Transactional Finance Analyst
Cawood is the largest independent provider of analytical laboratory testing and sampling services for the land-based industries in the UK. With 15 sites around the country specialising in different types of analysis, we are always looking for skilled and talented individuals to join our teams. This is an exciting time to join Cawood.
The business is growing and there are plenty of opportunities for people who want to work hard, have fun and be part of our success. Job Description: Location: Remote within the South East - Travel to Bracknell and Maidenhead required. The Transactional Finance Analyst is responsible for delivering high‑quality end‑to‑end transactional finance support across Accounts Receivable (main activity), Billing (main activity) Accounts Payable (cover).
The role ensures accurate and timely processing of financial transactions, strong control of customer and supplier accounts, and effective cash‑flow management. This position involves monitoring customer balances, supporting credit assessments, and executing collection activities to reduce overdue debt and improve overall working capital.
On the Accounts Payable side, the role ensures timely and accurate processing of supplier invoices, payment runs, and account reconciliations in line with company policies. The analyst will also support the full billing cycle, including invoice creation, customer/vendor onboarding, and cash allocation, ensuring data accuracy and a smooth flow of financial information across the business.
Strong collaboration with internal and external stakeholders is essential to maintain service quality, resolve queries, and uphold best‑practice financial controls.
JOB ACCOUNTABILITIES Transactional Finance Analyst Responsibilities Accounts Receivable, Credit Assessment & Customer Management Review customer accounts and financial information to support credit assessments and recommend appropriate credit limits in line with the Delegation of Authority (DOA). Monitor customer performance, payment behaviour, and account activity to identify when credit reviews or updates are required.
Compare customer sales trends, forecasts, and payment terms to support decisions on credit terms and account risk. Provide input into credit approvals, highlighting risks and recommending actions even where information may be incomplete. Support the customer onboarding process by ensuring accurate setup, verification of financial details, and alignment with internal credit policies.
Credit Control & Collections Prepare and issue Statements of Account (SOAs) and aged debtor reports accurately and on schedule. Monitor outstanding balances, identify overdue accounts, and carry out follow‑up actions to reduce aged debt and improve cash flow. Investigate and resolve payment discrepancies, short payments, and customer queries in a timely and professional manner.
Perform monthly reconciliations of aged debtors, highlighting risks, potential bad debt, and required provisions. Conduct weekly and monthly debtor reviews, ensuring actions are tracked and completed. Support the implementation of collection strategies and local credit control policies to maximise recoveries. Meet cash collection and debtor‑day targets set by the Finance Director and Credit Manager.
Escalate unresolved or high‑risk cases to management or external partners (e.g., collection agencies or legal teams) when appropriate. Prepare regular reports on ageing, credit exposure, and collection performance for internal stakeholders. Billing, Cash Allocation & Transaction Processing Process customer receipts, including cash, card, and bank payments, ensuring accurate and timely allocation to customer accounts.
Support the billing cycle by ensuring invoices are raised accurately, promptly, and in line with contractual terms. Perform customer account reconciliations to maintain clean ledgers and support accurate reporting. Monitor and manage the shared customer inbox, ensuring all queries are reviewed, prioritised, and responded to promptly.
Accounts Payable Prepare and support weekly payment runs, ensuring suppliers are paid according to agreed terms and cash‑flow priorities. Collaborate with Procurement, Operations, and Finance teams to resolve invoice issues, improve processes, and maintain strong supplier relationships.
CORE COMPETENCIES Essential Skills Advanced Excel capability, including PIVOT TABLES, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, SUMIFS, conditional formatting, data validation, and large‑dataset analysis to support accurate financial reporting and decision‑making.
Strong accounting knowledge, enabling confident interpretation of customer and supplier financial data, ledger movements, reconciliations, accruals, prepayments, and the financial impact of transactional activities. Proficient user of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, able to independently navigate modules across AR, AP, Billing, and Credit Control, extract data, troubleshoot issues, and support month‑end close.
Familiar with document‑management and workflow systems, supporting invoice approvals, digital archiving, and audit‑ready record keeping. Comfortable working with large volumes of transactions, maintaining accuracy, speed, and attention to detail under time pressure. Advance Skills Experience with bank reconciliation tools, ensuring accurate matching of transactions, identification of discrepancies, and timely resolution of variances.
Competent in financial reporting tools, including exporting, transforming, and presenting data for management reviews, aged analysis, and KPI tracking. Strong understanding of end‑to‑end transactional finance workflows, enabling effective cross‑functional support and process optimisation across AR, AP, and Billing.
Skilled in data accuracy and master‑data management, ensuring clean customer and supplier records, correct coding, and compliance with internal controls. Ability to identify process inefficiencies, propose improvements, and support automation or standardisation initiatives within transactional finance.
Problem‑Solving & Process Improvement Confidently identify and resolve both routine and complex transactional or credit‑related issues using sound judgement and a structured approach. Apply established procedures and analytical thinking to select effective solutions and prevent recurrence of issues. Ensure full resolution of queries before closure, maintaining clear documentation and follow‑through.
Leverage technology and financial systems to streamline workflows, improve accuracy, and enhance overall efficiency. Strong team player with clear, professional communication skills, able to collaborate effectively across departments. Highly organised with the ability to manage multiple priorities while maintaining exceptional accuracy and attention to detail.
Customer‑focused mindset, balancing service quality with robust financial controls and problem‑solving capability. Positive, adaptable, and able to work independently or as part of a team in a fast‑paced, high‑volume environment. Proactive approach to workload management, anticipating issues and taking initiative to keep processes running smoothly.
Strong analytical skills with a meticulous eye for detail, ensuring data integrity and high‑quality outputs. Cawood is the UK’s leading scientific group, recognised for its technical capability and value-added service to customers. We provide laboratory analysis to the agriculture, food and environmental sectors, as well as contract research to GLP standards to support the development of agrochemicals, biocides and other chemicals.
Our field services team offers measurement and monitoring for water, construction and ecology across the UK. Cawood is the largest independent provider of analytical laboratory testing and sampling services for the land-based industries in the UK. With 15 sites around the country specialising in different types of analysis, we are always looking for skilled and talented individuals to join our teams.
Our values of PRIDE underpin our approach: Partnership, Responsiveness, Innovation, Decency and Expertise. You can read about our values and how they make a difference to our people and our customers here. Our people make Cawood what it is. No matter how technically advanced and sophisticated our equipment, it is our people who keep our customers satisfied.
Accuracy across a high number of tests and continually looking for ways to innovate and improve are key to our future. This is an exciting time to join Cawood. The business is growing and there are plenty of opportunities for people who want to work hard, have fun and be part of our success. We spend a lot of our lives at work, so it’s important to us to make Cawood a place our people enjoy working.
Cawood is a flexible employer, offering flextime, overtime and time off in lieu to help colleagues manage their work in a way that suits them as well as the business. We believe in working together to find the best outcome for all and we foster a culture of friendliness and family within our teams. Why do people enjoy working at Cawood?
Here’s what our colleagues say: “The people we work with are fun and supportive, even during the more difficult days” “The flexibility that is offered, especially when you have worked in other laboratory environments” “The GOAL, the growth plans and opportunities for development in a range of skills” “The new leadership team and their ambition to invest in people” This year’s People Plan builds upon this fun, flexible and family feel to make Cawood one of the best places to work.
Russell Vaughan Russell joined Cawood shortly after leaving university in our Mambo-Tox laboratory and has worked on the majority of our studies, from basic lab experiments to full-sized field studies. He has been integral to new method development over his many years with the company, and is a key contributor to our reputation for clear, accurate reporting that can go straight into a dossier.
After taking time out to complete his PhD in plant molecular biology, he returned to the business in 2005 and now leads our team of study directors at Mambo-Tox. Russell enjoys working at Cawood because of our excellent team of people and our mission to support agriculture in meeting the needs of society whilst reducing its environmental impact.
Sean Stevenson Sean joined Cawood as a biochemistry graduate to work in the NRM soil analysis laboratory. Over the last 19 years he has worked his way up through sales and business development roles and is now Divisional Managing Director for Cawood Agriculture. Sean is responsible for creating commercial strategies which support and accelerate our growth.
Having worked at all the different levels in the company, Sean is a firm believer in making the business a place where people can thrive. At the heart of Cawood is NRM, the UK’s leading agricultural laboratory, founded in 1990. The Cawood group was formed in 2006 with the acquisition of the animal feed testing business, Sciantec.
Since then, we have grown rapidly through our strong relationships with customers, our ongoing investment in people and equipment, and the acquisition of businesses that complement or expand our services. This development has allowed us to increase our range of services and extend our reach into global markets.
In 2021, Cawood was acquired by US corporation Ensign-Bickford Industries (EBI), becoming a member of its Agriculture and Environmental Diagnostics Group. Watch the video below to learn more about EBI.
