Management Accountant
Job description
Original text imported from Reed
Management Accountant
Location: Poole (BH12 area)
Job Type: Full-time, Permanent
Working Hours: Office-based, Monday to Friday, 8:30am – 5:00pm
Sector: Finance / Management Accounts / FMCG / Food & Meat Wholesale
Are you an experienced Management Accountant looking to take ownership of financial reporting within a fast-paced FMCG business?
A well-established and growing food distribution and meat wholesale business based in Poole (BH12) is seeking a Management Accountant to join its finance team. Operating within the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector, the business supplies a wide range of food products across the UK and forms part of a wider retail and distribution group.
This is an excellent opportunity for a commercially minded accountant who thrives in a high-volume SME environment and enjoys playing a key role in supporting business performance and decision-making.
Key Responsibilities
As a Management Accountant, you will be responsible for delivering accurate and timely financial information to support the business.
Your responsibilities will include:
- Preparation of monthly management accounts
- Producing profit and loss statements, balance sheets and variance analysis
- Supporting budgeting and forecasting processes
- Monitoring financial performance and providing insightful analysis to senior management
- Assisting with cash flow forecasting and working capital management
- Supporting month-end and year-end processes
- Ensuring accuracy of financial data and maintaining robust controls
- Business partnering with operational teams across purchasing, logistics and sales
- Supporting continuous improvement within finance processes and systems
Experience & Skills
The ideal candidate will have experience within a Management Accountant or similar role, ideally within FMCG, food distribution, wholesale or logistics.
You should have:
- Previous experience in a Management Accountant or similar role
- Part-qualified or qualified (ACCA / CIMA / ACA) preferred
- Experience working within a fast-paced SME or growing business
- Strong analytical skills and attention to detail
- Good Excel and accounting system skills
- Ability to communicate financial information clearly to non-finance stakeholders
- Proactive and commercially aware approach
Why Join?
- Join a growing business in the food distribution and meat wholesale sector
- Work within a fast-moving FMCG environment
- Office-based role with stable Monday–Friday hours (8:30am–5:00pm)
- Friendly and supportive finance team
- Opportunity to take ownership and influence business performance
- Career development within a stable and expanding organisation
——
If you are a driven Management Accountant with experience in FMCG, wholesale, distribution or food supply, and are looking for a role where you can add real value, we would welcome your application.
Key skills
AI-extracted from the job advert
Application advice
5 AI-generated recommendations to maximise your chances.
⭐ Highlight your FMCG or food distribution experience prominently as this role specifically targets wholesale/distribution sector expertise
📊 Quantify your management accounts experience: "Prepared monthly P&L for £15M turnover, delivering reports 3 days ahead of deadline"
🎯 Emphasise your part-qualified status (ACCA/CIMA/ACA) as this is explicitly preferred for the role
💼 Showcase SME experience as they specifically want someone who thrives in high-volume small-medium enterprise environments
🤝 Demonstrate business partnering skills with examples of working with operations, purchasing, or sales teams
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:
- •Prepared monthly management accounts for £12M FMCG wholesale business, delivering P&L and balance sheet reports 2 days ahead of deadline
- •Conducted variance analysis identifying £180k cost savings opportunity through improved working capital management across 3 product lines
- •Supported budgeting process for food distribution operations, partnering with purchasing and logistics teams to forecast £2.8M annual procurement spend
Free to copy — tailoring requires a 30-sec CV upload.
Your cover letter is ready
We've drafted a cover letter for Paramount Retail Group. Preview the opening, then unlock the full personalised version.
Letter preview — tailored to Paramount Retail Group
Dear Hiring Manager,
Paramount Retail Group's Management Accountant position combines my passion for FMCG financial reporting with my expertise in monthly management accounts and variance analysis within fast-paced wholesale environments.
My background in preparing comprehensive P&L statements and supporting budgeting processes for growing SME businesses has equipped me with the commercial awareness and analytical skills essential for this role. I am particularly drawn to the opportunity to business partner with operational teams across purchasing, logistics and sales.
Free signup, no card needed. Export to PDF/Word requires a £1.99 trial (14 days).
Interview questions
10 questions generated from this advert.
Technical
- ›Walk me through your month-end process for management accounts preparation
- ›How do you approach variance analysis when actual results differ significantly from budget?
- ›What accounting systems have you used and how proficient are you with Excel for financial reporting?
- ›Describe your experience with cash flow forecasting in a fast-moving business environment
- ›How do you ensure accuracy and maintain robust financial controls in your reporting?
Behavioural
- ›Tell me about a time when you had to explain complex financial information to non-finance stakeholders
- ›Describe a situation where you identified a significant variance and how you investigated it
- ›Give an example of how you've supported business decision-making through your financial analysis
- ›Tell me about a time when you had to work under pressure to meet tight month-end deadlines
- ›Describe how you've contributed to process improvements in a finance team
STAR answer examples
Model answers using the Situation-Task-Action-Result framework. Adapt to your own experience.
Tell me about a time when you had to explain complex financial information to non-finance stakeholders
Describe a situation where you identified a significant variance and how you investigated it