Jamie Thirlwall Fca Email & Phone Number

London, Gb

TBC

London, London, Gb

Working as a key member of the leadership team and a board member for this fast-paced, high-growth start up business, operating as a D2C, E-Commerce subscription business in the food industry, I was operating as second only to the CEO. During my time with the business, we took it from generating £4.8m of Gross Revenue in 2021, losing circa £0.4m a year in Ebitda, to a business generating circa £27m Gross Revenue, and making over £2.8m Ebitda profit (2023 forecast). Big moves were made during my tenure to grow the subscription base from 1.5k subscribers to over 10k, improve Gross Margins from circa 10% to 30%, overhaul all reporting and KPI’s being focused on, and ensuring the business had the funding required (both debt and equity funding).Key Accountabilities Provide actionable insight to improve the business' trajectory and profitability. Improve and streamline existing financial controls and processes, using technology to automate. Creation and preparation of all Management Information & KPI reports. Track delivery of the business plan and communicate its progress to the board. Full oversight of FP&A, including financial modelling. Serve as the key strategic executive, helping the business to make strategic decisions. All aspects of treasury management (including new short-term & long-term cash flow forecasting models which I built myself), financing and banking arrangements. Support fundraises, including VC's.  Preparation of all statutory accounts and implementation of new accounting standards. Tax returns, pension arrangements and payroll ensuring full compliance with HMRC requirementsAchievements Was a key member of the leadership team which grew the subscription base from 1.5k to over 10k, resulting in a £3m increase in Ebitda. Improved Gross Margins from 10% to 30%. Overhauled the entire reporting structure of the business, including brand new MI dashboards, new KPI’s being reporting and focused on, and new Management Accounts.

London, Greater London, Gb

Finance Director for this fast-paced, high-growth fashion wholesale/distribution business, working with some of the biggest fashion brands, and generating around £35m in turnover through a European portfolio of customers. Big moves were made during my tenure to grow the business, through the introduction of several B2C websites, the opening of the company’s first retail store, and the signing of several drop ship model contracts. I was a key member of the leadership team and a board member, with specific responsibility for all areas of Finance, Treasury/Foreign Exchange, HR, Governance, Regulatory Reporting and Risk Management.Key Accountabilities Report to the Board on the financial performance of the Group and other information required including governance, treasury/forex and regulatory matters. Development and efficient leadership of the Finance and HR departments, managing the departments strategy, policy, and systems. All aspects of treasury management (including short & long-term cash flow forecasting), foreign exchange (including hedging), financing and banking arrangements. Ownership of the credit control function, making sure credit risks are mitigated through credit insurance, or adjusted credit terms.  Manage the planning, forecasting, and budgeting processes, including periodic review ensuring budgets are maintained within agreed levels. Tax returns, pension arrangements and payroll ensuring full compliance with HMRC requirements. Manage 3rd party brand reporting requirements (Royalty Reporting, Quarterly Business Reviews and 12 months rolling sales forecasts). Achievements Negotiated and installed a new £5m Invoicing Discounting Facility with Barclays Bank PLC, improving cash flow significantly during the covid pandemic. Managed a Corporate Restructure, which involved the IP purchase of 2 new Brands, the incorporation of 3 new companies, and the transfer of all trade, assets, and employees to a new group company.

Leavesden Park, Watford, Gb

Heading up the Commercial Finance function for this private equity backed business, I was responsible for supporting the business in driving decisions around pricing, margins, purchasing (£113m Intake), ranging, promotions and refurbishing priorities with a view to improving profit. I was business partner to the Commercial Director, Marketing Director and the Supply Chain Director, providing analytical support and challenge to identify risks and opportunities.Responsibilities • Provide a holistic view of the Commercial opportunities and risk for the business, joining up the dots across Sales, Buying, Service & Marketing• Produce & develop high quality MI packs to be used to inform decision makers• Working with the Buying dept to maximize margin growth through range architecture, and challenging suppliers costs• Advise servicing dept on what product to refurbish, taking into account stock and demand, therefore optimizing our workforce and stock value • Cashflow forecasting which drives the drawdown plan on the company credit facility• Providing ad-hoc analysis on specific issues and challenging the business to achieve superior financial performanceKey Achievements• Production of a whole new MI suite, bringing together all financial information from across different departments in one pack, making commercial planning a lot smarter• Drove a stock reduction program which reduced stock by circa 30%, and reduced idle stock depreciation by £4m a year• Instrumental in designing 2 new pricing propositions, which went live in March 17 and April 19 following regulation changes• Built a whole new cash forecasting tool for stock, which was instrumental in cashflow planning with the drawdown of the credit facility in mind• Was the Commercial lead on a project which centralized the refurbished products, and created an online solution for their merchandising and sale in store, increasing sales by circa 25%

Leavesden Park, Watford, Gb

Managing one trainee accountant, I was the key business partner for the buying department, providing commercial information around stock and supplier funding, so the buyers could make the best possible decisions in the interest of the business. Specific responsibilities include: • Ensure relevant and regular reporting is provided to all stakeholders to track and monitor performance • Provide analytical support using financial information to enable robust commercial decisions to be made• Maintain product pricing data and ensure up to date forecasts of price change proposals • Take ownership of the monthly and weekly reporting of commercial results and KPI’s to ensure accuracy and timeliness• Ownership of total Company Stock and Rental Asset accounting and reporting • Support the management of discontinued stock and obsolescence to ensure appropriate pricing and asset turn • Support the management of supplier funding streams and ensure margin maximisation• Ownership of the forecasting and budgeting of stock related financials• Management and forecasting of Trade Creditor cashflows – supplier payments, credit limits, credit terms etc.• Provide Insightful Stock/Category analysis • Provide support to related projects as requiredKey Achievements• Reconciled the businesses supplier funding accounts, identifying £1m of funding we were owed but had not received, and drove the collection of these funds. The auditors would have written this amount off if I had not identified it• The reduction of our ‘Mismatches’ balance sheet (a suspense account) from over £1m to just over £200k, which removed a key risk for the auditors

Leavesden Park, Watford, Gb

Managing a team of 3 (one fully qualified and two trainee accountants), I was responsible for forecasting, reviewing, and reporting on the businesses overheads, with a cost base of £160m.Specific responsibilities include: • Lead role in the review, control and challenge of company overheads, a cost base of circa £160m • Regular meetings with all department directors to review and challenge spend• Preparation of Budgets and Forecasts of all overheads• Head Office Payroll reporting and cost review, including bonuses• Co-ordinate month end adjustments following CFO/Director of Finance review• Manage production and distribution of enhanced monthly management pack, with insightful commentary• Produce monthly updated outlooks with all risks and opportunities flagged for each department• In depth investigation into various areas of expenditure and key drivers• Support and challenge Procurement function for cost reduction targeting• Input to strategic, tactical and procurement projects as requiredKey Achievements• Managed and championed an overhead reduction program in Brighthouse head office, reducing controllable overheads by circa 7%• Consolidated the overhead finance team and property finance team into my single team, which allowed the business to remove an FTE, and save circa £50k pa

Leavesden Park, Watford, Gb

• Act as a senior source of professional and technical expertise, undertaking analysis to deal with complex issues and providing recommendations to influence decision making across the business• Provide insightful reporting to senior management and provide analysis to facilitate effective decision making, working closely with Commercial Finance Managers • Interpret business performance results, producing valuable insights and delivering quality reports and executive briefing papers • Lead major business reviews and act as a key resource in projects providing analytical and commercial support to help shape thinking • Build robust Financial models and business cases tailored to decision needs, producing a range of outcomes and proposals to aid decision making • Build strong and effective relationships at senior levels and work cross functionally to identify commercial opportunities to drive increased value for the business• Produce accurate and reliable management reports, KPI reports and other documents when necessaryKey Achievement• Building a ‘profitability by product category and credit grade’ model, which the business used to determine what credit level of customers they should be selling what product to, which helped drive profitability

Leavesden Park, Watford, Gb

• Providing analytical support to the Marketing and E-Commerce teams with financial information, campaign analysis (uptake rates, cost per customer, quality of customer) and advice, to enable them to make sound commercial decisions. For example my analysis on the return on investment of our TV campaigns helped the business decide when to run them in FY13/14• Performance of marketing related investment appraisals, and providing recommendations to the business • Ownership of the forecasting and budgeting of Marketing related financials and KPI's• Budgeting and forecasting of customer numbers by marketing channel, giving the business an insightful view on where the marketing budget should be allocated to hit customer targets• Planning and controlling of marketing costs and capex budgets, challenging cost centre owners on their spend, and ensuring the most efficient use of budgetsKey Achievement• I supported the creation and development of the companies E-Commerce platform, working with the E-Commerce team and the third party consultancy company, internet applications grew from 177k in FY12/13, to 212k in FY13/14 (20% Increase)

Hannover, Lower Saxony, De

• Work with Commercial Finance teams to develop and maintain costs, and analyse variances between actual and forecasted costs• Review the profit performance of the ships concessions, providing in depth trend analysis, and commercial recommendations • Assist with the development of improved reporting and commercial review of reported results• Develop new financial procedures onboard our cruise ships in order to improve controls, and through visits to the ships, train the staff in the new procedures• Challenge accounting processes and structures to ensure resource allocation is optimised• Work with the Commercial Finance team to produce the Cruise P&L, Balance Sheet and Cashflow forecasts • Develop a new balance sheet forecasting tool in order to make the process more accurate and efficient• Work with the Reporting team to provide commentary and analysis relating to variances between actual and forecast/budgeted balance sheet accounts• Work with Internal Audit to identify and correct sub-optimal internal controls and operating proceduresKey Achievement• Designed a whole new financial control environment on Tui’s cruise ships, and wrote a new procedures manual to enforce the new processes• Implemented the roll out of my new procedures manual by conducting the training of cruise staff on the cruise ships

London, Gb

• Plan, supervise, and conduct financial statement audits in accordance with UK GAAP and IFRS, for various publicly held and private clients in a high paced, matrix-team environment• Responsibilities include reviewing revenue-recognition, assessing bad-debt provisions, calculating inventory cost-build-up, performing financial trending analyses, determining the reasonableness of accrued expenses, and reviewing journal entries• Evaluate the design and effectiveness of internal-control systems to identify material weaknesses, significant deficiencies or items for management consideration• Draft and review audit reports and financial statements; communicate audit findings to client’s management• Report directly to managers, directors and partners• Work with the firm’s technical team as a tutor on internal courses for BDO’s graduate traineesKey Achievements• Passed all my exams first time, and received an award for coming 9th in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire for my Professional Stage ACA exams.• Was made audit senior on BDO’s largest audit client, PartyGaming PLC

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