Reporting to the Chief Financial Officer the Working Capital Manager role heads up a team of twenty-seven staff based across London, Cardiff and Belfast. The Working Capital Manager will be responsible for all aspects of the firm’s billing, e-billing and credit control including the overseas offices. The Working Capital Manager is supported by a Credit Control Manager, a Billing Manager and an e-billing Manager who have day to day responsibility for managing the teams. This role is heavily project based to drive the firm’s aspiration to become a Tech enabled law firm.
Key Responsibilities
* Taking responsibility for the firm’s Working Capital Management and driving forward initiatives to reduce the firm’s lock-up.This will include the end-to-end billing process and credit control process. This is currently a key area of focus in the firm.
* Ensuring the team establish strong working relationships with all partners through regular review meetings to ensure that focus is maintained on timely billing and debt collection in order to meet agreed targets and billing timetables.
* Chairing the firm’s Finance Committee, which meets monthly to review the firm’s exposure, set credit limits for clients, and review any process changes that impact working capital management.
* Member of the Data Governance Committee, which meets quarterly to review data across the firm concerning compliance and risk implications.
* Ensuring that regular billing patterns, and where possible monthly billing cycles, are established taking care that any special billing arrangements are observed.
* Ensuring use of the firm’s e-billing hub is maximised and e-billing polices are adhered to.
* Working with the firm’s external debt collection agency to collect problematic debt.
* Accepting responsibility and taking ownership of operational issues, finding practical solutions and escalating problems where appropriate. This will involve liaison with the finance systems team.
* Involvement in the firm’s quarterly reporting routines, including reporting progress against the firm’s strategic objectives and lock-up targets.
* Setting charge out rates including leading the annual review process and review of historic rates.
* All aspects of team management, including appraisals, recruitment and encouraging the team to develop within their roles, supported by the Credit Control Manager, Billing Manager and e-billing Manager.
The Working Capital Manager will also be involved in other projects as and when they arise.
Current projects include:
* Reviewing the firms billing workflow, this was rolled out to the firm in October 2021 and we have applied a cyclical change review process to ensure that maximum benefits are realised from the new system.
* E-Billing Hub review and system integration.
* Establishing alternative billing approaches for non-standard service items.
* Reviewing rate structures to achieve a consistent approach firm-wide.
* Enhancing and simplifying reports used for lock-up and broader financial management decisions.
Future Projects will include:
* Reviewing the use of Elite’s credit control module alongside alternative market solutions to optimise the credit control process.
* A review of the New Joiner training for Finance across Partners, Fee Earners and Business Services teams.
About you
You will have a professional manner, excellent communication and interpersonal skills, and have previous experience working within an office. You’ll have a flexible nature and will enjoy working within a fast-paced team, and will be highly organised. You’ll also possess strong numeracy and attention to detail skills, which will be key within this role. We are looking for someone who is passionate about being a team player, who is keen to support others.
The Working Capital Manager will be a professional, self-motivated and positive individual who is able to demonstrate:
* An ability to actively engage in the business, through strong verbal communication skills and a pro-active approach to identifying process improvements to ensure the needs of the partnership are met.
* Embracing innovation through automation and AI to future proof the business for improved efficiencies
* Pro-actively and constructively collaborating with colleagues to deliver strategic operational developments
* Ability to familiarise oneself with new areas quickly and effectively, getting up to speed with the requirements of the role in order to assist the team in continuing to deliver a high-quality service to the business.
* Track record of managing a team, including coaching and development aspects.
* Excellent organisational skills with a proven track record in forward planning and managing their own time to ensure deadlines for a wide variety of activities are met in a timely and effective manner.
* The ability to manage workload with colleagues based in other locations, communicating as needed to ensure successful team delivery on projects.
* An enthusiastic and flexible approach with a ‘can do’ attitude.
* Successful candidates should:
* Have strong IT skills, with an excellent working knowledge of MS Excel data extraction and analysis techniques and practice management systems.
At Lewis Silkin our ethos is simple. We strive to do the best for our clients, our people and the communities in which we operate. We recognise that an inclusive workplace allows for all kinds of ideas and thoughts, a variety of points of view that can trigger discussions or deliver innovative results, and a wide range of versatile skills and expertise. We are proud of the diversity within Lewis Silkin and of our culture that allows people to be themselves at work, ensuring we provide the best possible service to our clients. We are committed to supporting candidates throughout the recruitment process by supporting anyone who requires adjustments, in order to ensure they have the opportunity to perform at their best. All applicants will be considered equally and fairly. If you’d like to request any adjustments throughout the recruitment process, or would like to discuss flexible working patterns, please email the recruitment team in confidence (recruitment@lewissilkin.com).