Finance Partner - Operations Finance (SWS)

I. Purpose of the Role

The Finance Partner - Operations Finance - is accountable for the delivery of reporting, analysis and controlling activities related to the relevant Business Unit or Plant. The person in this role will maintain a strong relationship with the SSC/ARC Manager and BU / Plant counterparts, to understand expectations on service delivery and work towards them.

The position will require developing a good understanding of manufacturing process and will involve working closely with plant functional teams to drive better financial performance. 

This role mainly focuses on:
o    Standard costing & inventory revaluation 
o    Period end closing, controlling and financial analysis 
o    Management Reporting & Business Analysis 
o    Budgeting, CAPEX & Working Capital Support

II. Roles and Responsibilities

Standard Costing & Inventory Revaluation
• Create and maintain standard costs for new materials, including cost simulations for process changes and business cases.
• Perform annual tariff calculations, activity rate planning (machine/man hours), cost center planning, and SAP tariff uploads.
• Execute periodic standard cost revaluations, including transport fees, duties, import costs, BOM updates, and inventory valuation reviews.
• Analyze standard cost movements, BOM usage, and master data integrity in collaboration with plant teams.
• Communicate cost impacts and cost fluctuations to Sales, Marketing, Supply Chain, and Plant stakeholders.
• Ensure alignment with global costing standards and provide cost breakdowns for pricing and transfer pricing requirements.
Period Closing & Controlling Activities
• Support cross-functional reporting requirements (BMS, SHE, Quality).
• Manage inventory accounting activities including material balance reconciliation, stock movement validation, production order settlements, stock ledger reconciliations, and balance sheet reviews.
• Perform sales and margin analysis, revenue recognition reviews, sales reconciliations, and cost-of-sales cut-off validation.
• Conduct cost variance analysis covering manufacturing, labor, utilities, maintenance, commercial costs, BOM impacts, PPV, and accruals.
• Execute month-end closing activities including accruals, prepayments, allocations, overhead assessments, internal order settlements, and profitability analysis adjustments.
• Ensure SAP CO master data and transaction quality through regular controls and reconciliations.
Management Reporting & Business Analysis
• Maintain the Plant Balanced Scorecard and other key operational performance reporting tools.
• Prepare weekly and monthly management reports covering production, efficiency, cash costs, conversion costs, inventory, and financial KPIs.
• Support maintenance cost reporting, inventory evolution analysis, SLOB monitoring, and non-quality/scrap reporting.
• Prepare contribution and performance analyses for monthly financial reviews with BU and Plant leadership.
• Monitor and report operational and financial performance, CAPEX utilization, and CWIP status.
• Deliver actionable financial insights and recommendations to support decision-making, optimization, and performance improvement initiatives.
Budgeting, CAPEX & Working Capital
• Support annual budgeting through preparation of templates, consolidation of departmental inputs, bridge analyses, management presentations, and depreciation simulations.
• Manage CAPEX reporting, project monitoring, actual versus budget analysis, and CWIP tracking.
• Support working capital management through stock rotation analysis, inventory master data monitoring, AP follow-up, and resolution of GR/IR-related issues.
 

III. Skills & Competencies

• Education: Master’s in Accounting/Finance; Cost Accountant preferred.
• Technical: Expertise in SAP (including CFIN, SAC), MS Excel, Word, PowerPoint; knowledge of Power BI and automation tools is an advantage.
• Soft Skills: Strong business acumen, analytical thinking, problem-solving, prioritization, communication, and cross-functional collaboration. Ability to work under pressure and drive process improvements.