Luke Clarke
Leicestershire
Summary
Skilled professional specializing in stakeholder engagement and communication, with a proven track record of presenting financial performance to senior leaders and non-finance partners. Demonstrates leadership by fostering a collaborative, high-trust team environment. Currently enhancing skills in SQL for developing interactive Power BI dashboards, while leveraging advanced analytics to solve complex business challenges. Proficient in financial reporting and advanced Excel, creating visually engaging worksheets that support effective decision-making.
Overview
14
14
years of professional experience
Work history
Multiple Finance roles
RS Group
2023.03 - Current
Finance Manager (RS PRO (Private label) & Global Product & Supply Chain)
RS Group
2025.02 - 2026.07
- Own end-to-end financial reporting and forecasting for £400M+ in annual revenue across APAC, EMEA and Americas. Collaborating directly with regional CFOs to align with global financial strategy.
- Maintain complete P&L accountability—Controlling and reporting on Revenue, Gross margin, working capital/inventory controls (including formal inventory proposals), and Global overhead and labor cost base (Circa £22m).
- Track and presented key financial and operational KPI metrics to senior leaders, collaborating cross-functionally to uncover root causes behind variances and establish actionable plans to course correct performance. Ensuring alignment with business leaders to ensure clear consistent messaging.
- Partner closely with Data & insights, Inventory, Category Management, Sourcing, Marketing, and Engineering functions to evaluate key commercial drivers and optimize strategic decision-making.
- Create and deliver high-impact weekly and monthly performance reviews to RS PRO Senior Leadership Team, translating financial results into actionable operational strategies.
- Automated executive reporting by replacing manual, weekly PowerPoint decks with a daily updated Power BI dashboard integrated with Snowflake—enabling stakeholders to dynamically filter, slice, and drill into market and category performance
- Maintain and oversee global monthly Risks & Opportunities (R&O) register to mitigate financial exposure and capture emerging value drivers.
- Act as primary lead and key point of contact for external auditors across all RS PRO business activities, ensuring audit compliance and governance.
- Lead, mentor, and empower team of 4 finance professionals (3 Cost Accountants and 1 Junior Accountant), building high-performance culture and supporting their ongoing professional development.
- Lead financial governance for business-critical global transformation initiative. Support and challenge business on future funding requests as well as helping structure and build a process to record benefits realization
- Drive financial accountability by constructively challenging project budgets, schedules, and spend—ensuring investments deliver maximum commercial value and measurable ROI.
Business Partner (German DC and EMEA Facilities)
RS Group
2024.04 - 2025.02
- Partnered closely with General Manager of the German Distribution Centre (DC) to evaluate continuous improvement initiatives and optimise operational decision-making.
- Provided critical financial modelling and operational analysis for Bad Hersfeld site acquisition, projecting cost-structure changes while measuring savings driven by synergies and efficiencies.
- Oversaw regional facilities expenditure across EMEA, collaborating with market leads to maintain budget control and align site operations with broader corporate strategy.
- Managed EMEA capital expenditure tracking and reporting, enforcing strict financial controls and regulatory policy compliance across all physical assets.
- Led monthly management accounting and controlled quarterly re-forecasting process to deliver accurate financial visibility and proactive variance analysis.
- Successfully managed remote German finance team through proactive communication and structured performance management, supporting a culture of continuous learning and alignment with regional growth strategies.
Finance Business Partner (EMEA Freight)
RS Group
2023.03 - 2024.04
- Oversaw c. £70–80M in annual EMEA freight and packaging expenditure, driving rigorous cost management and variance analysis across multiple key markets.
- Partnered directly with the VP of Supply Chain Optimisation and senior leadership to align operational performance with long-term financial strategy and commercial goals.
- Designed and automated bespoke financial reporting models using OneStream and Excel, streamlining transport management metrics and enhancing reporting agility.
- Managed the quarterly re-forecasting cycle, actively challenged operational assumptions and cost drivers to uncover savings and maintain budget discipline.
- Assessed contractually linked fuel surcharge mechanisms to evaluate financial risk and optimise logistics cost forecasting
- Created and presented monthly financial performance decks to senior executives, delivering clear, actionable insights to guide decision-making.
Finance Business Partner
Bellrock Facilities Management
2021.06 - 2023.03
- Owned the management accounts and financial reporting for 11 distinct operational sites (including Schools, Hospitals, Police Depots, and HMRC facilities) down to Gross Margin level.
- Partnered directly with non-finance Site Managers and Regional Operational Directors to improve financial literacy, unpack key variance drivers and margin-improvement opportunities.
- Designed and deployed a new regional management reporting template that was adopted across the wider business as the corporate standard.
- Presented monthly financial results and performance insights across all organisational tiers, ranging from local Facilities Managers to the Head of FP&A and Managing Director.
- Reviewed and analysed multi-site contract terms to ensure full financial and operational compliance, safeguarding profitability and service-level commitments.
- Acted as the key finance contact for external clients. Leading discussions on commercial agreements, monthly billing, annual reconciliations and KPI deduction assessments.
- Led the end-to-end annual budgeting and quarterly forecasting processes across all managed contracts and facilities.
- Managed, coached, and upskilled a junior team member, actively supporting their professional development and progress toward their AAT qualification.
- The point of contract for external auditors in relation to the 11 operational sites
Location Accountant
Compass Group
Leicester
2020.03 - 2021.06
- Managed full-cycle accounting for three distinct entities, delivering weekly flash reports, comprehensive month-end packages, variance analysis, and balance sheet reconciliations.
- Presented monthly financial performance and key performance indicators (KPIs) in review meetings with internal leadership (Compass Group) and external executive clients (LCFC & Leicester Tigers).
- Served as the primary finance lead for the strategic mobilisation and financial setup of the new LCFC Training Ground.
- Partnered with non-financial operational managers to enhance financial literacy
- Role redundancy
Finance Manager
Furnley House Ltd
2019.03 - 2020.03
- Held complete, end-to-end responsibility for the company's finance function, governing all financial controls, statutory compliance, and reporting.
- Developed and distributed weekly rolling cash flow reports to company directors, providing clear visibility over liquidity and working capital.
- Managed and upskilled junior team members, providing continuous training and career coaching to help them achieve their professional development goals.
- Managed core operational finance functions, including the timely completion of statutory VAT returns and end-to-end company payroll administration.
Junior Accountant
Samworth Brothers Distribution
2016.03 - 2019.08
Assistant Accountant
FCTE Group Services
2014.09 - 2016.02
Bank Reconciliation
Dunelm
2012.11 - 2014.11
Education
Bachelor of Arts - Accounting and finance
Keele University
2009.01 - 01/2012
Wreake Valley Community College
2006.01 - 01/2008
Skills
- Stakeholder Engagement and communication: Confident in presenting financial performance to senior leaders and non-finance partners Skilled at delivering complex data to ensure maximum clarity, alignment, and usability for key decision-makers
- Leadership by Example: Leads with approachable, supportive style, driving team performance and promoting high-trust, collaborative working culture
- Continuous Improvement: Self-starter committed to skill expansion and process efficiency, currently starting to learn and build SQL queries to create interactive Power BI dashboards for investment reporting
- Workload Management & Agility: Highly organised with strong time-management discipline, remaining calm and decisive under pressure while balancing tight financial deadlines with the agility to navigate unexpected high-urgency demands
- Advanced Analytics & Problem Solving: Experienced in analysing large transactional datasets to resolve business challenges and uncover key operational drivers Use my initiative and problem solving skills to ensure I am digging into the correct impactful areas
- Financial Reporting & Advanced Excel: Advance-level Excel user, skilled at designing visually engaging worksheets and financial modelling to aid decision making Applies analytical initiative to interrogate data, focusing effort on critical operational drivers and high-impact business priorities
Timeline
Finance Manager (RS PRO (Private label) & Global Product & Supply Chain)
RS Group
2025.02 - 2026.07
Business Partner (German DC and EMEA Facilities)
RS Group
2024.04 - 2025.02
Multiple Finance roles
RS Group
2023.03 - Current
Finance Business Partner (EMEA Freight)
RS Group
2023.03 - 2024.04
Finance Business Partner
Bellrock Facilities Management
2021.06 - 2023.03
Location Accountant
Compass Group
2020.03 - 2021.06
Finance Manager
Furnley House Ltd
2019.03 - 2020.03
Junior Accountant
Samworth Brothers Distribution
2016.03 - 2019.08
Assistant Accountant
FCTE Group Services
2014.09 - 2016.02
Bank Reconciliation
Dunelm
2012.11 - 2014.11
Bachelor of Arts - Accounting and finance
Keele University
2009.01 - 01/2012
Wreake Valley Community College
2006.01 - 01/2008