Credit Control Business Partner

Alternatively, Grant Thornton

At Grant Thornton we do things differently - looking to the future, driving ambitious growth and pioneering positive change in our industry. Providing audit, tax and advisory services, we empower clients through strategic insight, curiosity, and genuine partnership. And we empower our people with real opportunity, an inclusive culture and work life balance. A true alternative.

With over 5,000 people in the UK, and a presence in 150 global markets, we're on an ambitious journey, from great to exceptional, and we need the best people to help us achieve our potential. And with that comes the opportunity to help redefine what our industry looks like, and what you want from your career.

Job Description:

Hybrid Working

Home office location - Milton Keynes

MORE THAN YOU EXPECTED

Grant Thornton UK LLP is part of a global network of independent audit, tax and advisory firms, made up of some 58,000 people in over 135 countries. We're a team of independent thinkers who put quality, inclusion and integrity first. All around the world we bring a different experience to our clients. A better experience. One that delivers the expertise they need in a way that goes beyond. Personal, proactive, and agile. That's Grant Thornton.

NEW GROUND WON’T BREAK ITSELF.

Grant Thornton UK has recently taken investment from the Private Equity Firm Cinven, the firm’s goal is to go from Great to Exceptional with ambitious plans to grow the business. The investment is an exciting opportunity to re think how our teams can best support the growing business in an agile and responsive way.

To better support these growth ambitions we are creating four new Credit Control Business Partner roles within our Credit Control team. As a Credit Control Business Partner you will be an expert in your field, able to confidently partner with our senior internal stakeholders, advising on how best to collect debts, prepare and present quality management information and confidently negotiate with our clients to ensure the firm’s debt remains collectable. To support the firm’s growth ambitions our Credit Control team must move from great to exceptional by achieving ambitious cash collection targets maximising the firm’s working capital position, looking at new ways of working and bringing simplicity to complexity, removing barriers to enable the business to seamlessly contract with clients.  We’re happy to talk flexible working and consider reduced hours and job shares, we’ll support you to balance your work and life.

A look into the role

As a Credit Control Business Partner within our team, you will:

• Be dedicated to one of the firm’s Service Lines, you will have the overall responsibility for the collection performance of your operational Service Line’s ledger. Working closely with our offshore administration team, the performance of your ledger will be measured using KPIs which will include, amongst other measures, debtor days, credit balance days, accounts in legal, cash collection and query days.
• Build strong relationships with your service line stakeholders, meeting regularly to provide updates on collection bottle necks. You will provide advice and assist with the collection of difficult debts and liaise with clients to resolve any queries and invoice disputes, enabling the Service Lines to collect cash effectively
• Be responsible for preparing management information of your Service Line for credit control management and the Service Line Leads, demonstrating an excellent understanding of the debtor balances on your ledger. You will have advanced experience and skills in the use of Excel and Power Point to produce reporting packs.
• Build strong trusted relationships with your external clients through regular communications. You will build an understanding of how each of your client’s payable team operates and understand the payment trends for your client, to enable you to accurately forecast when invoices are likely to be settled.
• Be responsible for agreeing commercial payment plans to aid cash collection and avoid accounts going legal. Where payment plans exceed an agreed limit you will work with credit control management to negotiate the best outcome for the firm. You will fully understand and be responsible for advising your Service Line stakeholders on our internal collection policies, escalating matters to credit control management and managing your legal ledger with our external Solicitors, to enhance cashflow and reduce the firm’s bad debt exposure.
• Continuously seek to improve your own skills and share knowledge and expertise with the rest of the team. You will have a natural curiosity to suggest and explore new ways of working and continuous improvements in working practices. There will be ongoing projects to bring digital innovation to credit control maximising efficiencies and optimising the value the team creates for the business.

Knowing you’re right for us

Joining us as a Credit Control Business Partner, the minimum criteria you’ll need is relevant experience and accomplishments that demonstrate your ability to deliver excellent results and achieve success in a senior credit control role.  Confident and Credible communication skills. Demonstrable success in collaborative environments and motivation to contribute positively to your team and the wider firm. Strong analytical skills, able to reconcile complex accounts which may include withholding tax and foreign exchange transactions. Good business acumen for problem solving. Advanced knowledge of MS Excel & Powerpoint. It would be great if you had some of the following skills, but don’t worry if you don’t tick every box, we’ll help you develop along the way.

• Knowledge of Legal Collection processes
• Competency with large ERP systems

Knowing we’re right for you

Embracing uniqueness, the culture at Grant Thornton thrives on the contributions of all our people, we never settle for what is easy, we look beyond to deliver the right thing, for everyone.  Building an inclusive culture, where we value difference and respect our colleagues helps our people to perform at the best of their ability and realise their potential.

Our open and accessible culture means you’ll interact with leaders who are interested in you and everything you bring to our firm. The things that set you apart, we value them. That’s why we give you the freedom to bring your whole self to work and pursue your passions inside and outside of work.

Beyond the job 

Life is more than work. The things you do, and the people you’re with outside of work matter, that’s why we’re happy to look at flexible working options for all our roles, and we’ll always do our best to keep your work and life in balance.

The impact you can make here will go far beyond your day job. From secondments, to fundraising for local charities, or investing in entrepreneurs in the developing world, you’ll be giving back to society. It’s that drive to do the right thing that runs through our every move, grounded in our firm’s values – purposefully driven, actively curious and candid but kind.

We’re looking for people who want to contribute, spark fresh ideas and go beyond expectations. People who want to be able to proudly do what’s right, for the firm, our clients, our people and themselves. It’s how it should be.

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