Controller France/Belgium/Netherlands

Strategic & Operational business partner for financial topics in France and BeNeLux. Responsible for the development, analysis and interpretation of information to appraise profitability and management performance against targets. Directs analysis of financial statements, cost positions and strategic impacts for business. Supports the BU, SU and Regional/local Management in planning and monitoring financial performance for France and BeNeLux.

Responsibilities:

Reporting:

Business Partner:

ENGLISH:

Reporting to the Head of Administration and Finance for France/Benelux, you will be responsible for the management control of the entities based in France and the Benelux region, with the following duties and responsibilities:

Management Control / Forecasting / Budgeting:

• Act as a centre of excellence for cost and operational control
• Ensure the correct cost allocation of expenses and income
• Develop and analyse the operational performance of sites: calculation and monitoring of production costs, valuation of stock, organisation of physical stock-takes, analyses for the operational, financial and general management teams,
• Draw up the ‘industrial’ budget, manage the industrial budgeting process, monitor variances, assist industrial subsidiaries in preparing their reports and monitoring their performance
• Monitor capital expenditure and analyse Capex whilst tracking changes in our entities’ working capital requirements.

Reporting:

• Take charge of financial and operational reporting and produce the information needed to monitor key performance indicators for senior management and site managers.
• You will implement and improve procedures for managing and optimising financial information flows, whilst ensuring their reliability, accuracy and consistency.
• Analyse the company’s performance on a monthly basis by examining variances in results against budgets and targets.
• Draft summaries of business performance, particularly during the annual financial year-end and for their presentation (Notes to the Accounts, Management Report)

Business Partner:

• You will travel to sites to meet with senior management and operational staff to lead the controlling function.
• Support site managers in their decision-making, particularly with regard to profitability analyses.

Internal Procedures:

• You will implement and improve procedures for managing and optimising financial information flows, whilst ensuring their reliability, accuracy and consistency.
• You will act as the key point of contact during audits (internal/external) and ensure that corrective actions are implemented in the event of deviations.
• Lead and coordinate developments in the various ERP (SAP) modules.
• Contribute to improvements in the internal control system: act as a key user and point of reference for all optimisations or developments in our ERP modules, and be a driving force in the optimisation and control of our processes

Other:

• Act as the Transfer Pricing Manager (i.e. approving transfer pricing requests, quarterly updates, reviewing transfer pricing regulatory documentation and local filings)
• Contribute to ad hoc projects within your area of expertise, such as mergers and acquisitions and/or restructuring projects
• Support, train and educate company stakeholders and colleagues on Clariant’s best practices
• Ensure effective coordination with the finance ‘shared service centre’ departments based in Poland or India

Requirements:

ENGLISH:

• You hold a Master’s degree or Master 2 qualification, specialising in Management Accounting, Audit and/or Finance, and ideally have over five years’ experience in a similar role.
• You are meticulous, organised and possess strong analytical and summarising skills.
• You have a good command of English and a strong aptitude for liaising with operational management.
• You have a good command of IT tools and some experience with SAP ERP.

Required skills:

• IT: Proficiency in Microsoft Office and good knowledge of Excel (dashboards, pivot tables, formulas). Proficiency in SAP (CO/FI modules + PP/MM/SD…), PowerBi.
• Language: Working knowledge of English (written a