Group Chief Financial Officer

Group Chief Financial Officer

The Company

The group is a top-tier dealer of heavy equipment and mining equipment for a multi-country portfolio of French-speaking African countries. The group sells and supports the equipment of a leading global manufacturer for the mining, construction and infrastructure, and power generation sectors, and distributes complementary brands. The group employs more than 2,000 people across its territories, and generates turnover close to EUR 1 billion.

The business has two engines. The first is the sale of machines, engines and power systems to mining companies, contractors and industrial customers, under long lead times and with large unit values. The second is the aftermarket: parts, service, rebuilds and rental, which carry the franchise's reputation and a large share of its margin. Availability of equipment and of parts, across a wide territory with limited logistics, is the basis of the customer relationship and of the competitive position against other dealers and brands.

The group operates with a structured financing package comprising bank facilities with financial covenants, supplier financing. The consolidated accounts are prepared under IFRS in euro and audited by an international firm.

Job Purpose

Reporting to the Group Chief Executive Officer, the Group CFO is responsible for the financial stewardship of the group: its capital structure and liquidity, the integrity and timeliness of its financial information, the planning and performance management cycle, the finance organization and its systems, and financial advice to the Chief Executive Officer and the Board.

The Group CFO reports to the Group Chief Executive Officer. The Group CFO has direct access to the Board and to the Finance & Audit Committee, attends Board and Audit Committee meetings, and maintains a working relationship with the shareholder group's finance function on policy, treasury coordination and reporting standards. The country finance heads and the group financial controllers have a functional reporting to the Group CFO.

Key Accountabilities

• Balance sheet, treasury and lenders
• Own the capital structure and the liquidity of the group. Maintain a rolling cash forecast at group and country level and manage the funding of the business within it.
• Manage the relationships with the senior lenders, the manufacturer's captive finance arm and other providers of finance. Ensure compliance with the financial covenants, forecast covenant headroom ahead of each test date.
• Prepare and lead the refinancing of the senior facilities and the optimization of the supplier and shareholder financing.
• Manage foreign-exchange exposure, and the group's hedging, insurance and treasury policies.

Working capital

• Set, with the commercial and operations leadership, the level of equipment and parts inventory the group can afford and finance, by territory and by product line.
• Own the credit policy, the collection of receivables and the use of captive and other third-party financing to limit the group's own credit exposure to customers.
• Negotiate and manage supplier credit, including the terms available from the manufacturer, and align them with the inventory and sales cycle.

Planning, performance and cost

• Run the annual budget and the rolling forecast. Build the forecasting capability that lets the group anticipate shortfalls and adjust its cost base and its commitments before the shortfall materializes.
• Monitor performance against budget every month at group, country and business-line level, and drive the corrective actions with the line managers who own them.
• Control the cost base, including headcount and payroll, and ensure that every addition to the fixed cost base is justified by the plan and affordable within it.

Reporting, consolidation and control

• Own the group consolidation and the monthly, quarterly and annual reporting to the Executive Committee, the Board, the shareholders and the lenders, to a fixed calendar.
• Deliver the monthly close and the management accounts on time in every entity, and the audited consolidated accounts within the deadline set by the Board and the financing documents.
• Set uniform accounting policies, reporting standards and internal controls across all legal entities, and ensure that each entity applies them. Own the delegation of authorities and the control framework, and support the internal audit function.
• Ensure tax, regulatory and statutory compliance in each jurisdiction, including transfer pricing, with the support of local and external advisers.

Systems

• Review the finance and reporting systems in use across the group. Define the target architecture for the ERP, consolidation and reporting tools, and lead its implementation so that the entities run on common systems and common data.

Finance organization

• Lead the group finance team: group financial controllers, country finance heads, treasury, financial planning and analysis, tax and shared services. Assess capability, set the structure the group needs, place the right people in the right roles and develop them.

Corporate finance and support to the Board

• Assess capital expenditure, rental fleet, acquisition and disposal proposal