Group Financial Controller

Golden Charter is one of the UK’s leading prepaid funeral plan providers, working in partnership with a nationwide network of independent funeral directors to help families plan and  fund funerals in advance. Established in 1990, the business was originally created to support independent funeral directors in responding to the emergence of prepaid funeral planning and increasing competition from larger corporate providers entering the UK market.

Today, Golden Charter is the UK’s second largest funeral plan provider by active plans, serving 370k customers and working with around 700 independent funeral director businesses  across the country. The company combines a long-established local funeral director network with centralised expertise in customer service, regulation, marketing and plan administration.
Plans are sold both through funeral director partners and directly to consumers, with all plans ultimately fulfilled by independent funeral directors within the network.

Golden Charter is seeking an accomplished finance leader to take ownership of a broad and strategically important financial control and reporting remit within a highly respected, purpose-led organisation. This is a pivotal senior finance appointment, combining technical excellence with genuine commercial influence and significant exposure across the executive
leadership team, Audit Committee and the Golden Charter Trust team. The successful individual will lead the Company’s financial reporting and control environment, ensuring robust governance, high-quality management information and strong financial stewardship.

In addition to leading the Financial Accounting and Finance Services teams, the role will contribute to the broader evolution of the finance function, helping to shape functional strategy, strengthen risk management frameworks and support ongoing transformation activity across systems, processes and reporting. It represents an outstanding opportunity for a commercially minded finance professional seeking a senior leadership role with significant visibility, influence and long-term strategic scope within an established and values-driven organisation.

• Lead the preparation of monthly management accounts, board balance sheet and cash reporting, external regulatory returns and the annual Financial Statements.
• Own the development of the Company’s accounting policies, ensuring that these are aligned with accounting standards and are approved at Audit Committee.
• Develop and maintain a strong internal control environment.
• Lead on liaising with the company’s tax consultants and ensure that financial and operational procedures comply with HMRC guidelines
• Lead the external audit process and act as the primary point of contact for auditors and the Audit Committee Chair.
• Lead any finance internal audit reviews and act as the primary contact for the internal audit function.
• Attend Audit Committee meetings leading on the Financial Statement close through to Board approval, reporting on the effectiveness of the key financial control framework and annual reporting as required by the Company’s treasury policy.
• Implement and embed financial policies and procedures and ensure that these are clearly understood across the business.
• Oversee cashflow forecasting and liquidity management and ensure that working capital is monitored and optimised.
• Develop the Company’s provisioning policies and monitor the results to identify any required changes based on experience.
• Develop the Company’s treasury policy and own the relationships with external banking contacts.
• Oversee the preparation and accuracy of the periodic FCA financial returns in conjunction with the Head of Financial Planning & Analysis.
• Manage the operational agreement with the Golden Charter Trust ensuring that the relationship is strong and that there is appropriate visibility of financial controls on both sides.
• Identify potential improvements in finance processes, automation, and reporting tools and work with the Head of Finance Systems Transformation to deliver enhanced data accuracy and process efficiency across the department.
• Provide strong leadership to the Financial Accounting and Finance Services teams ensuring that stretch objectives are developed and personal development plans are in place.
• Develop the wider Finance team functional strategy in conjunction with the Head of Financial Planning & Analysis.
• Ownership of the Finance function risk register in conjunction with the Head of Financial Planning & Analysis

The successful candidate is expected to have the following personal attributes and experience:

• Experienced, qualified accountant (CA, CIMA, ACCA or equivalent) with up to date technical accounting and experience of overseeing taxation activities.
• Oversight of audit close and financial statement preparation within a complex environment.
• Understanding of best practice in the management of the provision of financial processes and services.
• Experience of managing relationships with external advisors.
• Highly developed leadership skills with an ability to motivate, engage and enable the Finance team.
• Experience of having operated at Board and sub-committee level.
• Experience of having operated at a senior management level in a fast-moving complex commercial environment.
• High levels of resilience and positive intent.

Key competencies

• Strong commercial awareness with the ability to develop appropriate accounting policies, finance service delivery models and robust internal control frameworks.
• Clear and credible communicator, able to present complex financial information in a concise and audience-appropriate manner.
• Proven ability to build trusted relationships across the business and operate as a valued finance business partner.
• Experience developing and monitoring KPIs and performance metrics to drive accountability, performance and continuous improvement within finance teams.
• Strong analytical capability, with the ability to oversee and report on working capital, cashflow and provisioning at executive and Board level.
• High levels of integrity, attention to detail and commitment to financial accuracy and governance.
• Strong technical understanding of UK accounting standards and regulatory requirements, with the ability to apply these effectively within a regulated environment.
• Comfortable working with finance systems and data to deliver accurate, insightful and value-adding financial information. (Desirable)