Manager, Merchandising Finance

Reporting to the VP Finance, the Manager, Merchandising Finance works closely with the Merchandising team to ensure the accuracy of weekly sales and margin analysis, identify reasons for impacts on business performance, and the performance of the vendor base. The Manager, Merchandising Finance will work in collaboration with Vendor Services, Operations, Finance and IT departments to understand and resolve issues in a timely and efficient manner.

**Key responsibilities**
- Over-sight and management of the planned open-to-buy (OTB) vs. budgeted targets.
- Provide oversight and management of all vendor relationships to ensure the proper flow of invoicing and receipts and to validate financial metrics and provide direction to impact necessary changes.
- Active participation In cross departmental Merchandising/Operations/Finance group meeting as the Finance team planning representative.
- Create bottom-up plans per class per period for all financial metrics that support approved strategy.
- Following the end of the financial quarter, prepare a Postmortem analysis of actual results with the Category Management team to identify business performance vs. budgeted objectives.
- Responsible for the creation, development, analysis and communication of periodic financial reports (general ledger, reporting, journal entry creation, vendor income, expense information, etc.) to various users within the business
- Identify and recommend inventory exit strategies and markdowns on distressed inventory to ensure target weeks stock cover are maintained.
- Develop sales projections and inventory flow of business driver items (high volume items) and ensure the follow up of the performance and propose actions plan to course correct.
- Conduct in-depth and adhoc analysis to incorporate learnings of actual results into current and future plans.
- Periodically review Marketing and advertising spend vs. budgeted targets.
- Analyse promotional effectiveness and provide feedback to Merchandising team on optimal promotional mix.
- Assist in design, development, and implementation of new and ad hoc reports as required by the business.
- Assist in preparation of presentation materials (reports, charts, graphs) for senior management.
- On-going process improvements/enhancements to ensure data integrity and accuracy.
- Analyze weekly/monthly sales, profitability, and inventory to identify issues and risks related to achieving the financial plan.
- Develop and execute actions plan to course correct businesses that are off plan in conjunction with the Merchant team and with the support from the Replenishment team.
- Collaborate to put in place and periodically monitor buying plans are in line with the inventory strategy for these categories
- Assist with special projects as required.

**Key Qualifications**
- Minimum of 5 years related work experience in retail or corporate accounting
- University degree or post-secondary education - business, commerce, accounting, or finance related.
- Knowledge of accounting principles and practices, analysis and reporting of financial data.
- Professional accounting designation or currently enrolled in advanced stages of a professional designation program (an asset but not required)
- Excel: pivot tables, look-up formulas, familiarity with macros, graphing and sorting
- Access: pulling data, joining tables, cross tab tables
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills - able to effectively obtain information, communicate issues, actively engage in influencing others and working as a team
- Must possess strong analytical skills with attention to detail and consistency in report presentation.
- Results oriented - ability to prioritize and consistently delivers on time with high degree of accuracy.
- Ability to work in a fast-paced environment.

**INDHP