Head of Finance

Smedley Group is a company focused on transforming the karting experience into a worldwide movement. They are seeking a Head of Finance to build and oversee a finance function for a fast-growing, multi-entity group, ensuring control, accuracy, and efficiency in financial operations.

Responsibilities:

• Lead and develop the Group Financial Accountant; own performance of the broader finance team via the GFA
• Own the quality of everything the team produces. The CFO should be able to use the output without re-checking it
• Set the standard for technical accuracy, close discipline, and process across the function
• Own the Group close timetable and standards; review and approve close journals, adjustments, reconciliations and system-generated postings
• Own Group consolidation across a multi-entity, multi-currency, multi-jurisdiction structure, including intercompany eliminations and FX translation
• Sign off entity and consolidated management accounts; own the numbers feeding into Board and investor reporting
• Be the final technical authority below the CFO on revenue recognition, deferred revenue, payment plans, refunds, chargebacks, intercompany and other judgemental areas across UK GAAP and US GAAP, including how those treatments are applied through finance processes and systems
• Own the auditor relationship and statutory reporting across all jurisdictions; sign off statutory accounts and run audits to a clean and timely close
• Own tax compliance and tax accounting through external advisors; approve all returns and filings before submission
• Own the internal control framework across finance: controls design, segregation of duties, approval authorities, audit trails and remediation of control gaps
• Own financial systems and ERP governance, including configuration, dimensions, workflows, integrations, change control and data quality
• Ensure key finance processes are properly designed, documented, controlled and scalable, including revenue recognition, deferred revenue, payment plans, refunds, chargebacks, reconciliations, recurring journals and close activities
• Work with the Group Financial Accountant, developers, implementation partners and external advisors to improve finance processes and reduce unnecessary manual effort
• Ensure system-generated reports, imported journals and automated outputs are understood, reconciled, auditable and fit for management, statutory and investor reporting
• Build and scale the function as the Group expands internationally, balancing efficiency, control and practical execution