The Associate Director - Finance Operational Excellence is responsible for leading the Finance Operational Excellence pillar across wholesale and retail business operations. This role translates the Group Finance Excellence direction into practical execution by driving finance process standardization, accounting discipline, control excellence, reporting quality, and performance insight to improve finance productivity, governance, and business decision support.
Responsibilities
Finance Operational Excellence Pillar Leadership
- Lead the Finance Operational Excellence pillar covering finance process excellence, accounting standards, financial controls, reporting quality, and performance insight for wholesale and retail operations.
- Translate Group Finance Excellence priorities into clear workplans, initiatives, ownership, and execution targets for the pillar.
- Coordinate Senior Managers and Department Managers under the pillar to ensure process, control, reporting, and insight workstreams are aligned and delivered as one team.
- Ensure Finance Operational Excellence initiatives improve productivity, control discipline, reporting reliability, and business support.
Process Standardization & Accounting Discipline
- Oversee standardization of key finance and accounting processes across wholesale and retail, including closing, reconciliation, approval workflow, transaction control, and reporting process.
- Ensure accounting policies, SOPs, RACI, process maps, and operating guidelines are consistently applied across business formats.
- Drive simplification of manual, duplicated, or fragmented finance activities to improve speed, accuracy, and accountability.
- Work with Finance Excellence & Accounting Standards team to ensure practical implementation of finance standards across operations.
Controls Excellence & Governance Execution
- Strengthen finance control practices across wholesale and retail operations by ensuring key control points are embedded into daily finance processes.
- Monitor recurring control issues, process gaps, audit findings, policy non-compliance, and operational risks.
- Drive corrective actions with Finance, Accounting, Business Units, Internal Control, Internal Audit, and Operations teams.
- Ensure process improvement initiatives remain compliant, well-controlled, and suitable for business operations.
Reporting Quality & Performance Insight Delivery
- Oversee the delivery quality of financial reporting and performance insight for wholesale and retail business areas.
- Ensure reports and insights are accurate, timely, consistent, and connected to key business drivers such as sales, margin, inventory, cost, working capital, productivity, and profitability.
- Work with Financial Intelligence & Reporting Strategy team to align KPI definitions, reporting standards, performance review cadence, and dashboard requirements.
- Ensure reporting outputs are translated into clear business issues, action points, and follow-up with relevant stakeholders.
Wholesale & Retail Business Partnership
- Act as the key Finance Operational Excellence partner for wholesale and retail business leaders.
- Understand operational differences between wholesale and retail and ensure finance process, controls, and reporting solutions are practical for each business model.
- Support business units in adopting standard finance processes, control practices, reports, templates, and performance routines.
- Facilitate cross-functional problem solving between Finance, Business Units, Operations, Accounting, IT/Data, and Transformation teams.
Execution Management & Capability Building
- Prioritize pillar initiatives, monitor progress, resolve execution issues, and escalate key risks or decision points to the Director - Group Finance Excellence & Corporate Finance.
- Track outcomes of Finance Operational Excellence initiatives, including process efficiency, control improvement, reporting quality, issue reduction, and business adoption.
- Coach and develop team members in process improvement, control mindset, reporting discipline, finance operations, and business partnering.
- Build a culture of ownership, execution discipline, standardization, continuous improvement, and practical business impact.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree or higher in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, Economics, or related fields; CPA, CPD, MBA, or relevant professional certification is preferred.
- 12+ years of experience in finance operations, accounting, FP&A, internal control, audit, shared service, finance excellence, or operational finance.
- Strong experience in wholesale, retail, consumer goods, distribution, store operations, or large-scale multi-site business is highly preferred.
- Strong knowledge of finance process management, accounting standards, internal control, reconciliation, closing, reporting governance, and business performance review.
- Proven experience leading finance process improvement, control enhancement, reporting improvement, or operational finance initiatives.
- Strong ability to manage teams and coordinate multiple stakeholders across Finance, Accounting, Business Units, Operations, IT/Data, Internal Control, and Internal Audit.
- Good understanding of wholesale and retail business drivers, including sales, margin, inventory, working capital, cost structure, productivity, and profitability.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, stakeholder management, communication, and change execution skills.
- Proficiency in ERP, BI/reporting tools, Excel, PowerPoint, workflow tools, or finance systems.
- Fluent in Thai and English with strong management presentation and business writing skills.
