Senior Finance Accountant - 12 months FTC

Ocado Group is an equal opportunities employer and as such makes every effort to ensure that all potential employees are treated fairly and equally, regardless of their sex, sexual orientation, marital status, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, age, or disability or union membership status. 

About Us

Our teams are putting the world’s retailers online using the cloud, robotics, AI, and IoT. We provide services to partner clients globally via our innovative advanced robotics technology, known as the Ocado Smart Platform ("OSP"), this drives our highly automated, multi-million pound Customer Fulfilment Centres (CFCs). In our CFCs - together with the proprietary software applications - we operate a world-class online grocery business that automates the single pick of products, ready for your online delivery.

About the role

Ocado Group is fast paced, innovative, ambitious and progressive. Our desire to innovate drives our culture, and our values and behaviours enable our success, bringing us together and helping to shape positive ways of working with our colleagues and our partners.

We have an excellent opportunity for an experienced and qualified Senior Finance Accountant (SFA) to join Ocado Group's Country Team. In this role, you will manage activities relating to Ocado’s international entities, offering the chance to engage in diverse projects. 
You will gain valuable exposure by interacting with key stakeholders across group, commercial finance, treasury, tax, local auditors and PwC managed services team. Additionally, you will also be exposed to International board reporting and multi-GAAP. Our team utilizes various platforms, including PwC Workiva (Financial Statements), EPM and Fusion. You will have the opportunity to liaise with PwC local teams and external auditors, from planning to finalisation of annual accounts.
Key responsibilities include preparing, validating and overseeing general ledger balances, planning to completion for external audits, financial statements (P&L, BS and Cash Flow) for international solution entities. You will also support (to some extent) half-year and full-year processes accordance with Group policies, including reviewing and challenging data after period-end close.

You will be

• Largely focused on our Solutions entities; France, US (Solutions and ProCo), Australia and Poland;
• Planning the full year audit (including stock counts) ahead of year-end and communicating timelines with the local PwC team;
• Attending Audit Planning meetings, bi-weekly check in’s and final audit meetings;
• Quarterly board pack preparation and reporting of results of your overseas entities with key highlights and value adding commentary for the board of directors;
• Manage the relationship between PwC managed services, Local auditors and wider Ocado Finance (Tax, Commercial Finance and Commercial Accounting to name a few);
• Liaising with PwC overseas team on successful delivery of the local SFS (Financial Statements) through the use of PwC systems (Workiva and Sightline);
• Supporting the setup of Ocado Solutions Poland ledgers including the implementation of local secondary ledgers;
• Coordinating and ensuring prior year, current year audit adjustments and any overlays are processed and reconciled in Oracle Fusion;
• Provide the accurate numbers for all disclosures in the local country statutory accounts;
• Preparing and maintaining the local GAAP to IFRS bridge reconciliation;
• Preparing US consolidated internal P&L and BS packs for Tax purposes and HoF review;
• Responsible for the preparation of entities P&L and BS, substantiating account/general ledger balances and providing first level commentary after GL close;
• Ad-hoc and yearly Tax queries including Transfer Pricing analysis across countries;
• Assisting in the review, maintenance and enhancement of the financial control environment of each entity;
• Liaising with the wider commercial accounting teams where appropriate to promote consistency and accuracy;
• Supporting team members to resolve variances and issues quickly in order to meet key reporting requirements;
• Raising issues with management and suggesting solutions;
• Proactively identifying challenges and opportunities to standardise, streamline and improve processes and accuracy.
  

About you

• Relevant financial qualifications (ACA, ACCA, CIMA) and understanding of relevant regulatory environments
• Knowledge of accounting, tax and reporting standards & principles
• Experience with external auditors and third party external advisors (preferable)
• Experience in a fast-paced global environment (preferable)
  

What we offer you

Our employee benefits are designed for you, we care about people and we’ve ensured we have a wealth of benefits that focus on your well-being. We regularly review our benefits to ensure we are supporting our employees appropriately.
30 days ‘working from anywhere in the world’ policy 
Wellbeing support through dedicated apps and an Employee Assistance Programme 
25 days annual leave, rising to 27 days after 5 years service (plus optional holiday purchase)
Pension scheme (various options available including employer contribution matching up to 7%)
Generous Private Medical Insurance (within the first month of joining!)
Income Protection (can be up to 50% of salary for 3 years) and Life Assurance (3 x annual salary) 
22 weeks paid maternity leave and 6 weeks paid paternity leave (once relevant service requirements complete) 
Train Ticket loan (interest-free)
Cycle to Work Scheme
Free shuttle bus to and from Hatfield Train Station to the Hatfield offices 
Free shuttle bus to and from Welwyn Garden City Train Station to the Welwyn Garden City offices
Opportunity to participate in Sharesave and Buy as You Earn share schemes
15% discount on Ocado.com and free delivery for all employees (within the first month of joining!)  #LI-HYBRID   #LI-JK1