Commercial Finance Director (Markets Finance Advisor Area Lead)

The opportunity The Markets Finance Advisor Area Lead (MFA) is a finance professional focused on providing financial performance support...

The opportunity

The Markets Finance Advisor Area Lead (MFA) is a finance professional focused on providing financial performance support to the Markets Leadership. The MFA Area Lead will provide services to the Area Accounts Leader as their Trusted Business Advisor. They will also lead Region MFAs to ensure effective and consistent finance support to markets leaders across all regions in the area. The Area MFA will ensure that Region MFAs effectively team and collaborate within finance and with other functions to ensure Exceptional Client Service to markets leaders.  The MFA will provide insight by analyzing, modeling, advising, and operationalizing key financial elements, to enable leadership to enhance performance. In addition, the MFA will lead financial elements of key processes such as the Revenue Plan; they will advise on cost budgets that pertain to marketing and business development; and they will leverage leading practices working within the area and with MFAs in other areas.   The MFA will drive a culture of collaboration across Finance - through building relationships with Global (Markets Finance, Reporting CoE), Area (PBFA, Market Finance Support, Controlling) and Regional (RFLs) Finance 

 

Your key responsibilities

Build, mentor and lead regional MFA network

• Lead the regional MFA network in collaboration with regional leadership
• Manage the regional MFAs, providing coaching and guidance in how best to serve region markets leaders in a TBA capacity
• Work with regions to promote Exceptional Client Service to all markets leaders

Support planning activities

• Strategic & annual planning activities.  Deliver analysis, modelling and advice to support strategic and annual planning processes.  Establish processes for robust measurement of success against strategic and annual plans throughout the period covered
• Revenue planning.  Model and advise on trends, and work with markets leaders to support effective planning
• Performance against targets, including forecast expectations.  Analyse data throughout the year on TER, back-log, sales & pipeline, trends, and annualized impacts, to support forward looking insights and recommendations on how to achieve optimal financial performance
• Presentations of financial performance.  Create and deliver insightful and impactful messaging to markets leaders, in support of decision making
• Data integrity.  Ensure one version of the ‘truth’
• Account BD investment decisions.  Model scenarios, including margin impact, and advise to support decision making

Lead/support financial elements of key processes, covering

• Strategic planning, e.g. MLP
• Revenue Plan

Lead the implementation of markets finance initiatives to the area, covering e.g.

• Global fee sharing, interim markets reporting, My Business, margin initiatives, Mercury initiatives

Advise on cost budgets

• Marketing and business development budgets and costs.  Work with finance budgeting/cost controlling team to enable markets leaders to make effective investment decisions and to discharge their budgetary responsibilities

Financial delivery excellence and teaming

• Work with extended global markets finance network to identify and leverage leading practices
• Team with other functions, particularly BD to enable seamless service to markets leaders
• Team with Global (Markets Finance, Reporting CoE), Area (PBFA, Controlling, Service Line Finance Leads) and Region (RFLS) Finance.

 

Analytical/Decision Making Responsibilities

Strong analytical and solution-oriented skills coupled with decision making capabilities are essential for the MFA area lead role.  Common areas where the MFA will apply these skills are:

• Leading finance processes and initiatives across regions with minimal supervision
• Teaming with regional MFAs to ensure Exceptional Client Service to all markets leaders
• Assessing the drivers of financial results with constant focus on improvement and rapid course correction where necessary
• Analysing data in order to form and communicate a crisp view of the financial metrics to markets leader
• Continuously advising markets leaders on expected financial performance vs. plan based upon analytics such as trend analysis and modelling of forward looking scenarios i.e., GTER enabler

  

Skills and attributes for success

 

Leadership and coaching

• Able to work in a self-sufficient manner, operating across multiple projects and priorities
• A successful track record of implementing and leading key business change initiatives
• Experienced in effectively building, leading, managing and coaching a team of finance advisors
• Demonstrates the ability to challenge assumptions and decisions in an appropriate manner

Client service

• Able to embed ECS (Exceptional Client Service) practices throughout the team of region MFAs
• Focused on analysis, advice and solutions that drive the continuous improvement of financial performance
• Drives interactions that build trust and manages expectations with all stakeholders
• Teams with finance colleagues and other functions to enhance service to clients, and to leverage leading practices

Analysis, modelling & advice

• Forms and communicates a clear and concise view of financial performance
• Synthesizes and communicates detailed financial information in support of effective decision making
• Utilizes sound financial practices and seeks leading practices to support operational excellence 

Understanding of the business

• Understands NextWave strategy and applies as needed to analyze and advise on financial performance
• Has a deep understanding of the drivers of financial performance and applies as needed to analyze and advise on progress against targets
• Knowledgeable of EY capabilities and services
• Demonstrates appreciation and respect of varying cultures – both corporate and geographical

 

Supervision Responsibilities

The MFA Area Lead will provide leadership to all regional MFAs within the area, to ensure Exceptional Client Service to all markets leaders, and an efficient and consistent approach across all regions.  Critical to the success of the role is the relationship of the Area level and Region level MFAs.

 

Other Requirements

Must be able to operate effectively within the time zone and needs of their client despite their physical location.  Must be willing to travel as required.

 

Education and Experience

• Graduate and/or professional certification in a business related subject matter (i.e. Accounting, Finance) is required to perform this position.
• A minimum of 10 years of relevant experience is required to perform this position. A general understanding of the external services offered by the firm and the overall area/regional markets landscape would be beneficial. EY experience is preferred.

 

What we look for

We’re interested in knowledgeable professionals ready to take ownership for our clients’ hiring needs. You’ll need to be naturally curious, ready to learn and have a genuine passion for finding the right leaders for our business. If you’re aiming to influence some of the most respected individuals in our firm across a range of geographies all while developing your own career, this role is for you.

 

What working at EY offers

At EY we are united by our shared values and dedication to delivering exceptional client service. We offer an environment that supports inclusion and flexibility along with a competitive compensation package where you’ll be rewarded based on your performance and recognized for the value you bring to our business.