Chris Stencoane
Welwyn Garden City,Hertfordshire
Summary
As Financial Accountant I am responsible of reviewing and validating property invoices, ensuring accurate monthly or quarterly property payments and statement reconciliation. Flexible and adaptable for responsive accounts assistance in changing environments.
As head of Accounts payable I have assisted and offered guidance to Spanish Head Quarters in developing local projects as: digitalising scanning of invoices, digitalising travel expenses, improve supplier payments that helped reduce payment processing time, created templates to ensure faster and more accurate coding of invoices. Navigated the team through constant changes, from new software implementations, merger of brands both in UK and Irish markets. Improved accuracy and reduced time of invoice approval using excel spreadsheets.
Overview
14
14
years of professional experience
Work History
Senior financial accountant
ITX UK LTD
London, Middlesex
08.2023 - Current
- Aug 2023 – Dec 2024: Continued responsibilities from previous role while supporting additional tasks in a transitional phase.
- Jan 2025 – Present:
- Maintained and managed the Fixed Asset Register in SAP, ensuring accurate recording, classification, and tagging of assets in accordance with company policies and accounting standards;
- Executed monthly and annual depreciation runs in SAP, verifying calculations and ensuring alignment with IFRS/local GAAP requirements;
- Processed asset acquisitions, transfers, adjustments, and retirements, maintaining data integrity throughout the asset lifecycle;
- Managed end-to-end VAT control and declaration processes for the Irish market, ensuring compliance with Irish Revenue guidelines and EU VAT directives;
- Prepared and submitted accurate VAT returns (VAT3), EC Sales Lists (ESL), and Intrastat declarations within statutory deadlines ROS (Revenue Online Service);
- Managed intercompany group recharges, ensuring accurate allocation of shared costs (e.g., IT services, management fees, overheads) in accordance with group transfer pricing policies;
- Posted necessary adjusting journal entries in SAP based on reconciliation findings (e.g., bank charges, interest income, correction of mispostings). Performed daily, weekly, and monthly bank reconciliations, investigating and resolving unreconciled items such as unidentified receipts, bank fees, returned payments, and timing differences;
- Managed daily cash flow forecasting and reporting, tracking incoming and outgoing funds across multiple bank accounts to ensure sufficient liquidity and optimize working capital;
- Managed payroll-related accounting, including monthly PAYE postings and straight-lining of year-end bonus accruals, ensuring accurate expense recognition and compliance with tax and financial reporting standards;
- Performed detailed monthly P&L reviews, identifying variances and ensuring accurate accrual postings for key expense categories including IT licenses, server housing, funds transportation, PDQ rental, and security services, supporting accurate financial reporting and budget alignment.
Financial Accountant
Zara UK LTD
London, Middlesex
11.2022 - 07.2023
- Maintained service charge contracts in SAP Real Estate, ensuring accurate setup of payment amounts and frequencies.
- Processed monthly and quarterly payments for rent, variable rent, and service charges, in line with contract terms.
- Managed real estate supplier queries, performed statement reconciliations, and ensured timely resolution of discrepancies.
- Validated and submitted for booking balancing service charge and insurance applications, ensuring correct allocation and payment.
- Performed P&L reviews and analysed related accruals to support accurate expense recognition.
- Conducted balance sheet reconciliations to ensure completeness and accuracy of real estate-related accounts.
- Supported year-end audit processes by preparing documentation, explaining balances, and addressing auditor queries related to real estate transactions.
- Managed annual prepayments for business rates, ensuring correct monthly amortization of expenses by releasing prepayment amounts to the P&L on a straight-line basis in line with accounting standards.
Head of Accounts Payable
Zara UK LTD
London, Middlesex
08.2021 - 10.2022
- Led the externalisation of the Accounts Payable (AP) function, working closely with the Spanish Head Office to optimize AP processes and deliver extensive training to the outsourcing partner.
- Oversaw the end-to-end AP workflow, including invoice receipt, upload to accounting software, distribution for approval, and final booking; handled supplier and internal department queries, and ensured timely invoice payments.
- Initially managed a team of 2 AP accountants, providing training, adapting to process changes, and ensuring deadlines were consistently met.
- Held weekly meetings with the external AP provider to monitor performance, address issues, ensure SLAs were met, and drive continuous improvement.
- Managed weekly customs duty declarations, reconciling data received from brokers with internal records and booking entries accordingly.
Senior Accounts Payable
Zara UK LTD
London, Middlesex
04.2018 - 07.2021
- Operated in a high-volume AP environment, processing over 2,500 invoices monthly and managing relationships with 500+ active suppliers.
- Administered the SFI-Invoices platform, overseeing user access, approval flows, and ensuring accurate invoice distribution to relevant purchasing centres.
- Demonstrated strong VAT knowledge, handling cross-border acquisitions for Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Great Britain, with a clear understanding of applicable rates and tax treatments.
- Applied solid working knowledge of CIS tax, coding and processing invoices for GOA Invest SA (Inditex group) related to building renovations and upgrades.
- Supported supplier payment process improvements, identifying bottlenecks and proposing workflow enhancements.
- Acted as local administrator for the Concur travel expense system, resolving employee queries and ensuring policy compliance.
- Processed customer compensation payments and managed the booking of rent and service charge invoices via SAP Real Estate.
- Prepared fixed asset bookings using SAP Fixed Assets, ensuring accurate classification and capitalization.
- Handled intercompany money transfers and resolved intercompany variances across UK, Irish, and Spanish (HQ) entities.
- Controlled and posted invoices from Spanish parent companies, ensuring correct treatment of group transactions.
- Reviewed monthly travel expense reports, verifying cost centre allocations and policy adherence.
- Compiled monthly KPI reports, tracking invoice duplication, payment status, and processing efficiency.
- Provided cover for purchases and sales accounting during team absences, demonstrating flexibility and cross-functional knowledge.
Purchase Accountant
Zara UK LTD
London, Middlesex
10.2016 - 04.2018
- Balanced monthly general ledger accounts, ensuring accurate recording of costs and month-end accruals.
- Coded and entered 50+ invoices daily into in-house accounting software for both UK and Ireland entities, maintaining high levels of accuracy and efficiency.
- Processed multi-currency invoices and managed transactions with foreign suppliers, applying correct VAT treatments across jurisdictions.
- Reconciled supplier accounts with payment records, ensuring accurate allocation and resolving discrepancies.
- Prepared monthly Intrastat reports based on goods received from EU countries, ensuring timely and accurate submission.
- Maintained strong supplier relationships through prompt communication, regular statement reconciliations, and sending remittances.
- Accurately booked prepayments for standing orders related to rent and service charge on store premises.
- Processed bi-monthly supplier payments for both UK and Irish companies, ensuring timely settlements and cash flow alignment.
Sales Assistant
Zara UK LTD
London, Middlesex
11.2015 - 10.2016
- Ascertain customers needs and wants;
- Recommend and display items that match customer needs.
Insurance Inspector
Vector Broker de Asigurari
Hunedoara, Hunedoara
01.2013 - 01.2015
- Sale of insurance products; coordination of Insurance agent structure.
Financial Advisor
Raiffeisen Bank
Timisoara, Timis
01.2013 - 06.2013
- Sale bank loans and credit cards; managing customer contracts; customer consulting.
Insurance Inspector
Safety Broker
Hunedoara, Hunedoara
01.2012 - 01.2013
- Sale of insurance products; coordination of Insurance agent structure.
Intern
BCR Bank
Timisoara, Timis
01.2011 - 06.2011
- Participated at an internship at BCR(Commercial Bank of Romania) -Module 1 Internship.
- Main activities and responsibilities: real access to the labour market through a simulator.
Education
ACCA - Accounting
Kaplan Open Learning (University of Essex Online)
OnlineAAT Qualified
Babington Business Collage - London
LondonMaster Degree - Currency and Banking
Faculty Of Economics And Business Administration
Timisoara(Romania)2014
Bachelor of Business Administration - Finance and Banking
Faculty Of Economics And Business Administration
Timisoara(Romania) 2012
Skills
- Exceptional organisation;
- Good command of Office suite, advanced Microsoft Excel certificate at Media Training;
- Fast learner;
- Always willing to improve;
- Good command of Sage 50;
- Good command of SAP
Timeline
Senior financial accountant
ITX UK LTD
08.2023 - Current
Financial Accountant
Zara UK LTD
11.2022 - 07.2023
Head of Accounts Payable
Zara UK LTD
08.2021 - 10.2022
Senior Accounts Payable
Zara UK LTD
04.2018 - 07.2021
Purchase Accountant
Zara UK LTD
10.2016 - 04.2018
Sales Assistant
Zara UK LTD
11.2015 - 10.2016
Insurance Inspector
Vector Broker de Asigurari
01.2013 - 01.2015
Financial Advisor
Raiffeisen Bank
01.2013 - 06.2013
Insurance Inspector
Safety Broker
01.2012 - 01.2013
Intern
BCR Bank
01.2011 - 06.2011
ACCA - Accounting
Kaplan Open Learning (University of Essex Online)
AAT Qualified
Babington Business Collage - London
Master Degree - Currency and Banking
Faculty Of Economics And Business Administration
Bachelor of Business Administration - Finance and Banking
Faculty Of Economics And Business Administration
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