Interim Finance Manager (12‑Month Contract) / Knutsford / £55,000 - £60,000

Accountable Recruitment have exclusively partnered with our client who are a successful and growing privately owned business based in Knutsford. We are looking for an experienced Interim Finance Manager to support their finance function covering maternity leave. This role offers the opportunity to lead a small finance team, enhance financial insight across the organisation, and play a critical part in delivering high‑quality management information to senior leadership.

This is a hands‑on, commercially focused finance position requiring good technical capability, excellent communication skills, and the ability to bring clarity and structure to a growing multi‑division business.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, support, and mentor a small finance team to ensure high-quality output
• Allocate and review workload, ensuring efficient and accurate delivery of month‑end and weekly tasks.
• Management Accounts & Reporting - review monthly management accounts ensuring accuracy, completeness, and adherence to timelines.
• Oversee balance sheet reconciliations and maintain strong financial controls across all entities.
• Prepare and deliver the monthly management pack for senior leadership, including narrative commercial commentary and variance analysis.
• Commercial Analysis & Business Insight - Produce detailed commercial and divisional analysis, highlighting performance trends and actionable insights.
• Partner with division heads to provide financial support, challenge, and commercial analysis.
• Develop and track KPIs across each business unit to support decision-making.
• Support budgeting and forecasting cycles, ensuring assumptions are robust and aligned to business strategy.
• Audit & Year-End Support - act as the key finance contact for external auditors during the year‑end process. Coordinate audit deliverables, resolve queries promptly, and ensure a smooth and timely audit process.
• You will work closely with the Finance Director on an upcoming transaction, assisting with due diligence materials, and ad‑hoc insights required throughout the process.

Key skills

• Proven experience ideally working within a similar broad hands-on role for a growing SME business
• Hands‑on, proactive, and adaptable
• Experienced working within manufacturing or similar stock or project-based business, a similar sector is desired
• Strong background in management accounting, month‑end close, and financial reporting.
• Strong communicator with the ability to build relationships across non‑finance stakeholders.
• Demonstrable commercial awareness, with the ability to analyse divisional performance and present clear insights.
• Excellent Excel and data analysis skills.

Further Details

• Duration: 12 months
• Start: ASAP / within notice
• Working Pattern: Full time (flexible hours available)
• Location: Knutsford

To discuss this role in more detail please contact Lauren Harrison from Accountable Recruitment on 07731 356 287