Assistant Finance Business Partner, West Africa at Unilever

To ensure the business gets efficient return on all marketing investments through detailed review of justification of spends, aggressive pre and post evaluation of Brand and Customer marketing expenditure; enforce the accurate booking, reporting and control of Brand Marketing Investment; and support the Finance Business Partner-Analytics in result commentaries and performance analysis across West Africa.

JOB SUMMARY

• Standardize BMI spend evaluation process and ensure all marketing activities are pre & post evaluated against agreed KPIs.
• Ensure up to date documentation on all Brand and Customer Marketing briefs, Pre & Post Evaluations.
• Drive Return on marketing investments (ROMI) framework for the total business.
• Assist Finance Business Partners in review and analysis of promotional briefs before signing off.
• Act as key contact for Brand & Marketing Investment (BMI) data and act as department expert on BMI.
• Respond to queries on BMI, including ad hoc analysis.
• Balance Sheet Review: Reconcile all balance sheet accounts relating to BMI.
• Prepare comprehensive monthly BMI commentary for both Actuals and Forecast and key highlights on revised full year forecast and phasing for use by Category Teams and Marketing Leadership Team.
• Ensure smooth month end closure on all BMI accounts.
• Provide timely input on BMI full year forecast to Reporting Accountant.
• Ensure all BMI process documentation are up to date.
• Control BMI budget to ensure actual spend is in line with approved amount.
• Enforces governance process around Brand and Marketing Investment Accounting.
• Ensures data accuracy and general ledger integrity in the posting and reconciliation of BMI Activities.
• BMI Analytics: Mines data to identify trends in performance and structure of spend (A/P/POS) and share value adding insights with Category Teams.
• Ensure the business delivers on agreed ROMI targets (e.g., non-working media target)
• Ensures procurement of all promotional and marketing items are channelled through centralized Procurement buying process, as defined in the “No PO, No Pay” Policy.
• Prepares decision support information for Brand Building Managers to aid efficient use of promotion budget.
• Ad hoc analysis on historic data in ERP.
• Continuous training of business partners to boost finance knowledge.
• Takes responsibility for own development.

KEY REQUIREMENTS

• Excellent knowledge of SAP and Excel
• A graduate of any relevant discipline (Economics, Accountancy, Business administration)
• Minimum of 3-5 years relevant experience is required.
• Good communication, interpersonal and problem-solving skills
• Proactive attitude and ability to work with minimal supervision within a team.

KEY ENVIRONMENT

• Internal – Marketing and Sales teams, MLT, FLT, interfaces across Finance, IT, Customer Service
• External – Regional Contacts, Controllers team