* Near East

Cluster of 9 Countries namely: Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Sudan & Yemen

Job Profile Summary:

Responsibilities include liaising with all areas of the business to complete the enterprise wide budgeting and forecasting processes (ABU/RBU); preparation of consolidated management reporting and analyses for regional Senior Management; reporting of total regional ABU/RBU forecasts to both regional Senior Management and to the AZ Group, and maintenance of the data collection and analysis tools within the Financial Planning and Reporting area.

Key areas of responsibility:

Financial Planning Cycles

• Manage efficiency and quality of Cluster financial planning processes
• Plan and drive the financial planning processes to deliver consistent, ambitious and reliable plans, in collaboration with the Business Units/Brand Leads and presentation to the SMT
• Lead cluster RBUs/LRP/Phased Budget preparation and submission and ensure P&L and underlying sales and expense detail are accurate. 
• Design and guide preparation of robust annual budgets and monthly forecasts to set challenging, but at the same time realistic goals for the commercial teams
• Responsible for ensuring financial and management data collection tools operate effectively and efficiently to support the budgeting and forecasting process.
• Partner with key stakeholders to deliver consistent, ambitious and reliable plans.
• Ensure timely and completeness of financial Systems submissions as requested by MEA

Financial Analysis

• Support Senior Management Team  in their delivery of business results by having a deep understanding of strategy and anticipating the needs of both operations and management.
• Responsible for preparing in depth financial and business performance analyses of budgets, forecasts and actual results for review by Senior Management.
• Responsible for obtaining a solid understanding of key business drivers, risk factors and industry trends.
• Monitoring of the Ex-Factory and Demand performance in the markets.
• Provide forward looking and ad-hoc financial analysis to address risks and opportunities.
• Ensure continuous assessment of Risks & Opportunities and proactively communicate them in SLT meetings or ad-hoc, considering the external environment
• Analyzing trends in revenue, expense, and other related areas and investigate reasons for variances

Financial Reporting

• Liaise with the business partners to ensure the financial reporting systems operate properly and key financial reports are accurate.
• Identifies and implements continuous improvement opportunities to the planning and monthly reporting processes.
• Performs ad-hoc reporting requirements and financial analysis.
• Preparation of the mid-month sales forecast, in collaboration with Operations Team and Country Directors.
• Close collaboration with GFS Team, providing guidance for all reporting and planning requirements
• Prepare standard report templates, organize consolidation & distribution of financial information for functions, provide financial input and prepare presentation for senior management
• Monthly and quarterly monitoring and assessment of organization’s actual performance (revenues, SCC and expenses) against budget

Budgetary Control

• Establish and manage cluster financial control processes, including quarterly and annual financial planning, goal setting, and target monitoring as well as financial budgetary controls
• Report achievements through targets, follow-up of defined action items upon monthly/ad-hoc reviews
• Track expenses and revenues vs. budget and analyze fluctuations
• Follow up with financial liaisons (external and internal) and budget holders in order to understand the reasons for deviations from budget and forecast particularly core expenses and provide corrective recommendations
• Manages spend in partnership with budget owners focusing on headcount, operating expense budgets, forecasting and spending targets
• Track commercial spend budget per product against budget to ensure that annual targets are not exceeded

Commercial Support

• Support commercial teams in strategic activities/business cases, such as New launches,  and ad-hoc business cases (i.e. margin improvement)
• Tender Business evaluation and quotation across all Near East Countries
• Contributing to the completion of Business Cases for new investment requests, providing input, scenario modelling and critical feedback on financial projections
• Monitoring Stock levels, DSO and Overdues to deliver company’s targets
• Conduct product profitability analysis and provide recommendations to improve profitability
• Interaction with Operations and commercial Teams regarding Commercial Rebates
• Commercial Rebates Accrual preparation and reconciliation on a monthly basis

Support MEA Recurring / Ad-hoc Requests

• Ensure ad hoc requests regarding the FP&A are carried out with quality and on timely basis
• Perform ad-hoc reporting requirements and financial analysis.
• Prepare financial analysis for special projects and “what if” scenarios using financial techniques.
• Support financial analysis and modelling for regional business development projects and growth initiatives

Minimum Criteria, Competencies & Personal Attributes:

• Bachelor Degree in Finance or Accounting
• Knowledge of regional operating model
• Excellent PC skills and experience including SAP, BW, Excel and PowerPoint
• Strong analytical skills
• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, including oral and written
• Demonstrated ability to perform in an environment that emphasizes teamwork
• Demonstrated ability to lead a process with minimal or no supervision
• Ability to influence others without authority
• Demonstrated capacity to effectively manage multiple and frequently changing priorities
• High degree of accuracy with attention to details
• Demonstrated ability to meet strict deadlines
• Experience in Multinational Companies is a must – Pharmaceutical Industry, Medical Devices or FMCG Experience is desirable
• MBA or CPA is a plus

Application Process:

• Apply through workday on or before November 5th, 2020 enclosing an up-to-date CV.

Next Steps and Selection Approach:

• Short listed individuals will be contacted and asked to attend an interview within one week from deadline. The recruitment process is likely to involve interviews and personal/psychometric analysis if necessary.
• Only candidates meeting the minimum job requirements as outlined above will be interviewed.

Kindly abide to due date and best of luck to you all.

Date Posted

Closing Date

AstraZeneca embraces diversity and equality of opportunity.  We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse team representing all backgrounds, with as wide a range of perspectives as possible, and harnessing industry-leading skills.  We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be.  We welcome and consider applications to join our team from all qualified candidates, regardless of their characteristics.  We comply with all applicable laws and regulations on non-discrimination in employment (and recruitment), as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements.