Financial Controller
Job description
Original text imported from Reed
This is a broad role offering genuine variety and visibility across the business. Working closely with senior stakeholders, you will be responsible for maintaining robust financial controls, improving processes and providing meaningful financial information to support business performance.
Key Responsibilities
- Manage and oversee the day-to-day finance function
- Produce monthly management accounts, budgets and forecasts
- Manage cashflow, working capital and financial reporting
- Prepare statutory accounts and support audit requirements
- Ensure VAT, PAYE and regulatory compliance
- Support project costing, margin analysis and operational reporting
- Develop and improve financial controls, systems and processes
- Partner with operational managers to drive profitability and performance
- Lead and develop a small finance team
- ACA, ACCA or CIMA qualified, or qualified by experience
- Previous experience within a Financial Controller or senior finance role
- Strong management accounting, financial control and reporting experience
- Experience within a contracting, construction, engineering or project-based environment would be advantageous
- Commercially minded with a proactive, hands-on approach
- Strong systems, process improvement and stakeholder management skills
- Confident working closely with senior leadership teams
Key skills
AI-extracted from the job advert
Application advice
5 AI-generated recommendations to maximise your chances.
⭐ Lead your CV with your ACA, ACCA or CIMA qualification (or qualified-by-experience status) prominently in your Personal Statement, as the advert lists this as the first requirement.
📊 Quantify your management accounts experience: e.g. "Produced monthly management accounts for a £12M turnover contracting business, reducing close cycle from 10 to 6 days."
🏗️ Explicitly call out any experience in contracting, construction, engineering or project-based environments in a dedicated 'Sector Experience' line — the advert flags this as advantageous and it will differentiate you immediately.
🎯 Include a bullet on VAT and PAYE compliance in your current or most recent role, referencing specific regulatory frameworks (e.g. MTD for VAT), as regulatory compliance is a named responsibility.
🤝 Demonstrate stakeholder partnering by naming the seniority level of leaders you have worked with (e.g. MD, Operations Director) and the commercial outcomes achieved, mirroring the advert's emphasis on driving profitability with operational managers.
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 full month-end management accounts pack for a £18M turnover contracting business within 5 working days, reducing close cycle by 40% through process redesign and system automation.
- •Led VAT and PAYE compliance programme across 3 legal entities, achieving zero regulatory penalties over a 4-year period and successfully managing 2 HMRC enquiries to resolution.
- •Implemented project costing framework across 25 active construction contracts, improving margin visibility by 30% and enabling the Operations Director to reallocate resource to highest-value projects.
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Letter preview — tailored to Pure Resourcing Solutions
Dear Hiring Manager,
Pure Resourcing Solutions' search for a Financial Controller within a growing project-led business is a strong match for my background in financial control, management accounting and VAT/PAYE compliance. Having operated as a senior finance professional with direct ownership of month-end close, statutory accounts and cashflow forecasting, I am well placed to take hands-on responsibility for the finance function from day one.
My background in financial control within project-based environments has equipped me with practical experience in project costing, margin analysis and operational reporting. I have partnered closely with MDs and Operations Directors to translate financial data into decisions that improved profitability, while simultaneously strengthening internal controls and driving process improvements across finance systems. I have also led and developed small finance teams, balancing day-to-day delivery with longer-term capability building.
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Interview questions
10 questions generated from this advert.
Technical
- ›Walk us through your month-end management accounts process — what controls do you apply to ensure accuracy before sign-off?
- ›How have you approached project costing and margin analysis in a previous role, and what reporting did you produce for operational managers?
- ›Describe your experience managing VAT and PAYE compliance — what systems or processes did you use to ensure regulatory deadlines were met?
- ›What steps have you taken to improve financial controls or finance systems in a previous role, and how did you measure success?
- ›How do you manage cashflow forecasting in a project-led business where revenue recognition can be irregular?
Behavioural
- ›Tell me about a time you identified a significant weakness in financial controls and led the remediation — what was the outcome?
- ›Describe a situation where you had to present complex financial information to a non-finance senior stakeholder and influence a business decision.
- ›Give an example of when you led or developed a small finance team — how did you manage performance and build capability?
- ›Tell me about a time you worked under pressure to meet a statutory or audit deadline — how did you prioritise and deliver?
- ›Describe a scenario where you partnered with an operational manager to improve profitability — what data did you use and what was the result?
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 significant weakness in financial controls and led the remediation — what was the outcome?
Describe a situation where you had to present complex financial information to a non-finance senior stakeholder and influence a business decision.