WHAT DOES A FINANCE LEAD DO?
Published: Mar 18, 2025 - The Finance Lead develops and oversees a detailed cost/benefit analysis encompassing financial and non-financial factors across multiple areas. Evaluates discrepancies from expected costs and benefits, recommending adjustments to align with original goals. Advises on financial strategies, enhances budget processes, and improves operational reporting for optimal performance.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Finance Lead
1. Finance Lead Duties
- Financial Analysis: Cost/benefit analysis Develops and monitors a cost/benefit analysis that includes both financial and non-financial considerations across people, processes, technology, and facilities that includes the distribution performance network offices and financial representatives.
- Impact Assessment: Monitors, identifies, and assesses the impact of deviations of cost and benefit expectations from the original plan and creates recommendations to quickly mitigate unintended consequences.
- Strategic Consulting: Projections, modeling and consulting with senior leadership within distribution performance and office on best business practices to achieve future profitability while balancing the needs of key partner groups.
- Operational Support: Support and analysis to make recommendations for operational enhancements, central initiatives, and financing vehicles to support.
- Leadership Guidance: Bringing thought leadership around how a financial office operates including guiding field/network offices on what tools to use, training on those tools or actions, and solving complex issues.
- Financial Reporting: Provide financial support for the organization including reporting and operating expense analysis.
- Performance Reporting: Responsible for informing senior leadership about revenues, expenses, and profitability expectations and offering recommendations for improvement.
- Budget Management: Budget Coordination and Reporting Supervise, review, and recommend improvements to the annual budget of operating expenses and staffing for all roles within the organization.
- Operational Improvement: Operational Reporting Supervise, review, and recommend improvements to the operational reporting process.
- Data Analysis: Significant Ad Hoc Financial and Data Requests Receive, analyze, and respond to (and make recommendations as appropriate) time-sensitive cross-functional financial and data requests, generally from senior leadership.
- Financial Mentorship: Mentoring junior teammates on technical, and financial analysis, this includes evaluation of decisions on cash flow, administration/office interaction, and working cross-functionally in the enterprise.
2. Finance Lead Details
- Financial Oversight: Responsible for all financial activities for this region including FP&A which includes management reporting, forecasting and budgeting, financial accounting, audit, tax and regulatory compliance, and payroll management and its related compliances.
- Decision Support: Support the team to make sound decisions to help the business grow.
- Business Evaluation: Evaluate new business cases related to the expansion of the IELTS testing business and student placement business.
- Strategic Collaboration: Collaborate closely with regional and country management teams including finance shared service in India and Corporate finance team in Melbourne and external partners like a bank, auditor, tax consultants, and legal counsels.
- Operational Leadership: Lead finance and administrative operations for the company and its entities.
- Financial Planning: Run financial support to founders (incorporation, business planning, Seed fundraising, financial basics, and team initial setup).
- Portfolio Support: Support partners in portfolio management.
- Stakeholder Management: Help to manage eFounders holding relationship/communication with shareholders and banks, funding efforts.
- Financial Innovation: Drive the studio's financial innovation both on the funding and investment side.
- Project Leadership: Assist and/or sometimes lead partners in managing complex and long projects (acquisition, due diligence, fundraising etc).
- Process Development: Build the controls and processes that allow delivering against the budget we’ve set.
- Financial Accountability: Partner with leads across Proposales to drive ownership and accountability for spending.
- Analysis Leadership: Drive variance analysis and a real understanding of cost growth to support longer-term financial and strategic objectives.
- Reporting Evolution: Contribute to, and help evolve reporting, including monthly reporting for board and investors.
- Growth Strategy: Own the growth narrative for Proposales across users, volumes, and revenues for ongoing management, strategic planning, and external reporting.
- Forecasting Expertise: Drive the development of technically advanced, robust, and accurate statistical forecast models.
- Regulatory Liaison: Be the link between Proposales, government agencies, and external accountancy firms to ensure that operations are per regulations.
3. Finance Lead Responsibilities
- Financial Design: Design and maintain key financial reports and calculated fields in Workday Financials.
- System Implementation: Develop, implement, and maintain custom validations in Workday Financials.
- Data Management: Create and maintain spend categories, revenue categories, and custom work tags in Workday Financials.
- Rule Management: Create and manage account posting rules for all operational transaction types.
- Project Leadership: Act as a project manager with consultants for larger Workday initiatives.
- Training Leadership: Lead or assist in planning Workday training sessions on configuration, reporting, or other subject areas.
- Innovation Application: Leverage current Workday functionality for new, creative, time-saving initiatives.
- Knowledge Update: Stay current on new Workday developments and functionality.
- Strategic Planning: Contribute to the development of a Workday Financials roadmap.
- Community Collaboration: Collaborate with the Workday Financial community on best practices.
- Financial Recording: Record month-end journal entries/accruals, ensure all expenses are recorded in the month incurred, create departmental performance reports, and analyze spending variances.
- Training Coordination: Train new analysts and managers throughout areas of responsibility and provide any necessary guidance and direction.
- Leadership Advocacy: Assume leadership responsibility as necessary, including being an advocate for new ideas and serving as an example for coworkers.
- Coaching Management: Responsible for coaching others including planning and assigning projects and tasks, reviewing progress and evaluating results.
- Business Analysis: Provide business analysis with particular emphasis on understanding the business that supports.
- Financial Oversight: Assist business leadership with the financial management of departmental expenses.
- Budget Leadership: Led the development and assisted in the preparation of all budgets and forecasts for expense, capital, and headcount in the appropriate departments based on the financial planning calendar.
4. Finance Lead Accountabilities
- Team Coordination: Coordination of the SSC Finance Team.
- Deadline Management: Meet deadlines, own and of the team "Monthly Scorecard."
- Spending Monitoring: Monitoring of spending and allocation in accounting accounts.
- Account Analysis: Analysis of balance sheet accounts of assigned clients and the team “BSR.”
- Process Improvement: Promote continuous improvements and standardization of processes.
- Capability Development: Develop team capabilities and promote formal training.
- Client Support: Financial support of assigned clients and those of the team.
- Operational Reporting: Comprehensive report on customer operations by country.
- Information Analysis: Provide and analyze the information in the different information systems, to issue consolidated reports.
- Financial Control: Comprehensive and consolidated control and monitoring of accounts payable and accounts receivable.
- Billing Management: Request and follow up on customer billing.
- Reconciliation Management: Accounting reconciliation and corporate monthly closing.
- Client Transition Support: Support in transitions of new clients.
5. Finance Lead Functions
- Process Optimization: Finance function optimization of processes.
- Strategic Planning: Finance strategy and planning to build a detailed business model with scenarios of returns, future costs, and revenues per revenue line/product proposition, supporting management in making informed decisions based on these insights.
- Financial Management: Accounting & treasury accounting management (reporting, accounts reconciliation) and cash management.
- Budget Control: Controlling budget, actuals & forecast.
- Invoice Management: Accounts payable invoice processing and management, payments to suppliers, codification, and consolidation.
- Revenue Management: Accounts receivable raising invoices, controlling invoices.
- Relationship Management: Bank relationship management and VAT returns preparation.
- Documentation Management: Shareholders documentation management and shares registering management.
- Tax Preparation: Preparation of the corporation tax return and filings with HMRC.
- Team Management: Managing the Finance Team (4 FTE's).
- Leadership: Taking on leadership for all aspects of the finance function (AR, AP, FP&A, Compliance, Tax, and Reporting).
- Financial Monitoring: Monitoring the financial health of the business.
- Regulatory Oversight: Overseeing all tax and regulatory/compliance issues.
- Strategic Contributions: Contributing to decisions regarding financial strategy.
- Cost Reporting: Understanding and reporting costs for specific areas: product, internal staff, sales, delivery staff, running the office, etc.