Our Client and the Role:

Our Client is a multi- national food logistics and facilities provider. Founded in 1957 its headquarters are in Europe and are renowned as a market leader and an innovative distributor of wholesale food products and food logistics concepts. They are experts in the handling of customs procedures, cross border transactions and dealing with local cultures, languages and bureaucracy.

They distribute food products across all temperature spans including fresh produce and also deliver soft drinks and bottled water. They have sites in Europe, Africa, Middle East and Near Asia, a fleet of 40 foot multi : temperature trucks and vans delivering to sites on a daily basis, many of which are difficult to reach or in dangerous areas!

Over the years the business has developed from food logistics to include the provision of complex service solutions. They now provide catering operations- both military feeding and commercial catering, they operate bakeries, coffee shops, hairdressing and beautician salons and PX / Duty Free retail stores which sell groceries, electrical and other duty free items etc. They also have a Site Services Division which provides construction of buildings and offices, general facilities management, fuel management, vehicle and plant maintenance services.

The role:

Our client has a Regional Business Support Centre in Dubai which provides core central support services to the business units which are based in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Our Client is wishing to strengthen the management team of its Site Services Division and accordingly is seeking an accomplished Financial Controller to take control of the financial activities relating to the Division.

Reporting into the Finance Director who is based in Switzerland and with a dotted line report into the Site Services Divisional Director the successful candidate will undertake a variety of financial duties which will necessitate them travelling to our client?s sites located in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Some of which are in post conflict areas e.g. Afghanistan etc

The primary objectives of the role are:

§ Provision of overall financial guidance to the Site Services Divisional Management team
§ Assuring that decisions are taken on a solid financial basis
§ Making an active contribution to the Site Services Division?s financial success
§ Taking responsibility for the capital employed belonging to the Site Services Division
§ Analysis of the Division?s business processes and development of systems for improvements

Key tasks will be:

§ Monthly closing: review and closing of accounts, build controls as required to ensure proper capture of income and costs, review and control monthly accruals, prepayments
§ Consolidation of approximately 5 legal entities
§ Preparation of year end figures
§ Preparation of Business Review and forecasts, participation in monthly Business Review meeting, presentation of results
§ Monitoring of capital employed: fixed assets, inventory, prepayments, accounts receivables
§ Regular visits to the regions / sites from which the main activities are performed and preparation of follow-up reports and action lists
§ Perform Gross Profit checks between inventory system and finance system and reconcile the variances
§ Check the Site Services Division inventory system for open purchase orders, goods in transit, invoices, credit notes and negative stock-levels
§ Reconcile the balance sheet accounts relating to the Site Services Division
§ Preparation of Budgets, Forecasts
§ Define and monitor key drivers and KPI?s for the Site Services Division
§ Documentation of financial processes into our client?s finance manual and training of relevant employees
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Knowledge and Skills:

Successful candidates should have a tertiary qualification in Accounting or Business Administration and be an accomplished Financial Accountant / Controller with some experience in a similar position ideally in an international fm, international product or trading company.

In addition you should have knowledge of business process re-engineering, excellent computer knowledge (ORACLE/Financials, MS Office, OLAP Database and reporting tools) and a high level of analytical skills.

You should be fluent in written and spoken English and have a strong attention to detail.

Superb communication skills and instant credibility are essential as you will be inter-facing with a number of people from different backgrounds, nationalities and religions.

You will be resourceful with a flexible outlook, have the ability to multi-task in order to handle competing priorities and be able to fit in to an international dynamic and multi-cultural environment.

Finally you should possess a Drivers Licence and be IT / PC literate particularly in Excel and spreadsheets.

This is an outstanding challenge for an