Finance Manager

Finance Manager

Reports to: Managing Director

Location: Hamburg

Employment type: Permanent

Prax Group, a British multinational, independent, global energy group has announced it intends to acquire joint ownership of PCK Refinery GmbH (PCK) from Shell Deutschland. As a result, we will be setting up an associated wholesale business to buy and sell crude oil and refined products.

There is a need to create and develop the accounting processes, finance systems, a financial control environment, and a finance team.

This is a pivotal role within Prax’s growth and contributes to its horizontal integration and geographic expansion.

Key Responsibilities:

• Set up financial control environment e.g., payments, balance sheet recs etc.
• Re responsible for and develop finance processes including AP/AR with assistance with the transactional outsourced provider in India.
• Create a financial timetable and ensure deadlines are met.
• Assist with User Acceptance Testing of the JD Edwards implementation and provide feedback to IT.
• Assist with the alignment of Day 1 activities. Liaising with Shell, PCK, and Macquarie as necessary.
• Develop the chart of accounts and financial systems.
• Prepare internal reporting dashboards and monthly reports in conjunction with the Prax Team in UK.
• Establish and maintain financial policies.
• Manage and develop a transfer pricing policy.
• Manage the Government Energy Tax Guarantee
• Review and monitor the completion of all annual financial statements including liaison with external auditors.
• Lead and support the business in annual target setting, business plans, budgets and overall strategy development, providing input to facilitate the process.
• Design and deploy a risk register with mitigation plans, hold monthly reviews with broader team to ensure risks are graded correctly and that mitigation plans are in force.
• Establish and develop relationships with banks, financial advisers, and hedging team (based in London)
• Liaise with intermediary financing partner (Macquarie) and understand and adhere to their reporting requirements (relating to reporting of inventory and accounts receivables)
• Assist in setting up expenses system (Concur)
• Liase with tax and customs advisers to ensure all reporting requirement are set up and manged correctly.
• Maintain oversight in the preparation and organisation of board meetings, ensuring that board meeting agendas, record of minutes and resolutions are stored safely and secured.
• Build effective working relationships with Prax head office team, in particular the finance and treasury teams.

Skills, Experience & Qualifications:

• Fully qualified accountant with at least 10 years’ experience and knowledge of the oil industry.
• Fluency in business German & English
• Thorough understanding of financial processing, design, and implementation
• Good knowledge of JD Edwards
• Knowledge of German regulations including CSO, REACH, CLD
• Team building or extensive team management experience.
• Good understand of the German regulatory environment including statutory returns, German GAAP, and IFRS
• Experience of systems implementation
• Good understand of the German Customs and Tax environments including Energy Tax, customs and excise, VAT deferral scheme, and Corporation Tax.
• Experience in Intercompany & Transfer Pricing
• Ability to meet demanding deadlines, often with competing priorities.
• Flexible and adaptable in approach
• Experience of matrix reporting work environments.