Business Partner, Financial Planning and Analysis

About the ALDO Group 

Specializing in stylish and accessible footwear, handbags, and accessories, the ALDO Group has been around for more than 50 years. With over 1,500 stores in more than 100 countries, we operate under two signature brands, ALDO and Call It Spring, and we are the core footwear partner for Sperry in North America. The ALDO Group is also an industry-recognized wholesale licensed partner, specializing in the design, sourcing, and distribution of fashion footwear, handbags, and accessories. Our diverse portfolio includes household brands such as ROXY, Brooks Brothers, Ted Baker, Hunter, and G.H.BASS. In addition to our head office in Montreal, the ALDO Group maintains international offices in Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.aldogroup.com. 

Enjoy meaningful recognition, flexible work options, great on‑site perks, generous discounts, and the pride of being part of a brand that leads with people, the planet, and its partners at heart.  

POSITION SUMMARY:

The finance business partner plays a key strategic role within the organization by creating an essential link between operations and financial performance. He/she is a financial professional that collaborates daily with operational team members to establish financial objectives (budget, forecast, etc.), to provide visibility on the performance against those objectives and to perform analysis that supports business decisions. This individual understands the business drivers, financial systems/processes and is adept at working with all employee levels within the company – from T1 to entry level analysts.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategic:                                                                                                                                     

• Participate in the development, enhancement and implementation of financial system or processes initiatives by providing value added input with respect to FP&A and ensuring that changes in the system or business processes are integrated into ongoing activities;
• Promotes and initiates continuous improvements in order to improve organizational processes and generate superior business results;
• Identifies and monitors key financial indicators to gauge performance, identify trends and perform benchmarking on core activities to provide financial and strategic perspective to the business;
• Works closely with the Financial leads and business leaders to identify and develop annual targets that reflects the strategic direction of the business;
• Build financial reports that provide value and insight to the business on variances to budget or forecast using the SAP-BPC application;
• Identifies and assess potential business, financial impacts or risks associated with new ideas;
• Assist the Financial leads on other activities related to special assignment.

Operational                                                                                                                                             

• Coordinates all aspect of the Budget and Forecast processes for areas within the Scope in terms of deadlines, reviews, targets, system uploads for all P&L and variance analysis for Direct & OH expenses as well as Capital investments;
• Coordinates the reporting and analysis of financial and non-financial key performance indicators;
• Supports other teammates during month-end processes to investigate account variances, confirm account reconciliation status with Accounting and ensure timely completion of all required Journal Entries to achieve closing deadlines;.
• Supports with various compensation analysis for business units
• Initiates and performs monthly business reviews on year-to-date and current month results in order to provide visibility to the teams, facilitate financial projections and provide value added financial knowledge to areas within the Scope to ultimately increase business results;
• Responsible for Direct & OH
  • Updates monthly documents
  • Identify and investigate any key variations and interact with budget owners to ensure that the latest plan is achieved
  • Highlight risks & opportunities within their scope which can be integrated into the overall business R&O on a monthly basis
• Pricing/costing validation between the various pricing models to ensure profitability is maintained throughout the month
  • Weekly sales order analysis
  • Costing validation (ELC vs. MAP vs. Actuals)
  • Forward looking order analysis
• Weekly sales reviews with leadership to ensure monthly targets are on track
• Review and highlight customer sales discounts & credit notes monthly;
• Financial simulations;
  • Projects
  • Stock deals
  • AR projections
  • Ad hoc
• Assist in creating presentations for strategic leadership;
• Identify, assess, and manage risks within your area of expertise to ensure that Aldo achieves its financial goals.
• Foster and participate in a culture of risk awareness by promoting best practices in risk management.

Leadership:                                                                                                                                                

• Responsible for identifying, pursuing and sharing with teammates technical, professional and interpersonal training programs for his/herself;
• Ensure alignment between the business and the Finance teams through regular and clear communication;
• Responsible for completing objectives setting and self-assessment;
• Coordinates efforts for keeping his/her Position Description up to date;
• Participates in periodic staff meetings to discuss and align business opportunities and priorities;
• With the support of the immediate supervisor, responsible for personal development and career planning.

EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE:

Education:                                                                                                     

• University degree in Finance/Business administration and/or a professional designation (i.e. CPA, CFA, MBA)

Experience:                                                                                                                  

• 3 to 5 years of Pertinent business experience. Strong business acumen and well versed in Financial Accounting and Financial Planning and Analysis.

PERSONAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Demonstrated leadership skills – knows how to connect and engage with colleagues, enhances dialogues in the workplace, encourages open and transparent communication, is a change driver with creativity and innovation in the workplace;
• Strong communication skills – ability to make complex concepts simple and present to business leaders and other company groups; skilled presenter – demonstrated experience presenting concepts and clearly articulating complex issues;
• Understanding of performance variance analyses, accounting principles and financial reporting aspects;
• Knowledge and skills using SAP BPC, SAP Financials, SAP EPM and AO; comfort and ability to query SAP by transaction code (if required) or obtain multi-source BI data for analysis
• Strong knowledge of Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint
• Ability to work under pressure and meet commitments

Building a culture of belonging 

We firmly believe that the diversity of backgrounds, perspectives, and identities is a fundamental strength of the ALDO Group. We welcome applications from all backgrounds and are committed to providing a safe, respectful, and equitable work environment where everyone can reach their full potential and find their fit. 

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