Head of Finance
Occupying a position below the board but with a huge amount of responsibility, the head of finance for a company is mainly responsible for gathering financial information from the business and reporting the data to the board. They might also be involved with decision making where finances are concerned, but they will usually have to defer to the CEO, COO or CFO, and might therefore be employed in an advisory role.
The head of finance will also be involved with forecasting, both in the company’s own activities and with regard to the region or wider world. While forecasts are not always strictly scientific, they must be informed and educated enough to make a case for the board to make spending and investment decisions on their basis.
In some head of finance jobs, there is, however, a good deal of autonomy to make decisions without daily reference to the board, within certain budgetary and projected constraints. It depends on the size and structure of the business.
Head of finance skills
As head of finance, you’ll have to be extremely adept at all manner of accountancy, bookkeeping, forecasting and reporting. Experience at a senior level within the financial department of a large business will stand you in good stead, although everyone has to start somewhere, so a specific head of finance title is not always requested, as long as you have a proven track record of financial management.
As far as qualifications are concerned, a BSc/BA in accounting or finance will often be a minimum requirement, but other related qualifications and experience will also be considered in many cases.
Head of Finance Jobs in Rugby
The Warwickshire town of Rugby has several associations that make it well known, but by far the most notable is the game of rugby, which was supposedly invented when a boy, Webb Ellis, at school picked up the ball in a game of football in 1823 and ran with it (although some sport historians dispute the likelihood of this being true). The school in question was Rugby School, a public school that started off as a charitable place of education for local boys and ended up rather more exclusive.
The town is about as central in England as it’s possible to be. It’s located about 11 miles (18 km) east of Coventry, 18 miles (30 km) south of Leicester and 17 miles (28 km) north west of Northampton. Rugby is extremely well served by road and rail. It is surrounded to its north, east and south by the M6, M1 and M45 respectively, and has rail links to all the major metropolitan regions, a reminder of its importance in the railway golden age, when it was a key junction and engineering works.
Rugby might have a rather genteel image, and is quite a tourist magnet thanks to its beautiful Victorian architecture, but in reality it’s quite an industrialised town. It has log been a centre of engineering; the first jet engine was built there and the turbine tradition lives on today in the shape of a major Alstom plant and the Rolls Royce plc plant just up the road in Ansty. The town is also associated with cement making. Rugby is a good place to look for Head of Finance work as it has diversified into being a centre of distribution thanks to its transport links, but also because of its industry in the town and nearby.
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Head of finance recruitment at Cast UK
When looking for the right person to fill such a key role in a business, you need as relevant a shortlist as possible so you can decide on the perfect one. That’s where Cast UK comes in. We only work with recruits at senior levels, so you can be sure that any candidates who have been through our filter will be relevant and ready to make a difference. Call 0333 121 3345 to speak to one of our experts.
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