Job title

Finance Manager - Governance, Risk and Control – Clothing & Home

Business area

Finance

Reward level and salary

D

Reporting to

Sophie Carton – Senior Finance Manager, Change & Controls

Scope of the role

You will be the day-to-day contact within our C&H business unit helping to deliver against the group risk and controls strategy. You will provide support to C&H teams (first line of defence) in identifying and monitoring risks, and in maintaining a strong control environment, through ongoing partnering and provision of effective guidance and training. This role requires excellent stakeholder management and communication skills to discuss risk, process and controls with senior finance and non-finance colleagues, supporting consistency and compliance across the function.

Whilst the role reports into Finance, you will be expected to work across both the Finance function and the wider C&H business to support initiatives and projects that improve the control environment.

M&S is an iconic British retailer focused primarily on own label businesses within Food and Clothing & Home (C&H), as well as M&S Bank. We operate as a family of businesses, selling high-quality, great-value products in the UK and in 71 international markets. Together our 64,000 colleagues across our stores, support centres, warehouses and supply chain serve around 32 million customers each year. Our vision is to be the most trusted retailer, doing the right thing for our customers, with quality products at the heart of everything we do.

Our C&H business is in an exciting period of growth, with significant transformation programmes underway to reset the function and set it up to deliver long-term, sustainable, profitable growth for our investors, colleagues, and wider communities. C&H delivers c.48% of M&S group operating profit, selling product across Womenswear, Menswear, Lingerie, Kidswear, Home and Beauty, in stores and through the M&S.com website and app. While primarily an own-brand business, we have a growing external brands department selling some of the nation’s favourite clothing, home and beauty brands – delivered through a mix of brand acquisitions (e.g. Jaeger) and brand partnerships (e.g. Early Learning Centre).

• Facilitating risk management across all areas of C&H to identify and assess key risks and controls, and drive forward mitigation plans, working with risk leads across all functions including logistics, sourcing, finance and commercial teams. This will include bi-annual updates to the Group Risk team, to support disclosures within M&S’ external reporting.
• Providing risk, process and controls expertise at the business unit level, including:
  • controls support for new business processes, projects and integration of acquisitions.
  • leading process reviews / projects that challenge existing ways of working and drive business unit level control improvements.
  • increasing awareness and knowledge of risk management and controls throughout C&H, driving an improved controls culture across the function.
• Liaising closely with Internal and External audit and the relevant C&H teams to help support effective and efficient planning and scoping of audits, and timely closure of audit actions.
• Tracking of open Risk, Internal Audit and Finance Change & Control actions in a timely manner and providing reporting of this to C&H leadership.
• Chairing quarterly risk & control updates at C&H Leadership Team meetings, and monthly risk & control meetings with the C&H Finance Director.
• Reporting into the Audit & Risk Committee annually on the C&H risk and control environment.
• Providing ad hoc support for central projects delivered by the Group Change & Control team e.g. enhancing controls around non-financial ESG disclosures.