Financial Analyst

• Financial Analyst
• Location: Chennai, India Required Language: English Employment Type: Full-Time
• Seniority Level: Associate
• Travel Mode: Moderate

About Us

Buckman is a privately held, global specialty chemical company with headquarters in Memphis, TN, USA, committed to safeguarding the environment, maintaining safety in the workplace, and promoting sustainable development. Buckman works proactively and collaboratively with its worldwide customers in pulp, paper, leather, and water treatment to deliver exceptional service and innovative specialty chemical solutions to help boost productivity, reduce risk, improve product quality, and provide a measurable return on investment. Buckman is in the middle of a digital transformation of its businesses and is focused on building the capabilities and tools in support of this.

Purpose

This position is responsible for the financial leadership of plants, cost accounting and alignment of regional planning and budgeting with corporate policies and practices as well as financial analysis and recommended improvements to regional supply chain processes.

This position reports to the Finance Director - APAC based in Singapore and will support and drive any initiatives or projects assigned.

Qualifications & Experience

•  Applicants from CMA/ICWAI/CA Intermediate with a minimum experience of above 5 years in Costing and forecasting.
•  Minimum of 5 years relevant working experience in costing & inventory management and financial analysis to regional supply chain processes.
•  Relevant working experience in manufacturing / MNC environment.
•  Proficiency in SAP and Microsoft Office products (including Excel).

Accountabilities

Perform inventory & costing accounting activities for the APAC region and financial analysis of the supply chain financials, including but not limited to production schedules, warehouse considerations, freight analysis, purchasing analysis, and production reconciliation reports.

• Costing & Inventory Accounting
•  Perform regular standard cost update including labor and overhead rates as per Buckman’s policy/accounting standards
•  Analyze monthly inventory & cost variance movements and provide insightful commentary on any major activities or variations.
•  Monitor inventory transactions, analyze inventory evaluation, and inventory roll forward. Developing inventory analysis reports and analyzing variances
•  Assist in the improvement of internal controls related to inventory
•  Support the reconciliation of the inventory accounts to the general ledger and analysis of cost accounting data and assist with cycle count/physical inventories
•  Ensure compliance with Corporate inventory and cost accounting-related policies and practices
•  Monitors and implements plant internal cost controls to ensure reporting integrity and quickly identify risks
•  Ensure accurate and timely conduct of cycle and year-end physical counts
•  Ensures that inventory reserves are properly maintained and established.
• Financial Planning & Analysis (primarily relating to supply chain processes)
•  Supports FP&A in forecasts and budgets
•  Utilizes relevant financial databases to streamline analysis of inefficiencies in supply chain operations and reduce costs (e.g. budget, forecasting, rolling forecast)
•  Collaborates with other departments to determine root causes of issues in supply chain and regular spend (e.g. inventory management)
•  Evaluating the route schedules using the previous activity and customer trends and recommending the effective route
•  Communicates with purchasing to negotiate more cost-effective deals and actively sources new vendors to identify cost-saving opportunities.
•  Produce deep-dive analysis on supply chain-related account variances (e.g. freight)
•  Review and analyze inventory and margin reports and conduct research and analytical studies in regard to cost variance/movements and profitability
•  Perform variance analysis of the price, cost, efficiency and volume drivers related
•  Involve in preparation of dashboard and commentary of the region performance
•  Develops recommendation to improve the site performance based on financial analysis

Other Responsibilities – Including Process Improvements / Projects

 Handle sales incentive computation and accruals

 Provide support to the Finance Director - APAC for any initiatives/projects assigned such as new reporting application implementation or training.

Key Competencies / Characteristics

•  Familiar with ERP system and must have SAP FICO system.
•  Relevant costing experience in manufacturing environment and SAP ERP is a must
•  Strong financial planning, analysis and reporting skills including forecasting/budgeting techniques
•  knowledge of statutory requirement / regulations / acts / various taxes (GST / VAT / Excise) in countries like India, Indonesia and Pakistan is an advantage
•  Computer proficiency in QlikView/Qlik Sense, SAP, RPA, and Microsoft Office applications (particularly MS Excel)

Personality Traits

 Good written, verbal communication skills and able to communicate effectively

 Ability to work independently, resourceful and an effective team player and adapt to rapid change environment in a fast-paced, changing and high-volume environment with emphasis on accuracy and timeliness

 Good interpersonal skills and culturally sensitive and able to deal & collaborate with people from various cultural backgrounds and countries