WHAT DOES A FINANCE BUSINESS ANALYST DO?
Published: Mar 13, 2025 - The Finance Business Analyst excels in identifying cost optimization opportunities within UNIQLO, analyzing general ledger data, and collaborating with finance teams to enhance process efficiencies. Engages in strategic business partnerships, working closely with COOs and department heads to define goals and lead transformation projects. Actively participates in Purchasing Committees, managing supplier relationships and investments to maximize ROI and streamline operations.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Finance Business Analyst
1. Finance Business Analyst Duties
- Data Analysis Support: Support the creation of a detailed data/business analysis.
- Performance Tracking: Follow processes and systems to capture and measure key performance indicators of business on a regular basis, linking operational and financial performances.
- Insight Facilitation: Facilitate collection of insights and prepare presentations to describe the business in numbers to internal stakeholders.
- Financial Forecasting: Prepare forecasts, budget, and other key financial projections.
- Modeling: Prepare models and simulations to assess the financial impact of potential regulatory changes.
- Business Case Development: Support the development of business cases, while highlighting risks and opportunities.
- Report Maintenance: Prepare and maintain standard periodic reports of different departments.
- Strategy Support: Understand the overall strategies and support translation into actionable items/objectives for the whole organization.
- Meeting Participation: Participate in key internal meetings, record and distribute minutes, and support line manager in maintaining follow-up on actions.
- Department Coordination: Liaise and coordinate with department heads regularly to facilitate meetings/required information.
- Confidentiality Management: Handle all information and processes while maintaining the highest level of confidentiality.
- Finance Collaboration: Partnered with Finance subject matter experts to determine detailed Finance requirements.
- Process Improvement: Identify opportunities for process and control improvements.
- Operational Consistency: Work with Operations to identify inconsistencies between Finance and Operations requirements.
- Gap Analysis: Work with Technology to conduct gap analyses between Finance requirements and the existing FTPS platform (including new build items).
- Requirement Resolution: Resolve all inconsistencies and document agreed-upon end-to-end requirements and processes.
- Agile Support: Support the adoption of those requirements and processes within an agile development framework.
- Testing Support: Define test cases, support test execution, and validate output.
- Migration Strategy: Define migration strategy, including conversion controls.
- Training Provision: Provide training to new hires.
2. Commercial Finance Business Analyst Details
- Revenue Forecasting: Regular monitoring of pipelines in coordination with local/regional Sales and Commercial teams to effectively forecast revenue through the revenue roadmap process.
- Financial Analysis: Conduct regular reviews and analysis of assigned offerings, including review of revenue recognition, project performance, and unbilled/unearned positions.
- Compliance Monitoring: Monitor monthly compliance reports to ensure timely reporting of revenue and billing deliverables by Project Managers.
- Financial Reporting: Prepare monthly reporting requirements for assigned offerings, including unsigned contract opportunities, backlog, and other ad-hoc financial analysis.
- Financial Management: Manage project journal entries, write-offs, and financial adjustments and ensure they are properly documented, reviewed, and approved.
- Cost Process Support: Review and support the Sales and Commercial teams with the pass-through and non-pass-through cost process.
- Variance Analysis: Review and provide variance analysis to the management P/L for the assigned offering.
- Budget Management: Manage the monthly forecast and budget plan for the management P/L and the assigned offering.
3. Finance Business Analyst Responsibilities
- Cost Analysis and Control: Understand UNIQLO operations and cost drivers to find opportunities for cost savings and process efficiencies across the business.
- Data Analysis: Analyze general ledger data, extract invoices/contracts, and develop an understanding of key drivers.
- Optimization Collaboration: Work with the internal finance team to find cost optimization opportunities.
- Financial Monitoring: Monitor figure changes on P&L after the execution of the cost optimization project.
- Strategic Business Partnership: Partner with COOs and Heads of departments to define mid-term goals together with the Corporate planning team.
- Department Assessment: Assess the performance of EU departments to identify core issues and bring changes.
- Transformation Leadership: Lead and support regional and global business transformation projects.
- Strategic Supplier Management and Investment: Participate in Purchasing Committees with management to determine the company’s objectives and ROI.
- Database Management: Update costs and supplier database and use the information gathered as a benchmark tool for other countries.
- Committee Support: Support the education of departments and identify areas of improvement for the whole Purchasing Committee operations.
4. ERP Finance Business Analyst Accountabilities
- Functional Leadership: Serve as a functional leader in the configuration of various Oracle modules, with primary emphasis/expertise in Accounting/Finance.
- Process Design: Work collaboratively with the team to design highly complex business processes in systems configuration activities including build, testing, validation, and documentation of system changes.
- Technical Coordination: Work with the technical team to translate business requirements into technical requirements and coordinate with technical teams to obtain the desired functionality, including reporting and system interfaces.
- Opportunity Identification: Assist in the identification of opportunities for the implementation of new features or features not currently in use, make recommendations, and work with end-users to implement changes to improve efficiencies.
- Testing Support: Assist in writing test plans/scripts and assist with testing of configurations as well as training of end-users.
- Documentation Management: Create/maintain Oracle system/application documentation (requirements, processes, and procedures).
- End-User Support: Provide end-user support and troubleshooting for issues related to the ERP system, including writing and running reports to query data from Oracle and analyze.
- Change Control Participation: Participate in periodic Oracle change control meetings.
- Product Support: Provide Oracle product support to all functional business areas.
- ERP Expertise: Serve as an Oracle subject matter expert (SME) for learning how the ERP works, with a primary emphasis on staying abreast of newly-released features, maintenance updates, and patches.
- Specification Creation: Create specifications as input for the development process.
- Developer Support: Support developers in creating solutions according to the given requirements and specifications.
- Software Testing: Tested and documented software solutions to ensure proper functionality.
- System Advising: Work with requestors to advise on how to configure the system to implement solutions.
5. Sr Finance Business Analyst Functions
- Relationship Building: Build strong working relationships with FPOP teams and cross-functional business partners to drive alignment and key project objectives.
- Scrum Management: Hold internal scrum meetings with functional leads to ensure project details are passed on to FPOP partners.
- Project Assistance: Assist the project manager in creating project plans and presentations.
- Risk Management: Work closely with leadership to document impact and proactively plan for any risks and resourcing limitations.
- Requirements Facilitation: Facilitate discovery and develop end-to-end business requirements for assigned projects.
- Liaison Work: Act as a liaison between functional, technical, and management to ensure understanding and alignment with regards to requirements, testing, and project sign-off.
- Script Maintenance: Build and maintain test scripts for the relevant functional areas.
- Functional Testing: Test bug fixes and new functionality, partner with relevant functional team to acquire confirmation of acceptance.
- Project Coordination: Coordinate and complete projects on time, within budget, and within scope.
- Project Supervision: Set timelines, assign responsibilities, and supervise and summarize progress of project.
- Issue Resolution: Work with the relevant departments to resolve all issues that could impact project objectives.
- Issue Anticipation: Anticipate and raise issues with projects to management and project owners.
- Risk Proposal: Build a proposal to minimize risks and come up with problem resolution.
- Documentation Development: Develop spreadsheets, diagrams, and process maps to document needs.