Financial Controller for BLT, a niche recruiter in central London

About BLT

Beament Leslie Thomas are a leading niche, specialist recruitment company. They are widely recognised for their work in the following arenas: Indirect Tax, Management Consultancy and Interim Management.

The quality of their client base, a full range of blue chip multinationals financial service institutions, global profession firms, public sector bodies, boutique consultancies – is mirrored in the quality of the candidates that they represent as well as the quality of the BLT consultant who will work with you every step of the way.

Background

Established for over 20 years, the firm had developed a niche in the management consultancy sector supporting mainly blue chip clients. The management team consisted of the 3 hands-on founding directors and a part-time finance director and financial controller.

Although the current financial controller was totally able and competent they had recently been forced to take quite a lot of time off because of issues in their personal life. This culminated in their resignation, and immediate departure leaving a backlog on the finance department. A replacement was needed a soon a possible!

Following a meeting with one of the directors, we received the job description. It was a sole-charge hands-on role using Sage L50, doing everything from day-to-day bookkeeping and processing, managing cashflow, through to management and financial accounts. The client was open-minded as to the sort of person they required; for example they were open on sector and qualifications, however they had to be part-time and of course competent. Their focus would be on getting the job done and being able to communicate with and support the directors.

For us, the part-time and hands-on aspects would make it more of challenge to find the right person. Not all financial controllers are prepared to carry out basic input work and part-time Is not for everyone. However we were confident of finding our client the right person for the role.

Solution

Conscious of the backlog, we quickly put together a short-list of technically capable candidates, who were happy with the hands-on/processing aspect of the role. They could work on their own, were capable of producing management accounts and their circumstances suited part-time work.

Following a two-stage interview process with the client, a candidate who was a qualified chartered certified accountant and a portfolio career was selected.