FMCG
 
 
  

JAN 1986 TO JUN 1988
Senior Management Accountant, Glaxo SmithKline plc, London

Glaxo SmithKline (GSK) is one of the worlds foremost corporations with activities unevenly split between branded consumer products and pharmaceuticals. The company is a leading member of the FTSE-100 with an annual turnover of £18 Billion.

I worked for Beecham Bovril Brands (BBB), the division responsible for the food and drink brands, e.g. "Lucozade", "Ribena", "Horlicks", "Bovril" and "Ambrosia". BBB was formed as the result of two transactions - a merger and disposal - and operated widely dispersed manufacturing and distributive sites with the London office responsible for purchasing, finance, sales and marketing.

As Senior Management Accountant, my responsibilities included:-

  • Managing a department of six staff.
  • Standard costing and variance analysis.
  • Budgeting and forecasting.
  • Financial modelling for strategic plans, investment appraisals, new product evaluations, customer and channel profitability studies, warehousing and distribution studies, etc.
  • Marketing plan reviews.
  • Assisting sales teams during customer negotiations and reviews.
  • During the merger and disposal:-
  • Agreeing balance sheet valuations.
  • Reviewing and upgrading financial controls.
  • Integrating systems and staff.
  • Re-negotiating Service Level Agreements (SLA’s).
  • Supporting sales teams during customer re-negotiations.
Having joined GSK as Assistant Management Accountant, I was subsequently promoted twice during my first year with the company.

Personal Achievements:-

Developing an integrated database planning system using EDS software that allowed the parallel processing of forecasts, budgets and strategic plans.