Commercial Controller

Job description / Role

JOB OBJECTIVE :
Commercial Controller takes full responsibility for the financial management of the trade spends and allowances for the assigned business division. He/She will be required to work in a cross-functional team to prepare annual budgets and financial forecasts (trends), month end closings and variance analysis. He/She will be partnering with Commercial team to achieve excellence in Trade Spend execution and providing financial insight to enable sustainable growth whilst ensuring that internal controls are always respected.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES :
Strategic Contribution:
Provides input and prepares the annual commercial and trade spend plan and directs the execution of activities according to the plan.

Budget Management & Forecasting:
• Prepare Annual Budgets and Quarterly forecasts based on current YTD actual operating performance, in addition to 3 Year Projections when required.
• Coordinate with related business team to prepare monthly trade spend budget and trends.
• Prepare and ensure actualization of Commercial Equation and valorizing the forecast based on inputs from Demand Planner and analyzing the same for gaps.
• Work with cross functional team to ensure sustainable profitable growth for the division. Partner and influence Commercial and Supply chain teams to find opportunities for growth while ensuring business hygiene
• Closely monitor trade spending activities for cost optimization and productivity.

Financial Accounts Management:
• Prepare and review the provisions, prepayments, accruals, and other month-end transactions for commercial activities. Ensure all accounting transactions are properly reviewed and P&L impacts are sufficiently managed
• Ensure the sales/commercial ledger are reconciled monthly and are in compliance with International Financial Reporting Standards
• Conduct impact analysis due to change in accounting policies and procedures and ensure compliance to International Financial Reporting Standards and International Accounting Standards.
• Monthly preparation of Balance Sheet reconciliation and reviewing it to the Divisional Controller and CFO
• Monthly preparation of Trade Spend Analysis by channel and trade spend budget vs difference scenarios (last year, last trends, Budget)
• Preparation of Distributor & Channel-wise Gross to Net working for commercial teams review

External Audit:
• Support Audit team in timely closing of commercial related matters during annual audit and half year review audit.

Financial Reporting:
• Performing monthly Turnover reporting in SAP/SBO including recording of trade spend accruals on a monthly basis.
• Assist Divisional Controller in preparing financial results through maximizing financial systems (Compass, SAP) to providing actionable insight on customer P&L’s, sales growth analysis, gross margin analysis, customer trade margin and sell-in/sell-out data.
• Ensure timely reviews/push in the system on all financial transactions related to commercial activities: promotions, trade allowances, Return on Investment

Business Partnering:
• Attend all pre-sales validation meetings with entire team to validate the sales forecast.
• Contribute to develop and understand distribution strategy in collaboration with commercial team for building strong relationships with the trade.
• Monitoring and highlighting risks from market expiry and perform distributor stock analysis.
• Perform ROI analysis of promotional spends to identify strong and weak promotions.
• Regularly monitor actual vs. budgeted cost to highlight any variances for effective alignment.
• End to end responsibility of distributor claims and reconciliations of books between the entity and all distributors

Coordination:
• Responsible for price communication to external customers.
• Ensuring all the pre-requisites of taking a budgeted price-increase are performed
• Responsible for timely and accurately updating the prices in the system
• Responsible for ensuring that Internal Controls are being adhered to, and carrying out the reviews and assessments that have been highlighted by the Internal Audit

Risk Identification & Professional Advice:
• Provide professional advice to the Divisional Controller on various accounting related issues to keep him/her informed and abreast of relevant developments.
• Develop strong partnership with the Business function, anticipating any risks and providing advice and analysis on all finance related issues that contribute to the sustainable development of the brand.

Continuous Improvement:
• Contribute to the identification of opportunities for continuous improvement of the department’s systems, processes and practices while taking into account international best practices, cost reduction, and improvement of business processes and productivity.
• Executing improvement of controls specific to trade spend activities.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
Minimum Qualifications:
• ACCA / ICAEW / CA/ CIMA/ CPA / MBA finance

Minimum Experience:
• 3-5 years prior work experience in supervising the Accounting & Finance Controlling function, preferably in FMCG sector. 3 years in analyst/controlling field will be advantage.
• Have Sound knowledge of systems such as SAP, Magnitude and Compass.
• Demonstrate agility to respond to challenges to grow the business profitably.

Requirements

SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES :
Behavioral Skills:
• Business Acumen for a sustainable business growth.
• Good numeracy and ability to control budget
• Planning and organization skills
• Stakeholders management
• Strategic thinking and planning skills – able to develop strategic business plans and ensure successful implementation
• Assertiveness
• Can work Independently
• Quick Learner
• Effective communication, presentation and interpersonal skills.

Technical Competencies
• Ability to work in an ever changing & demanding environment
• Strong understanding of cross functions and business operations
• Hands on experience with Accounting and Analytics Softwares
• Pursues turnover and profit optimization
• Stays up-to-date with current economic conditions and changes in legislations
• Delivers excellence with agility and rigor
• Integrates sustainable business consciousness

L'ORÉAL COMPETENCIES
• Innovator
• Strategist
• People Developer
• Integrator
• Entrepreneur

About the Company

For more than a century, we have devoted our energy and our competencies solely to one business: beauty. We have chosen to offer our expertise in the service of women and men worldwide, meeting the infinite diversity of their beauty desires. We are committed to fulfilling this mission ethically and responsibly.