Credit & Risk Finance Manager

This is an exciting opportunity to lead the accounting of all aspects of our consumer lending business.

While you’ll have heard our name, there’s a lot you probably don’t know about Next. Like how we facilitate e-commerce for numerous other brands that don’t have the scale and know-how we do. And that we’re still growing our own brand and business too.This is a key role with responsibility for reporting and forecasting income and costs relating to our £1.2bn customer receivables portfolio.

Specifically our Credit & Risk department. Of our 8 million customers, 2.5 million use a nextpay credit account. And that’s where we come in: maximising sales opportunities by offering the right amount of credit to every customer – existing and prospective. Curiosity is a necessity here, as we analyse huge amounts of data, to scan for fraud, and identify both anomalies and opportunities. We work with ‘big data’ every day, to make the correct decisions for our customers, and the company.

We are looking for someone with a strong technical accounting background and a flair for analysing large datasets. You would also be responsible for reporting the profit & loss and balance sheet position of our consumer lending business, including in external reports and presentations.

Managing a team of two, you will build strong business relationships across the wider Finance department, and beyond, to understand and predict movements in customer balances, e.g. from sales, payments and customer service adjustments.
You will also manage the calculation of the provision for bad debt and work with the wider Credit & Risk team to understand risk drivers.

About the role

Oversee the preparation of the accounts for NEXT’s consumer credit business, giving insight and explanations for performance in the context of the wider business. Oversee and review the end to end month end accounting and control processes, e.g. balance sheet reconciliations and write offs. Provide seasonal budgets and monthly forecast updates and present these to senior management. Report interest income (around £250m annually), bad debt (around £50m annually) and customer receivables (around £1.2bn), providing insight and commentary to understand movements. Review overheads attributable to NEXT’s consumer credit business and challenge cost centre owners to understand cost drivers. Set the strategy for and oversee recoveries of defaulted debt. Provide accounting and commercial expertise to the wider Credit & Risk team. Provide guidance and testing to ensure operational and system developments are correctly represented in the financial systems. Maintain documented procedures and strategies for areas of expertise, explaining how we are maintaining compliance within our compliance framework.

Criteria

About you:

Essential:

Qualified Accountant (CIMA/ACCA/ACA). Experience working with large datasets with excellent spreadsheet skills for data manipulation and presentation, e.g. using pivot tables and charts. High attention to detail and accuracy. Clear communicator, using written and oral communications to explain complicated matters in simple terms, and to influence stakeholders. An independent thinker, able to work autonomously, capable of taking on loosely defined problems and translating complex thinking into practical solutions. Experience in commercial appraisal tools such as cost benefit and financial models.

Desirable:

Experience working with IFRS9 / Expected Credit Loss modelling. Knowledge of the FCA regulatory framework. Experience in process improvement.

Benefits

• Company Car
• Management Share Options
• Bonus Scheme
• Pension Scheme
• ShareSave Scheme
• Private Medical Cover
• Life Assurance
• Staff Discount
• Possible Relocation Package
• Accommodation or Transport costs
• On-site Nursery

About Next

You know Next, but did you know we’re a FTSE-100 retail company employing over 43,000 people across the UK and Ireland. We’re the UK’s 2nd largest fashion retailer and for Kidswear we’re the market leader. At the last count we have over 540 stores, plus the Next Online and it’s now possible to buy on-line from over 70 countries around the world! So we’ve gone global!

Closes 8th Oct 2021

For further information, and to apply, please visit our website via the “Apply” button below.