Rutherford Cross is delighted to bring to market a newly created Operations Finance Manager role with Gordon & MacPhail in Elgin.

Located in the north east of Scotland, in the heart of the world-famous whisky producing region of Speyside, Gordon & MacPhail is a family-owned and family-run business employing over 150 people. Established as a grocery business in 1895 by James Gordon and John Alexander MacPhail, they showcased local produce and curated exotic commodities from around the world.

Position Overview:

The Operations Finance Manager position has been created to strengthen the company’s financial performance and controls around the operational elements of the business as it continues to grow. The post-holder will work as part of a small but highly performing finance team and will be working closely with the operation teams across the site in Elgin. This position will require an individual who is hungry to learn and take on additional responsibility.

The organisation represents an excellent opportunity for a motivated accountant who wants to work in a high growth, drinks business. In addition, the business will provide a firm career platform with good opportunity for personal and professional development as well as the mandate to shape and define how the role evolves. The company is agile in its approach and is very receptive to recommendations, resulting in great autonomy for the post-holder.

The main duties and responsibilities will involve:

Governance & Control

Identify and implement improvements in current financial control environment focusing on:

• Control of Stock (Bulk, Materials, WIP, Cased Goods (Under Bond and Duty Paid) and Other)
• Procurement processes
• Goods receipting/ GRNI accrual
• Stock obsolescence
• Fixed Assets accounting and physical control, including Casks
• Compliance with HMRC Duty Deferment Scheme requirements
• Support the Financial Reporting Manager (‘FRM’) in the reconciliation of month end nominal ledger
• Undertake approvals in line with the company’s Delegation of Authority
• Take the lead in working with statutory auditors in the areas notes above

Business Support

• Lead the Finance effort in routine Operations meetings
• Support the business in the development of a KPI framework to manage operational performance:

• Spirit Supply: Production levels and costs, distillation recovery, distillation efficiency maturation costs
• Bottling & Supply Chain: Production and shipping activity, labour utilisation, overheads v budget, bottling recovery, production variances, order fulfilment metrics, warehousing costs, stock availability, working capital metrics
• Facilities: Central v departmental infrastructure cost control, maintenance planning
• Procurement: Spend v budget, management of PPV, spend efficiency
• Capex: Spend v budget, equipment utilisation, depreciation calculation and capitalisation

• In the period until go-live (second half of 2021), work with the ERP team to develop and maintain a standard costing process within the business:

• Define the process for the setting and revaluation of standard costs in IFS
• Establish up-to-date Bills of Material and product routings for migration into the system
• Assist with the development of standards for materials, labour and overheads (inc wastage)
• Work with the ERP team to develop financial postings in the standard costing process.
• Post go-live this role will pick up responsibility for annual stock revaluation
• Assist functional leaders in the financial management of key infrastructure projects
• Support the senior Operations team members with ad-hoc requests from Finance

Strategic Partner

• Support senior members of the Operations and Finance teams in presentations to the Exec/Board
• Support the Head of Finance in the preparation of the annual and five year budget process
• As a key finance user, support the development of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation

Team Delivery

• In addition to supporting the Operations team and Head of Finance with accurate and timely financial information, this individual will be responsible for managing a team responsible for controlling stock across the business. Responsibilities will include:
• Work with senior team in Finance, Operations and ERP to maintain effective processes for stock control
• Develop and implement a plan to ensure all types of stock are routinely counted to a high level of accuracy
• Work with Operations to identify and remedy stock control issues identified
• Support Operations with annual or one-off stock counts and related audit queries
• Establish clear objectives for that team and ensure they are met on a timely basis.
• Act as a role model of company values in terms of behaviours and company culture.

• Establish clear objectives for that team and ensure they are met on a timely basis.
• Act as a role model of company values in terms of behaviours and company culture.
• Ensure the team has sufficient resource, skills and experience to meet Finance objectives
• Allocate responsibility for tasks to avoid segregation of duty issues and over reliance on single individuals for critical tasks
• Select and recruit new team members, carry out inductions, performance manage and appraise in line with company processes
• Coach and develop finance team to develop capability and build internal talent pipeline.
• Provide regular constructive feedback, support and coaching as required.

A summary of the key candidate requirements are as follows:

• Qualified accountant, ICAS, ACCA or CIMA
• Strong operational foundation in accounting
• Previous FMCG/manufacturing experience highly desirable
• Confidence and strong interpersonal skills, especially when interfacing with senior management and internal/external stakeholders
• High level of accuracy and attention to detail
• Ability to work under pressure, manage deadlines and prioritise effectively
• Energy, drive, tenacity, professionalism and commitment
• Strong IT skills, excellent MS Excel skills are essential.
• Ability to work well in a team, but also capable of taking ownership for the delivery of specific tasks
• Strong written and verbal communication skills