Retail Accountant

A bit about us 

Trek is an awesome place to work, with amazing benefits for all employees. We build only products we love, provide incredible hospitality to our customers, and change the world by getting more people on bikes. When you’re on our team, you’re taken care of, encouraged to learn and grow, and given lots of opportunities to do so. Give us your best, and we’ll give it right back. Sound pretty sweet? Then come join us!
 

Job Description

Role Purpose

We operate over 20 bike shops across 7 countries in Europe with more to come. Trek’s drive for excellence and our hospitality mindset put us in a unique position to set the gold standard for bike retail and ultimately get more people riding bikes! As our Retail function grows, we now need support from talented financial professionals to achieve our goal of first-class financial support and control, ensuring we are well-positioned to continue executing our ambitious expansion plans. We are looking for someone confident and capable of both managing the end-to-end bookkeeping and becoming a respected business advisor; this is a broad, challenging, and versatile role. Every day will be different, making this a perfect professional development opportunity to further develop business and technical knowledge.   

About the Company

We build only products we love, provide incredible hospitality to our customers, and change the world by getting more people on bikes.

Headquartered in Waterloo, Wisconsin, Trek Bicycle Corporation is a global leader in the design and manufacturing of bicycles and related products. From the original hand-built steel touring frames introduced in 1976 to the revolutionary OCLV Carbon first introduced in 1992, Trek’s passion for innovation, quality, and performance leads the industry with next-generation thinking and cutting-edge technology. Trek bikes have been used to climb mountains, cross streets and win cycling’s grandest event, the Tour de France.

Today, with a broad range of bicycles and cycling products under the Trek, Bontrager, Diamant and Electra brand names, Trek continues to pursue new ways to bring the joy of cycling to all people. Trek believes the bicycle can be a simple solution to many of the world’s most complex problems and is committed to breaking down the barriers that prevent people from using bicycles more often for transportation, recreation and inspiration. The company is growing rapidly with sales well in excess of USD1bn. The company is steered by the Founder’s son, John Burke. Trek bicycles are sold to thousands of bike shops around the world, a growing number of which we own and run ourselves in 90 countries worldwide.

Whilst global and undeniably a sizeable organisation, Trek remains family owned, and the culture reflects this. Some of the words to describe the unique and much-admired culture would be relaxed yet curious, committed (no clock watchers!), a ‘roll up your sleeves’ mind-set and a work hard, play hard at­titude. The Milton Keynes office is an open and well-designed space with an international feel as the team here interacts with retailers and customers all over Europe. We encourage employees to lead an active lifestyle with changing and shower facilities and, needless to say, ample space for storing your bike(s)! We want our employees to be moving around and having fun. If you cycle to work, you get paid in the form of credits to use for bike parts. Employees naturally connect with the product and lifestyle through lunch time bike rides most days.

Trek is about accountability with every colleague empowered & expected to make a difference. It is a lean organisation with few layers. We enjoy high autonomy levels and passion, backed up with facts and research, is encouraged. Employees who embrace our culture thrive and there are many examples in the UK and around the globe of people who have been in the business for twenty or more years. 

Key Accountabilities

Financial Control

• Responsible for performing all bookkeeping tasks for up to 10 Owned Retail stores across the UK and Europe
• Verify and enter sales, cost of goods sold, payments, and stock movement entries from EPOS
• Validate the accuracy of invoices, reconcile with goods received, enter and pay via Accounts Payable
• Posting of all monthly Profit & Loss journals, ensuring an accurate P&L position by the end of Working Day 2
• Maintain accurate accruals and prepayments
• Maintain accurate Fixed asset register
• Reconciliation of bank accounts and supplier balances
• Perform balance sheet reconciliations on time every month, ensuring all balances are well understood & documented, supporting a ‘no surprises’ culture
• Maintenance of VAT records and preparation of returns where applicable
• Support the annual budgeting and monthly re-forecasting process with analysis and insight
• Ensure systems are in place to monitor and support Financial Control in stores, acting swiftly when needed to maintain high standards
• Supporting Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) developments and process improvement projects

Business Support

• Deliver business information and other customized reports to your customers in a language they can understand
• Utilize the excellent tools and systems we have to ensure we understand our margin, facilitating actions in stores to achieve maximum sales & margin
• Understand & monitor the business KPIs, supporting the store teams in driving improvements
• Coordinate monthly P&L review meetings with all of your Store Managers
• Facilitate insightful monthly or quarterly meetings with ad-hoc analysis as required
• Aim to visit all of your stores at least once every three months; some travel is required.

Technical Requirements

• Proficient in Microsoft Office packages
• Experience with ERP systems such as Oracle, JD Edwards or SAP
• EPOS & Stock Control Exposure
• Experienced in international and intercompany invoicing
• Confident understanding of double-entry bookkeeping and European VAT rules or desire to learn fast
• Bookkeeping or Accounting qualification
• Minimum of two years of bookkeeping experience, preferably with a retail focus.

Personal Profile

• Bring energy and a drive for high standards to the role
• Capable of working both quickly and accurately, whilst staying focused
• No drama, roll up your sleeves approach
• Positive attitude
• Excellent attention to detail; tenacious and methodical
• Inquisitive; demonstrates a desire to understand and interact with the business outside of Finance
• Dedicated to continuous improvement; challenges existing thinking and has the confidence to make recommendations and drive projects forward
• Interest and enthusiasm for Retail & the leisure industry.

If you like wild growth and working with happy, enthusiastic over-achievers, you'll enjoy your career with us!