Mark Lowe

 

Professional Summary:     Fellow Member of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants (FCCA)

Commercially focused with experience in various sectors, specialising in social housing, and gambling and leisure. Confident ‘people person' with the ability to build and motivate successful teams. Highly IT literate, with considerable experience of Microsoft Office (Excel power user), together with a wide variety of accounting and budgeting software packages.

  

Professional Experience:    

January 2010 - Present

Group Financial Accountant, Arena Housing Group

 

February 2009 - December 2009

Project Accountant - Interim, with Arena Housing Group, a Liverpool-based Registered Provider of social housing, managing in excess of 14,000 properties across Merseyside, the North-West and Yorkshire.

Projects included:
• Treasury-related projects including full review of loan covenant compliance, preparation of annual matrix to ensure continued compliance can be monitored and reported to Board, compilation of comprehensive masterfile for all Group loan facilities, constructed central covenant compliance model for executive ‘dashboard' reporting;
• Preparation of year end consolidated and subsidiary financial statements, incorporating change of accounting policies following adoption of SORP 2008;
• Drafted template for Group Operating and Financial Review section of annual financial statements;
• Establishment and verification of non-property Fixed Asset register;
• Review of subsidiary companies' accounting policies with recommendations for alignment across the Group;
• Review and refinement of Financial Standing Orders and other internal policy documents;
• Prepared and implemented Financial Regulations for joint venture social enterprise;
• Establishment of regular cash flow reporting system for charitable subsidiary;
• Finance representative on a number of subsidiary Boards

 

January 2008 - January 2009 (Fixed Term Contract)
Corporate Projects Manager with The Riverside Group, Liverpool, one of the largest Registered Providers of social housing in the UK, established for over 80 years and voted "Social Landlord of the Year" 2008 and 2009 in the Housing Excellence Awards.

Projects included:
• Establishing Finance support function for 100% owned subsidiary following administration of former Joint Venture partner (including Treasury management, daily cash monitoring, weekly cash flow forecasting, monthly management reporting, year-end financial statements, VAT compliance, sales and purchase ledger, credit control) and essentially undertaking role of FD;
• Preparation of financial statements for 14 subsidiary companies, including charitable trusts, Industrial & Provident Societies and Limited Companies, with considerable liaison with external auditors and non-Finance functions;
• Development of finance-specific policies and procedures regarding capitalisation of expenditure, reconciliation methods and documentation, and guidance notes regarding the ongoing maintenance of the independent housing land and building fixed assets register;
• Assistance with major balance sheet reconciliations project for the English Churches Housing Group.

 

May 2007 - January 2008
Group Financial Controller with Sure Maintenance, Liverpool

• Responsible for all aspects of Finance function (sales & purchase ledger, credit control, payroll, management reporting, statutory accounts)
• Supervision of team of 9 staff (including regular appraisals, objectives setting and review, personal development planning etc)
• Monthly Management Accounts from Trial Balance including profit and loss account, balance sheet and full expenses analysis
• Responsibility for Fleet Administration function (c120 vans and cars)
• All taxation matters (VAT, PAYE / NI, Construction Industry Scheme)

 

June 2006 - May 2007
UK Financial Controller with 32Red Plc, Liverpool
Achievements

• Established full UK Finance function following acquisition of business unit, including recruitment of staff, implementation of accounting software system (Sage Line 50 (Financial Controller)), and outsourced payroll function for c120 employees
• Developed set of KPI reports for daily and weekly management support
• Developed proposal for improving business profitability by transferring the operation offshore

Responsibilities

• Daily and weekly trading KPI reporting
• Monthly Management accounts (profit and loss and balance sheet from trial balance)
• Control of UK annual budget process
• Accounts Payable for c220 active supplier accounts
• Management of operational banking relationship
• Supervision of two staff members (one qualified CIMA, one AAT), including regular appraisals, objectives setting and review, personal development, etc
• Payroll administration for over 90 employees
• Administration of Group Stakeholder Pension scheme and Group Personal Healthcare scheme

 

August 2004 - June 2006
Finance Manager - Sports Betting & Casinos divisions with Sportech Plc (Littlewoods Gaming), Liverpool

Responsibilities

• Production of all financial and management information (P&L reports, variance analysis, monthly corporate commentaries, weekly business summary performance reports, development and review of KPI reporting, budget preparation, investment appraisals, marketing campaign reviews, etc) for two major business units
• Sole Finance representative at monthly Business Unit Executive meetings
• Manager of one part-qualified assistant accountant
• Deputising for Head of Financial Planning when absent

 

December 2002 - August 2004
Alliance & Leicester Commercial Finance Plc, Manchester

Project Role - Oracle Financials implementation

• Temporarily moved out of the management accounts/information section to work full time on a project to migrate the general ledger package to the widely-known Oracle GL package
• Day to day project administration (e.g. organising and chairing meetings, maintaining project plans, issues and risks logs, etc)
• Overseeing the complete redraft of the ALCF chart of accounts
• Liaising with both A&L group finance and A&L group IT to ensure the project keeps progressing;
• Co-ordinating the various functional managers within ALCF finance
• Responsibility for reviewing current ALCF business processes with a view to re-engineering where possible
• Reviewing and developing the reporting requirements for finance for 'Day One' and beyond
• Ensuring all parties are kept fully up to date with any project developments

Management Information Manager

Achievements

• Reduced month end internal reporting timescale through a blend of system improvements and changes to operational processing
• Introduced a new monthly ‘Management Information Report' containing all aspects of management information as a ‘one stop shop' source for financial and non-financial business information
• Introduced month end monitoring process to ensure all relevant parties aware of procedural requirements, and progress towards the completion of the month end reporting cycle
• Met all required month end deadlines consistently where, previously, deadlines were met infrequently
• Implemented ‘Group' directive regarding Performance Management standards

Responsibilities

• Production of timely, accurate management information (profit and loss reports, variance analysis, product profitability reviews, etc) on a regular basis for a number of operating divisions
• Supervision of five part-qualified accountants
• Reconciliation of several high profile balance sheet accounts on a timely and accurate basis
• Independent member of the Commercial Bank Credit Committee
 

July 2000 - November 2002
Management Accountant with Stanley Casinos (major operating division of Stanley Leisure plc), Liverpool

Achievements
• Established full Management Accounts function from ‘greenfield' situation
• Provided enhanced non-financial information (HR / Premises / IT / Operations) and reporting in a rapidly changing business environment
• Introduced revenue and expenditure review processes in conjunction with the Operations Director
• Development and implementation of weekly Management reporting for individual casinos focusing on operational Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
• Managed revision programme of annual budgeting process to provide additional responsibility for Casino and Regional management teams
• Implemented programme of rolling profit and loss forecasts
• Transferred operational reporting function from London to Liverpool resulting in cost savings and improved efficiency
• Developed databases to analyse and monitor market share for both ongoing Operational monitoring, and development and evaluation of Marketing strategies

Responsibilities
• Supervision of five part-qualified accountants
• Production of Daily and Weekly revenue reports for 35 casinos
• Casino-specific weekly Management reports covering a range of KPIs
• Co-ordinate Annual Budget Process for Gaming Division
• Administration and development of SUN accounting system
• Administration and development of Cognos budgeting and forecasting software
• Preparation of monthly Board Reports
• Post-completion audit of major capital expenditure projects
• Deputising for Finance Director when absent

 

EARLY CAREER:

March 1999 - July 2000
Systems Accountant, Royal & Sun Alliance Property Services, Liverpool

June 1997 - February 1999
Senior Assistant, General Ledger, Royal & Sun Alliance Property Services, Liverpool

January 1996 - June 1997
Management Accountant / Local Area Network Administrator, Ro-Pax Limited, Ormskirk

November 1989 - December 1995
Various roles within Head Office Finance Function, North British Housing Association, Preston

 

 

 

Professional Education and Development: 

• Chartered Certified Accountant (FCCA)
• ACCA Professional Ethics module completed 2009
• ACCA Certificate in International Financial Reporting (Cert IFR) (Currently studying)

 

Interests:    Country walking, cycling, swimming, keeping fit generally, watching football, reading, cooking and listening to a wide variety of music.

 

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