Finance

General overview

Our Finance Department in London focuses on co-ordinating budgets, plans and forecasts for the head office support functions. The team also takes responsibility for the production of weekly and monthly trading reports.

We also have an Accounting Centre based in Leeds that is responsible for the production of financial and management accounts for all of the brands and head office. All transaction processing activities are undertaken here, including payroll, accounts payable, accounts receivable, stock accounting, credit control, statutory accounting and data services.

Types of role

London based roles:

• Senior Finance Manager
• Finance Manager
• Finance Analyst

Leeds based roles:

• Team Leader
• Administration Assistant
• Accountant

The London-based team reports into the Group Financial Controller. The Leeds-based team reports into the Group Chief Accountant.

If you are interested in any of these roles please click here to find out if we have opportunities available.

Profile

Martin Worsley
Financial Controller

"I'm responsible for the costs within parts of the business that include Logistics, Systems, Property, E-commerce, plus Group Finance, HR, and Marketing, and am aided by a team of 15.

My role is varied: I might be reviewing the travel budget with the Finance Director, analysing the potential benefit of changing the supplier for company travel, preparing a presentation to be given to the COO, or helping to formulate a strategy with the Group eCommerce Director.

My role involves lots of meetings. Therefore, time management, planning and the ability to handle multiple tasks are important. Communication is another key skill that you develop in Arcadia, which is vital to the success of my role. Because you can be talking to your team one minute and a director the next you need to be adaptable in terms of communication. I would also say that being a quick learner is another important skill to have. Excel spreadsheet skills are continually being improved and developed, so you need to be inquisitive and seek new ways to create solutions.

I started my career with Debenhams as a management trainee in their store in Norwich. From there I moved on to Topman in the same city, where I became a supervisor and discovered that I enjoyed the faster pace of fashion retail. Over the years I moved around a few stores and towns before finally ending up in Topshop/ Topman Oxford Circus in 1995. I managed the stockroom operation during the initial transformation of the store. Whilst there, I started to become involved in finance, and finally moved into Head Office in 1998. Since that time I have been lucky to work in a variety of brands and roles. Arcadia has supported me from day one to gain a professional accounting qualification, which I never expected to have when I was a store manager."