Matt Beard Email & Phone Number

London, Gb

London, England, United Kingdom

London, United Kingdom

London, United Kingdom

RESPONSIBILITIES:Divisional finance head, providing Financial/Commercial support to key stakeholders within the loyalty business, predominantly MD and divisional board level. Commercial input into client contracts through pricing reviews and costing of proposals. Responsible for the production of annual budget and bi-annual forecasts for the Loyalty division.ACHIEVEMENTS:Introduction of team P&Ls and monthly reviews with team heads resulting in improved ownership of costs and… Show more RESPONSIBILITIES:Divisional finance head, providing Financial/Commercial support to key stakeholders within the loyalty business, predominantly MD and divisional board level. Commercial input into client contracts through pricing reviews and costing of proposals. Responsible for the production of annual budget and bi-annual forecasts for the Loyalty division.ACHIEVEMENTS:Introduction of team P&Ls and monthly reviews with team heads resulting in improved ownership of costs and understanding of margins.Designed and delivered financial awareness training to research staff, increasing ownership of financials throughout the division resulting in gross margin improvement.Introduction of timesheet cross-charging between teams leading to more efficient use of resource across the division.Migration from numerous different legacy costing spreadsheets to the global standard pricing tool resulting in consistent pricing of proposals across teams.Creation of a mystery shopping pricing tool in the UK that was rolled out globally.Development of client profitability and staff utilisation reporting which were subsequently implemented and used across the wider UK business.Development of pipeline reporting to show GAP analysis, not only at turnover level but also gross margin level, through a popular ‘waterfall-dashboard’ format which uses powerful visuals to increase visibility across the division. Show less

London, United Kingdom

RESPONSIBILITIES: Management of the full UK Financial Function (Financial Accounting, Credit Control, Treasury, AP, AR and Payroll) with team members in both the UK and Bangalore. Responsible for year-end audit, preparation of financial reporting and statutory accounts for all UK entities and overseas entities with local filing requirements. Relationship management with banks and payroll managed service (ADP).ACHIEVEMENTS:Restructured the finance team embedding efficiencies and… Show more RESPONSIBILITIES: Management of the full UK Financial Function (Financial Accounting, Credit Control, Treasury, AP, AR and Payroll) with team members in both the UK and Bangalore. Responsible for year-end audit, preparation of financial reporting and statutory accounts for all UK entities and overseas entities with local filing requirements. Relationship management with banks and payroll managed service (ADP).ACHIEVEMENTS:Restructured the finance team embedding efficiencies and off-shoring AP and intercompany processes resulting in lower cost base.Developed attitude of process improvement within the team through leading by example.Roll-out of Aegis control environment/delegation of authorities obtaining ‘excellent’ internal audit result.Development of robust cash-flow forecasting process to facilitate cash up-streaming to Aegis pre-acquisition.Synovate lead for finance systems implementation (Ipsos Oracle based ERP) – delivering successful migration of AP/AR/GL balances and live jobs for 1st Jan 2012 go-live. Show less

Lisbon Area, Portugal

RESPONSIBILITIES:100% allocated to the client engagement with Carphone Warehouse, specifically providing thought leadership/guidance in relation to the transfer from internal SSC to value-added BPO on behalf of WIPRO.

Lisbon Area, Portugal

RESPONSIBILITIES: Responsible for department of 27 heads, including day to day management of team including 3 direct reports at manager level (Regional Commission Controllers) - the Commissions team is responsible for the maintenance, reporting and analysis of group commissions worth ₤1.5bn pa across 7 European markets.ACHIEVEMENTS:Planning and execution of the transfer of the Shared Service Centre (SSC) Commissions team to Lisbon, including recruitment and selection of 27… Show more RESPONSIBILITIES: Responsible for department of 27 heads, including day to day management of team including 3 direct reports at manager level (Regional Commission Controllers) - the Commissions team is responsible for the maintenance, reporting and analysis of group commissions worth ₤1.5bn pa across 7 European markets.ACHIEVEMENTS:Planning and execution of the transfer of the Shared Service Centre (SSC) Commissions team to Lisbon, including recruitment and selection of 27 heads.Advice and guidance to the Irish commercial team ensuring that the transfer from historic upfront commission model to future deferred commission model included adequate provisioning to ensure constant revenue recognition over life of contract term (18/24 months).Development of monthly reporting of ongoing revenue due from network providers used to satisfy bank covenants. Show less

London, United Kingdom

RESPONSIBILITIES: Day-to-day management, recruitment and development of a team of 10 qualified/part-qualified accountants, including 6 direct reports. Managed the relationship between SSC and local UK Retail Finance team to ensure that the accounts correctly reflected the business results and adhered to group policies and UK GAAP.ACHIEVEMENTS:Design and implementation of a time-related accruals engine including idea generation, management of relationship with third party… Show more RESPONSIBILITIES: Day-to-day management, recruitment and development of a team of 10 qualified/part-qualified accountants, including 6 direct reports. Managed the relationship between SSC and local UK Retail Finance team to ensure that the accounts correctly reflected the business results and adhered to group policies and UK GAAP.ACHIEVEMENTS:Design and implementation of a time-related accruals engine including idea generation, management of relationship with third party supplier, authorisation of documentation and project management. The resulting piece of software provided enough efficiency gains for the department to be able to save 1 FTE headcount pre transfer to Lisbon.Development of RAG reporting on all balance sheet accounts, flagging up risks/opportunities to local team in a timely and visually appealing manner.Management of relationship with Group risk and assurance department regarding both internal audit of processes and the implementation of Sarbanes Oxley controls post Best Buy joint venture.Ensured the Stat accounts and supporting analysis were available for audit to the agreed timetable, were finalised within 4 months of month end and that the SSC were able to answer all audit queries. Show less

London, United Kingdom

RESPONSIBILITIES: Day to day management, recruitment and development of team of 6 analysts to provide business support to commercial contacts in Ireland, Sweden and the Netherlands. Prompt submission of network claims on a monthly basis and prompt collection of network cash, on both unpaid and underpaid lines, to ensure recovery of cash is maximised.ACHIEVEMENTS:Construction and sign-off of European wide commission SLA for first time for all markets.Prompt submission of… Show more RESPONSIBILITIES: Day to day management, recruitment and development of team of 6 analysts to provide business support to commercial contacts in Ireland, Sweden and the Netherlands. Prompt submission of network claims on a monthly basis and prompt collection of network cash, on both unpaid and underpaid lines, to ensure recovery of cash is maximised.ACHIEVEMENTS:Construction and sign-off of European wide commission SLA for first time for all markets.Prompt submission of network claims and prompt collection of network cash on both unpaid and underpaid lines ensuring recovery of cash was maximised. Direct input into loss prevention project in Ireland - employee commission would be clawed back if service provider commission receivable was not as expected. This directly influenced behaviour of store employees and managers and improved the profitability of the business. Show less

London, United Kingdom

RESPONSIBILITIES: Management of year-end process including completion of Statutory Accounts. Financial reporting including P11D, P35, PAYE Settlement, and Quarterly VAT returns requirements. Monthly revenue recognition including Work In Progress and Billings in Advance. Analytical review of P&L on a monthly basis & reporting to Omnicom via Hyperion. Management of 1 direct report.ACHIEVEMENTS:Creation of a project profitability model, including consultants’ time cost, enabling… Show more RESPONSIBILITIES: Management of year-end process including completion of Statutory Accounts. Financial reporting including P11D, P35, PAYE Settlement, and Quarterly VAT returns requirements. Monthly revenue recognition including Work In Progress and Billings in Advance. Analytical review of P&L on a monthly basis & reporting to Omnicom via Hyperion. Management of 1 direct report.ACHIEVEMENTS:Creation of a project profitability model, including consultants’ time cost, enabling profitability to be measured at any point in a specific project’s life cycle.Sales Forecasting of Firm/Likely/Possible projects. Further analysis of pipeline business to show Short/Medium/Long Term opportunities. Report used by the New Solutions board on a weekly basis.Successful testing & reporting of Sarbanes Oxley controls on a quarterly basis. Show less

Birmingham, United Kingdom

RESPONSIBILITIES:Successful data migration from legacy finance systems during 7 month fixed-term contract. Daily liaison with IT and external consultants enabled me to identify and communicate any resource or data issues before they could escalate into significant problems post-migration.

Middlesex, United Kingdom

RESPONSIBILITIES: Management of the weekly forecasting process, collating forecasts from each finance team and incorporating these into a consolidated model to be used at the weekly control meeting.ACHIEVEMENTS:Weekly reporting of Loss-making transactions involving statistical tests to arrive at a sample size of transactions large enough to produce robust information. This information was incorporated into the interim presentation to the City by the finance director.Creation… Show more RESPONSIBILITIES: Management of the weekly forecasting process, collating forecasts from each finance team and incorporating these into a consolidated model to be used at the weekly control meeting.ACHIEVEMENTS:Weekly reporting of Loss-making transactions involving statistical tests to arrive at a sample size of transactions large enough to produce robust information. This information was incorporated into the interim presentation to the City by the finance director.Creation of a planning model to prepare the annual sales budget across the business, including store openings, closures, and refits for both Safeway and their competitors. The model also incorporated the trading strategy as well as removing or overlaying one-off events. Show less

Middlesex, United Kingdom

RESPONSIBILITIES: Support for the trading team (buyers), and involvement in the yearly budget, ensuring that it delivered against corporate targets, supported trading strategies by store format, and was built at a category level as a plan that the traders would take ownership for.ACHIEVEMENTS:Provision and management of the traders’ forecast files. This was done by linking a suite of forecast files to the main trading database with traders responsible for forecasting sales and… Show more RESPONSIBILITIES: Support for the trading team (buyers), and involvement in the yearly budget, ensuring that it delivered against corporate targets, supported trading strategies by store format, and was built at a category level as a plan that the traders would take ownership for.ACHIEVEMENTS:Provision and management of the traders’ forecast files. This was done by linking a suite of forecast files to the main trading database with traders responsible for forecasting sales and margin across the categories. A weekly consolidation was then produced and used by the Trading Commercial directors to identify any planning gaps. Show less

Middlesex, United Kingdom

RESPONSIBILITIES: Assisting the Finance Manager in the year-end process, aiding him with the production of the final financial statements and providing data to external auditors including the fixed assets grid and the stock valuation. Processing journals for the associated accruals and prepayment. Completion of monthly/quarterly reporting to the national office of statistics.ACHIEVEMENTS:Developed understanding of accounting principles and financial IT systems.Improved look… Show more RESPONSIBILITIES: Assisting the Finance Manager in the year-end process, aiding him with the production of the final financial statements and providing data to external auditors including the fixed assets grid and the stock valuation. Processing journals for the associated accruals and prepayment. Completion of monthly/quarterly reporting to the national office of statistics.ACHIEVEMENTS:Developed understanding of accounting principles and financial IT systems.Improved look and design of the monthly Management accounts pack, including site costs, Sales/Marketing costs and processing journals for the associated accruals and prepayment. Show less