Part Time Finance Manager
Key Details:
- Job title: Part-Time Finance Manager
- Working pattern: 3 days per week, fully remote
- Salary: £50k - £55k FTE, depending on experience
- Reporting to: Directors / shareholders
- Role scope: Sole day-to-day finance professional with ownership of the finance function
Muddy Puddles
Muddy Puddles is a successful British children’s outdoor clothing brand, helping families embrace the outdoors whatever the weather. We are a small, friendly and entrepreneurial business, with a strong e-commerce focus and products sold through our own website as well as a range of established retail and marketplace partners.
Because we are a lean SME, every person has a genuine impact. This is an opportunity for an experienced, hands-on finance professional to take ownership of the full finance function, work closely with the directors and develop a detailed understanding of the commercial drivers of the business. The role offers plenty of autonomy and variety, combining day-to-day accounting with management reporting, forecasting and commercial insight.
The role
We are looking for a part-time Finance Manager to take day-to-day ownership of the finance function. This is a hands-on role: the successful candidate will be equally comfortable completing detailed reconciliations and payroll as they are preparing management accounts, maintaining cashflow forecasts and discussing financial performance with the directors.
The role would particularly suit someone with experience in an SME or owner-managed business who enjoys broad responsibility and being close to the commercial operation rather than managing a large finance team.
Key responsibilities
Management reporting & commercial finance
- Prepare monthly management accounts, supporting schedules and clear commentary on performance and key variances.
- Lead the annual budgeting process and support ongoing business planning.
- Maintain short- and medium-term cashflow forecasts, monitoring liquidity and upcoming commitments.
- Review cash balances and support decisions around savings, foreign currency requirements and cash allocation.
- Produce weekly sales and trading information and provide ad-hoc financial analysis to support commercial decisions.
Month-end accounting & financial control
- Own the monthly close process and ensure accurate, timely financial information.
- Complete bank, PayPal, Wise, savings and other balance-sheet reconciliations.
- Complete website and marketplace sales reconciliations and post monthly sales into Sage.
- Calculate and reconcile stock, goods-in and cost of sales, including the monthly stock posting.
- Maintain accruals, prepayments, fixed assets, payroll journals and other month-end entries.
- Reconcile and finalise the balance sheet, investigating and resolving discrepancies.
Working capital & transactional finance
- Prepare weekly supplier payment runs and maintain appropriate payment controls.
- Monitor aged debtors, issue customer statements and follow up outstanding balances.
- Process supplier invoices and maintain accurate creditor records.
Payroll, tax & compliance
- Run UK payroll and coordinate the Hungarian payroll process.
- Prepare quarterly VAT returns.
- Coordinate annual corporation tax and statutory accounts processes with the external accountants, reviewing outputs and resolving queries.
- Complete annual ERS returns and Companies House confirmation statements.
- Coordinate company insurance and employee health insurance renewals.
- Maintain an effective finance timetable and ensure statutory and regulatory deadlines are met.
Finance ownership & continuous improvement
- Act as the primary finance contact for the business and work closely with the directors.
- Liaise with external accountants, banks, HMRC, insurers and other advisers.
- Maintain strong financial controls appropriate for a small, growing business.
- Identify opportunities to simplify, improve and automate finance processes and reporting.
- Ensure key finance processes are well documented and resilient.
About you
- An experienced Finance Manager, Management Accountant, Company Accountant or similar, ideally with experience in an SME or owner-managed business.
- Qualified (CIMA, ACCA or ACA) with a strong track record of independently delivering the responsibilities of the role.
- Strong management accounting skills, including month-end, forecasting, budgeting and cashflow management.
- Comfortable being hands-on across both transactional and higher-level finance activities.
- Confident working independently and taking ownership without a senior finance person above you day to day.
- Commercially minded, with the ability to explain financial information clearly to non-finance colleagues.
- Highly organised, accurate and comfortable managing recurring deadlines.
- Strong Excel skills and confidence learning and improving established spreadsheets and finance processes.
Desirable experience
- Retail, e-commerce or consumer-products experience.
- Stock accounting and cost-of-sales experience.
- Experience reconciling multiple online sales channels, payment providers and marketplaces.
- Experience using Sage 50, payroll software and e-commerce reporting systems.
- Experience with multi-currency transactions and cash management.
- An interest in process improvement, automation and making finance more efficient.
What makes this role attractive
- Fully remote working – work from home with no regular office commute.
- Genuinely flexible hours – a three-day working week, with working hours and start/finish times agreed to suit both the individual and the needs of the business.
- Private health insurance
- Company bonus scheme
- Meaningful responsibility and autonomy – ownership of the full finance function rather than one narrow part of a larger team.
- A varied role – spanning accounting, reporting, forecasting, cash management and commercial support.
- Direct involvement in the business – work closely with the directors and see the impact of your work on business decisions.
- A friendly, entrepreneurial SME environment – where good ideas and process improvements can be implemented quickly.
Pay: £50,000.00-£55,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Company pension
- Employee discount
- Flexitime
- Private dental insurance
- Private medical insurance
- Work from home
Application question(s):
- Do you have an accounting qualification?
- Please briefly explain why you are interested in this role and what appeals to you about joining Muddy Puddles.
- What skills and experience do you feel you could bring to this role, and how would these benefit Muddy Puddles?
Work authorisation:
- United Kingdom (required)
Work Location: Remote
