERP system across 3 finance functions, coordinating data migration and user training for 20 staff, achieving go-live 2 weeks ahead of schedule.
- •Managed annual budgeting and quarterly reforecasting process for 6 cost centres, improving forecast accuracy by 18% through enhanced driver-based modelling in Excel.
Free to copy — tailoring requires a 30-sec CV upload.
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Letter preview — tailored to Heap & Co
Dear Hiring Manager,
Heap & Co's search for a Finance Manager on a fixed-term basis at this Cambridge organisation aligns closely with my experience in management accounts, balance sheet reconciliations, and ERP system implementation. The scope of the role — spanning budgeting, year-end audit support, and hands-on business partnering — is exactly the kind of broad finance remit I thrive in.
My background in financial reporting and process improvement includes producing monthly P&L and balance sheet packs for a mid-sized business, leading a migration to a new accounting platform, and working directly with operational leaders to translate financial data into commercial decisions. I hold a professional accountancy qualification and am proficient in Excel and multiple ERP systems.
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Interview questions
10 questions generated from this advert.
Technical
- ›Walk us through your month-end management accounts process — how do you ensure accuracy and meet deadlines?
- ›Describe your experience implementing or migrating to a new accounting system. What were the key challenges and how did you overcome them?
- ›How do you approach balance sheet reconciliations, and what controls do you put in place to flag discrepancies?
- ›What ERP or accounting software have you used, and how have you leveraged them to improve financial reporting efficiency?
- ›How do you build and manage an annual budgeting and forecasting process across multiple business units?
Behavioural
- ›Tell me about a time you identified a weakness in a financial process and led an improvement initiative.
- ›Describe a situation where you had to communicate complex financial information to a non-finance stakeholder. How did you approach it?
- ›Give an example of when you had to manage competing priorities during a busy period such as year-end. How did you stay organised?
- ›Tell me about a time you worked cross-functionally to achieve a business goal. What was your role and what was the outcome?
- ›Describe a situation where you had to adapt quickly to a significant change — such as a new system or restructured process — in a finance role.
STAR answer examples
Model answers using the Situation-Task-Action-Result framework. Adapt to your own experience.
Tell me about a time you identified a weakness in a financial process and led an improvement initiative.
Describe a situation where you had to communicate complex financial information to a non-finance stakeholder. How did you approach it?