SAP FI/CO Finance Process Specialist

  This is a hybrid Finance and IM role in the IM organisation. This organisation’s purpose is to support Europe, US and Asia and to provide specialist systems knowledge to support and deliver future business enhancements and development requests.

This role is within the finance team, reporting into the SAP Finance Team Lead supporting finance processes, interfaces, data and the global finance community. This team consists of a team lead, a permanent System and Process specialist (this role) and external consultancy support which in most cases will be offshore but for specific projects may be on shore.

 A ctivities:

  - Support the existing SAP Finance user community in achieving transactional excellence and process understanding in their daily activities

- Support the development and design of world-class, global financial processes and procedures applicable to the line of business through investigation of customer needs, current practices and best practice.

- Guide and train regional teams in the adoption and implementation of the agreed best practice processes and procedures on a global basis.

- Work as part of a successful team to deliver the configuration and development of the required SAP system functionality and the implementation of consistent system processes globally. Specific responsibility for the core financial modules of SAP FI/CO, as well as related sub-modules, receivables, payables and assets, (AR/AP/AM). Implied requirement to ensure that the core financial systems support the reporting modules in SAP and the higher level Business Warehouse reporting.

- Work with the business and IM to ensure that non-SAP finance applications are integrated and consistent / compatible in their implementation and configuration with that of the SAP solution.

- Create, maintain and publish full documentation of systems, processes, procedures and training materials

- Work closely across the SAP functional areas to ensure end to end process activity is consistent, integrated and correctly represented and understood financially

- Work with the off shore team to achieve optimal systems solution within budget and timescales

  Skills:

  Must have production support as well as implementation experience.

- SAP FI and CO configuration skills and experience in a systems development role. Ideally experience will cover FI (AR, AP, AM, GL) and CO (CCA, PA, OM, PCA). A good understanding of the integration of Finance modules with other SAP modules e.g. SD, SM, and MM is required.

  Experience:

  - Experience in business process re-engineering / change management and project management, ideally in a multi-national company environment

  Dimensions:

Working projects £50K ~ £500K

Knowledge:   Experience in business process re-engineering / change management and project management, ideally in a multi-national company environment.

  Desirable:

 An understanding of BW is preferable but not essential.

 SAP ECC 6 experience desirable.

  Experience in or knowledge of any of the following would also be of use:

  Procurement and material management in respect to the integration with Finance

 Product Cost Planning,   Material Ledger Actual Closing,

  Cost Object Controlling for Production Orders,  and/or Sales Order Costing

/ Knowledge of Prince2 Project Management processes is preferable but not essential.

  Principal accountabilities:

. Accountable for upholding and developing where appropriate the design, specification, documentation and ownership of core finance processes across all legal entities within the SAP landscape.

. Accountable for supporting existing business processes, and developing new ones where required in the areas of finance, as well as assisting in the peripheral SAP business areas which impinge upon finance

. Accountable for keeping training materials up to date and assisting in the delivery of training programmes in the key finance areas.

. Implementing year-on-year improvements in business processes as identified by finance functional colleagues.

. Accountable for ensuring that the financial ledgers and sub ledgers for all the legal entities on SAP are maintained on a consistent basis, with appropriate central controls in such way that the financial close objectives can be met smoothly from a system design perspective.

. Keep abreast of changing internal business strategies and structures. Identify and implement process changes and improvements in order to maintain/improve the relevance of information systems and processes.

. Effectively work with off shore team to ensure compliance, standards and optimal solution delivery

  Nature and scope:

The job holder will be an important member of the IM Finance team with solid SAP and financial systems and process experience. He/She will work closely with the Regional Transaction Managers, Business Division Controllers, Group Finance and IM and must be highly regarded as an experienced SAP specialist through demonstrated results. To achieve this the role holder will need to acquire a good knowledge of the business operations, the products and the relevant systems processes and procedures.

The job holder will report to the SAP Finance Team Leader. A critical requirement of this role is high SAP competency. The successful candidate must also be an expansive thinker with excellent interpersonal skills to be able to deal with end-users. The ability to interpret user requests and design efficient systems solutions is a core attribute required. The role is international in scope and therefore a level of international travel is possible depending on the ongoing work schedule.

  Goals to be achieved:

. Provide good level of support to end-users and engage the business in the understanding and solution of issues. Ensure knowledge transfer is incorporated into the support output to continuously improve end user skills.

Continuous improvement stage:

. Design and implement process monitoring mechanisms to identify weaknesses and guide training and development needs.

  Maintain contact with internal customers (Finance Managers and Business Analysts) to promote best understanding and use of the financial information, to monitor and respond to customer perceptions and to identify changing requirements.

  Attend relevant seminar and training events to keep abreast of world-class practice.