Raj Garr
Summary
Results-driven finance professional specialising in finance business partnering and commercial finance modelling. Expertise in Board-level reporting, budgeting, forecasting, and FP&A, with strong skills in income performance analysis and investment appraisal. Experienced in leading transformation initiatives and improving process efficiency, while leveraging SAP and advanced Excel for strategic decision-making.
Overview
1
1
Certification
4
4
years of post-secondary education
26
26
years of professional experience
Work history
Senior Finance Business Partner
Seetec Business Technology Centre Ltd
Hockley, Essex
2012.05 - Current
- Support strategic initiatives through financial modelling, business case review, option appraisal and challenge of key assumptions, helping senior leaders assess affordability, risk, value for money and expected benefits.
- Partner with senior budget holders to interpret budgets, management accounts, KPIs and performance, providing insight, challenge and recommendations on cost control, profitability, financial accountability and operational decisions.
- Lead monthly finance reporting for group review, ensuring outputs are accurate, timely, well-controlled and decision-useful.
- Develop budgets, monitor performance, identify risks and opportunities, and explain variances clearly to finance and non-finance audiences.
- Provide group-level financial insight across multiple business areas at board level stakeholders, identifying cross-business risks, opportunities, income trends, cost pressures and performance themes to support joined-up decision-making.
- Supported new business opportunities by developing pricing assumptions, assessing financial implications, and modelling income and costs to inform operational requirements.
- Work with operational, systems and data colleagues to improve KPI visibility, reporting quality and translation of performance data into actionable commercial insight.
- Provided financial analysis on contract variations, extensions, and commercial negotiations, evaluating financial risk, pricing impact, and income implications to ensure operational feasibility.
- Built trusted stakeholder relationships by translating complex financial information into clear narratives for senior leaders and operational teams, enhancing understanding and decision-making.
- Support audit activity through robust records, evidence preparation and timely responses to audit queries.
- Managed team comprising Finance Business Partners, Management Accountants and account officers overseeing 34 contracts with total revenue value of £45m per annum.
Head of Finance and Central Office Manager
Newham Community Employment Project
London, England
2008.02 - 2012.05
- Managed financial control, fixed assets, supplier negotiations, payroll for 150 staff, and central office operations to ensure effective resource allocation.
- Led accounting services including P&L reporting, balance sheet management, cash flow forecasting, year-end accounts and statutory submissions.
- Delivered cost reduction initiatives while enhancing value-for-money and maintaining compliance with controls and stakeholder service standards.
- Ensured compliance with data protection, audit, funding, and organisational governance requirements across finance activities to uphold organisational integrity.
Management Accountant and Centre Manager
New Beginnings Training & Recruitment Consultancy Ltd
London, England
2000.03 - 2008.02
- Supported commercial growth across London by managing financial processes, tracking monthly income and monitoring performance against targets.
- Led strategic bid modelling for government contracts and extensions successful in securing £1.2m worth of contracts, shaping commercial decisions and sales strategies to drive performance and commercial growth.
- Managed contract reporting, delivering financial and operational reports to stakeholders to facilitate informed decision-making.
- Supervised 22 staff across 5 business sites, setting KPI targets and ensuring compliance, induction, risk management, and service delivery.
Education
BA (Hons) - Accounts and Finance
University of East London
London 1996.09 - 1999.06
Some College (No Degree) - ACCA
London School of Business & Finance
London 2014.01 - 2015.06
Skills
- Finance business partnering, commercial finance modelling, senior stakeholder challenge and Board-level reporting
- Budgeting, forecasting, FP&A, KPI reporting, cash flow forecasting and forward-looking financial planning
- Income performance analysis, income-driver insight, commercial pricing assumptions and revenue trend commentary
- Investment appraisal, business case review, scenario modelling, option appraisal and benefits tracking
- Month-end reporting, group management accounts, variance analysis, consolidation support and timetable discipline
- Value-for-money assessment, cost control, governance, financial controls, audit support and risk management
- Transformation support, continuous improvement, systems implementation, reporting quality and process efficiency
- Team leadership, coaching, delegation, performance review and development of finance colleagues
- SAP, Sage 200, Sage 50, Mercur, Datarails and advanced Excel modelling/reporting Other experience in using Power BI, Power Query, Salesforce and Hubspot
Certification
- ACCA CPD – ongoing
- Currently undertaking AI development training with Coursiv, focused on applying AI-enabled tools to improve finance insight, reporting productivity and decision support
- Recent professional development courses completed: AI for Accountants, Anti-Money Laundering and Finance Business Partner training.
Accomplishments
- Developed financial models for successful government-funded bids, including ESF (£40m), AEB (£8.4m) and CIAG (£8m), supporting pricing, risk assessment and funding decisions and commercial viability.
- Supported four business areas across government contracts, grant-funded programmes, manufacturing and commercial B2B operations, balancing competing priorities, group-level reporting needs and strategic decision support.
- Improved budget monitoring and forecasting accuracy, reducing variance between forecast outturn and year-end actuals to under 5%.
- Strengthened month-end reporting through improved controls, process discipline and system enhancements, supporting faster, more reliable reporting cycles and improved financial governance.
- Developed Finance Business Partners & Management Accountants in my team through delegation, coaching and improved engagement with operations, strengthening stakeholder submissions and reporting quality.
Additional information
References available upon request.
Timeline
Some College (No Degree) - ACCA
London School of Business & Finance
2014.01 - 2015.06
Senior Finance Business Partner
Seetec Business Technology Centre Ltd
2012.05 - Current
Head of Finance and Central Office Manager
Newham Community Employment Project
2008.02 - 2012.05
Management Accountant and Centre Manager
New Beginnings Training & Recruitment Consultancy Ltd
2000.03 - 2008.02
BA (Hons) - Accounts and Finance
University of East London
1996.09 - 1999.06