FP&A Analyst

The FP&A Analyst will support the delivery of high-quality financial planning, analysis and management information across the Bank.

Working closely with the Senior FP&A Analyst, the role will contribute to monthly management reporting, budgeting and forecasting, cost centre analysis and business partnering. The successful candidate will take ownership of defined reporting and analytical activities while developing their understanding of the Bank’s products, financial performance and key business drivers.

This role provides an opportunity for a part-qualified accountant to develop broad FP&A and commercial finance experience within a growing and regulated banking environment.

Responsibilities

Management reporting

• Support the preparation of monthly financial reports for the Executive Committee, Board and other senior management forums.
• Prepare recurring reporting schedules, variance analysis and supporting commentary.
• Investigate movements against budget, forecast and prior periods, working with relevant stakeholders to understand the underlying drivers.
• Help translate financial results into clear and meaningful information for non-financial stakeholders.
• Maintain reporting files, reconciliations and appropriate review controls to ensure management information is complete and accurate.

Cost centre reporting

• Prepare monthly cost centre reports and provide budget holders with clear analysis of actual expenditure, commitments and forecast performance.
• Analyse cost trends and variances, identifying unusual or unexpected movements for further investigation.
• Support cost centre owners in understanding their financial performance and maintaining accurate forecasts.
• Assist with the review of supplier expenditure, headcount costs and other key operating expense categories.
• Maintain cost centre structures, reporting mappings and supporting data.

Business partnering

• Build effective working relationships with stakeholders across the Bank.
• Provide timely financial information and analysis to support operational and commercial decision-making.
• Respond to routine and ad-hoc requests from the business, escalating more complex analysis where appropriate.
• Support the Senior FP&A Analyst with scenario analysis, margin analysis, investment cases and other business partnering activities.
• Develop an understanding of the Bank’s products and operational processes in order to explain financial performance and constructively challenge assumptions.

Forecasting, budgeting and financial planning

• Support the annual budgeting process and preparation of rolling forecasts.
• Coordinate the collection and review of budget and forecast submissions from business areas.
• Update financial models and planning schedules for agreed assumptions and business inputs.
• Compare actual performance against forecast assumptions and identify areas requiring refinement.
• Support the preparation of forecast presentations, analysis and commentary for senior management.
• Assist with the integration of cost, revenue, balance sheet and headcount assumptions into the Bank’s financial plans.

Data, systems and process improvement

• Extract, organise and validate financial and operational data used in FP&A reporting.
• Perform reconciliations between management reporting, financial systems and source data.
• Help maintain and improve reporting templates, models and documented procedures.
• Identify opportunities to make recurring reporting more efficient, controlled and reliable.
• Support the development of automated reports and dashboards where appropriate.

About you

• Part-qualified accountant studying towards an ACCA, CIMA or ACA qualification, or with relevant equivalent experience.
• Experience in management accounting, financial analysis, budgeting, forecasting or a related finance role.
• Experience within financial services or another regulated environment would be advantageous but is not essential.
• Strong numerical and analytical skills, with good attention to detail.
• Able to investigate financial information, identify key movements and present conclusions clearly.
• Comfortable communicating with both finance and non-finance stakeholders.
• Organised and able to manage recurring deadlines alongside ad-hoc requests.
• Curious, proactive and willing to develop an understanding of the Bank’s products and business model.
• Good Excel skills, including formulas, pivot tables and working with structured data.
• Experience of Power Query, SQL or other data and reporting tools would be advantageous but is not essential.
• A commitment to continuing professional development and completing a relevant accounting qualification.