General Manager – Finance

Industry: Food Manufacturing
Function: Finance & Accounts
Experience: 10+ Years
Location: Bangalore
Reporting To: CFO / Finance Director / Managing Director
Employment Type: Full-time

Position Summary

We are looking for an experienced and commercially oriented General Manager – Finance to lead the Finance & Accounts function of our food manufacturing business.

The role will be responsible for financial planning and control, plant and manufacturing finance, product costing, working capital management, budgeting, MIS, statutory compliance, internal controls, and business performance analysis.

The ideal candidate should have strong experience in a manufacturing environment, preferably in the food, FMCG, consumer products, or related industries, with the ability to work closely with Operations, Procurement, Sales, Supply Chain, and senior management.

Key Responsibilities

1. Financial Planning & Business Finance

• Lead the annual budgeting and business planning process.
• Prepare financial forecasts, business plans, and rolling forecasts.
• Monitor actual performance against budgets and provide variance analysis.
• Provide financial insights and recommendations to senior management.
• Support management in strategic business decisions through financial analysis.
• Develop and monitor key financial and operational KPIs.

2. Manufacturing & Plant Finance

• Oversee finance operations for manufacturing plants and production facilities.
• Monitor manufacturing costs, production variances, wastage, yield, and efficiency.
• Analyse material, labour, power, overhead, and conversion costs.
• Work closely with plant and operations teams to identify cost-reduction opportunities.
• Establish effective controls over production, consumption, wastage, and inventory.
• Analyse plant profitability and manufacturing performance.

3. Product Costing & Cost Control

• Develop and maintain accurate product costing models.
• Monitor raw material and packaging material cost movements.
• Analyse standard cost versus actual cost.
• Review BOMs, production yields, wastage, and process losses.
• Identify cost-saving opportunities across procurement and manufacturing.
• Support pricing decisions through contribution and margin analysis.
• Conduct profitability analysis by product, SKU, customer, and channel.

4. Working Capital & Cash Flow Management

• Manage working capital and optimise cash conversion cycles.
• Monitor receivables, payables, inventory, and cash flows.
• Develop and maintain short-term and long-term cash-flow forecasts.
• Drive improvement in debtor collection and inventory turnover.
• Ensure optimum working capital levels without affecting business operations.
• Liaise with banks and financial institutions for working capital requirements.

5. MIS & Management Reporting

• Ensure timely and accurate monthly financial closing and reporting.
• Prepare monthly MIS and management dashboards.
• Provide analysis of revenue, gross margin, EBITDA, costs, working capital, and profitability.
• Develop business performance reports for senior management.
• Highlight key risks, deviations, and corrective actions.
• Improve automation and efficiency of financial reporting processes.

6. Inventory & Supply Chain Finance

• Oversee financial controls relating to raw materials, packaging materials, finished goods, and consumables.
• Monitor inventory ageing, slow-moving and obsolete inventory.
• Analyse inventory levels and carrying costs.
• Work with Procurement and Supply Chain teams to optimise inventory.
• Participate in physical inventory verification and reconciliation.
• Establish appropriate controls to minimise inventory losses and wastage.

7. Accounts & Financial Control

• Oversee accounting operations including Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, General Ledger, and Treasury.
• Ensure timely month-end and year-end closing.
• Maintain robust financial controls and accounting processes.
• Review reconciliations, provisions, accruals, and balance-sheet schedules.
• Ensure accuracy and integrity of financial statements.
• Drive process improvements and strengthen internal controls.

8. Statutory & Regulatory Compliance

• Ensure compliance with applicable accounting, tax, and statutory requirements.
• Oversee GST, TDS, income tax, and other applicable statutory compliances.
• Coordinate with statutory auditors, internal auditors, tax consultants, and other external advisors.
• Ensure timely completion of statutory audits and financial reporting.
• Monitor changes in applicable financial and tax regulations and assess their business impact.

9. Internal Controls & Risk Management

• Establish, implement, and continuously improve financial control systems.
• Identify financial and operational risks and recommend mitigation measures.
• Ensure adherence to approval authorities and financial policies.
• Strengthen controls over procurement, inventory, sales, collections, payments, and expenses.
• Coordinate internal and external audits and ensure timely closure of audit observations.

10. Commercial Finance

• Work closely with Sales and Commercial teams on pricing and profitability.
• Analyse customer and channel profitability.
• Review trade discounts, schemes, incentives, and commercial arrangements.
• Evaluate new business opportunities from a financial perspective.
• Support negotiations with suppliers and customers where required.

11. Team Leadership

• Lead, mentor, and develop the Finance & Accounts team.
• Establish clear responsibilities, performance metrics, and review mechanisms.
• Build a strong culture of financial discipline and accountability.
• Ensure effective coordination between Finance, Operations, Procurement, Sales, and Supply Chain.

Key Deliverables / KPIs

• Budget versus actual performance
• EBITDA and gross-margin improvement
• Manufacturing cost reduction
• Product/SKU profitability
• Working capital and cash conversion cycle
• Inventory turnover and inventory ageing
• Receivables and collection efficiency
• Timely monthly financial closing
• Accuracy and timeliness of MIS
• Statutory compliance
• Audit closure and control effectiveness
• Cash-flow optimisation
• Finance-process automation and efficiency

Required Qualifications

• CA / CMA preferred.
• MBA / PGDM in Finance from a reputed institution would be an advantage.
• Bachelor’s degree in Commerce, Finance, or Accounting.
• Strong working knowledge of accounting, taxation, financial planning, costing, and financial controls.

Experience

• 10+ years of relevant experience in Finance & Accounts.
• Strong experience in a manufacturing environment is essential.
• Experience in Food Manufacturing / FMCG / Consumer Products will be preferred.
• Experience handling plant finance, product costing, inventory, working capital, and MIS is highly desirable.
• Prior experience managing a finance team is required.

Skills & Competencies

• Strong financial and commercial acumen.
• Excellent knowledge of manufacturing finance and costing.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Good understanding of working capital management.
• Strong command of Excel and financial modelling.
• Experience with ERP systems such as SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, Tally, or equivalent.
• Strong communication and stakeholder-management skills.
• Ability to work closely with non-finance functions.
• Strong leadership and people-management capabilities.
• High level of integrity, ownership, and attention to detail.
• Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.

Preferred Industry Experience

Candidates from the following industries may be considered:

• Food & Beverage Manufacturing
• FMCG
• Dairy
• Bakery
• Processed Foods
• Packaged Foods
• Beverages
• Confectionery
• Consumer Products
• Agro/Food Processing

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate will be a finance leader who combines strong accounting and financial-control expertise with commercial and manufacturing understanding.

The candidate should be capable of moving beyond traditional accounting and actively partnering with the business to improve profitability, cost efficiency, working capital, cash flow, and operational performance.