Sales Finance Business Partner

Role Purpose

Own channel-level commercial performance management and trade spend governance by (i) driving in-month sales performance, forecasting, and month-end bridging at channel view, (ii) owning end-to-end trade spend budget and master promo calendar, (iii) being accountable for promo accrual governance, and (iv) leading strategic initiatives and cost-to-serve (channel) methodology to support profitable growth.

Key Responsibilities

A. Sales Volume Performance, Forecasting & Closing Bridging (Channel)

• Lead in-month channel performance reviews (volume/mix/price/customer/channel drivers), identify gaps-to-target, and recommend commercial actions.
• Own forecast challenge & validation by channel (base/upside/downside), ensuring alignment with approved promo calendar and planned initiatives.
• Own month-end closing bridging: reconcile actual sales volume vs plan/forecast; quantify drivers (volume/mix/price/customer); refresh forward outlook and risks/opportunities.

B. Trade Spend Budget Ownership & Promotion Management (Channel)

• Own the single version of truth for approved trade spend budget and maintain master promo calendar (end-to-end), ensuring linkage across planning, accrual, and performance evaluation. (Internal improvement materials emphasize visibility by activities and alignment from budgeting to realization.)
• Partner with Sales/Trade and Product Category to review and validate promotion plans, ensuring financial feasibility and budget sufficiency.
• Own pricing & trade terms governance by channel (guardrails/standard terms framework and commercial rationale), and assess impact to channel performance and trade spend efficiency.

C. Promo Accrual Governance (Accountable) & Performance Monitoring

• Accountable for promo accrual governance: ensure accuracy, completeness, correct timing recognition, and adequate supporting documentation.
• Run mid-month true-up/down and month-end close process for promo accruals, ensuring alignment with latest execution and approved activities. (The improvement flow explicitly includes accrual, claim validation, and close accrual steps.)
• Monitor promo realization and evaluate ROI/effectiveness at channel level; recommend stop/extend/scale decisions and quantify financial impact.

D. Cost-to-Serve (Channel) Methodology & Strategic Initiatives

• Own cost-to-serve methodology at channel view (drivers, model assumptions, scenario analysis, target setting); translate outputs into actionable commercial levers.
• Lead financial assessment for strategic initiatives / new area entry: business case, required investment, operating model economics, and KPI design; hand over execution monitoring to O2C Governance role as required.

E. Continuous Improvement & Performance Tooling (Topic-dependent)

• Drive analytics automation and reporting standards for channel performance packs, trade spend visibility, promo planning and accrual tracking (workflow controls remain under O2C Governance for claim/AR/dispute).

4) Key Interfaces

• Sales (Channel Leads/KAM/Regional), Trade Marketing/Trade Team, Product Category, Supply/Planning (S&OP), Accounting, Tax (alignment), O2C Governance Manager.

5) Key Deliverables

• Weekly/monthly channel performance pack (volume/mix/price/customer drivers)
• Forecast validation pack and risk/opportunity register
• Month-end bridging deck (actual vs plan/forecast)
• Master promo calendar + trade spend budget governance pack
• Promo ROI evaluation and accrual governance tracker
• Cost-to-serve (channel) model and strategic initiative business cases

6) KPIs (Examples)

• Channel sales achievement vs target; forecast accuracy/bias; closing bridging timeliness & quality.
• Trade spend adherence vs budget; promo ROI; promo accrual accuracy and true-up discipline.
• Channel cost-to-serve vs target; initiative business case quality and post-launch KPI readiness.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance/Accounting/Economics or related fields.
• 5–7+ years in Commercial Finance/Sales Finance/Trade Spend management.
• Strong analytical skills, financial modelling, stakeholder influencing, and governance discipline.
• Proficient in Excel; ERP/BI exposure preferred