Rashmi Jhanwar

One of the UK's largest housing associations, managing 100,000+ homes across London and the north-west of England.

Scope: Led and managed a £2bn development portfolio and a £1bn stock portfolio programme, delivering financial oversight and risk management across multi-phase projects and joint ventures.

• Portfolio & Risk Management: Identified and managed financial risks across individual development schemes, evaluating overall financial exposure through complex financial modelling and implementing risk-mitigating measures, reducing exposure across the portfolio.
• Joint Venture Leadership: Served as the financial lead representing L&Q on three major joint ventures with external partner Countryside, scrutinising partner information, influencing strategic decisions at partner meetings, and delivering clear, insightful reporting to internal stakeholders on JV financial health, risks, opportunities, and performance against business plans.
• Strategic Business Partnering: Served as a trusted finance business partner to seven cross-functional teams — development, regeneration, growth, commercial, sales & marketing, and stock portfolio — translating complex financial data into clear strategic insight to drive informed decision-making.
• Governance & Board Reporting: Led the production of governance reports for the Group's internal approval boards and committees, providing financial analysis and strategic assessment to influence the decision-making process and ensure full adherence to the Group's governance policies and procedures.
• Team Leadership & BAU Management: Successfully deputised for the Finance Manager for 6 months, maintaining uninterrupted business operations and full team productivity as sole lead. Managed, recruited, and developed a team of three qualified finance professionals and analysts, providing coaching, performance oversight, and career development support.
• Budgeting & Audit Support: Directed the preparation of development forecasts and annual budgets in collaboration with key finance and operational stakeholders, while leading the provision of robust external audit support.
• Financial Reporting & Month-End: Supervised the month-end and year-end close processes, reviewing the team's financial records to ensure accuracy, and overseeing the preparation of statutory accounts and audit packs in full compliance with reporting standards.
• Reporting Automation: Automated key financial reports, saving 20 accountant hours per month and delivering streamlined, actionable data that empowered business partners to operate more efficiently.
• Engagement & Upskilling: Designed and delivered structured finance training for non-finance Development colleagues, measurably improving governance compliance and the quality of board paper submissions across the department.

Key Achievements:

• Developed a financial analysis tool to appraise affordable housing investments, recommending the most optimum investment strategy to maximise the Group's social impact and financial value in line with corporate strategy.
• Enhanced a Power BI report for Sales & Marketing expenditure, delivering improved functionality and deeper insights to support more accurate forecasting and a more efficient reporting process.

• Scope: Led FP&A; activities, budgeting, forecasting, and executive reporting to CFO.
• Budgeting & Variance Analysis: Directed forecasting and budgeting processes, analysing business performance versus plan to highlight trends, outliers, and key variance drivers for senior management.
• Executive Reporting: Developed and presented weekly cost decks and hiring scorecards to CFO. Analysed contractor payments against contracts totalling INR 3.8M, ensuring compliance and accuracy.
• Process Optimisation: Achieved increased team productivity by eliminating duplication of ad-hoc stakeholder reports and streamlining reconciliations.
• Automation: Optimised team performance by automating daily and monthly MIS reporting using Power BI.

• Scope: Managed end-to-end accounting, finance, and taxation for 10+ multinational clients, partnering directly with global CFOs and directors.
• Team Supervision & Review: Supervised and mentored a team of 4 accountants, overseeing daily workflows, reviewing output quality, and reporting team performance to senior management.
• Client Financial Management: Directed month-end close, MIS preparation, tax returns, and payroll activities for a portfolio of international clients, ensuring strict compliance and meeting tight holding-company deadlines.
• Financial Due Diligence: Performed thorough FDD, utilising analytical techniques to investigate key balance sheet elements, uncovering an INR 800k fraud and preventing potential tax litigations for client.
• Audit & Compliance: Coordinated statutory, tax, transfer pricing, and HBII (German) audits, liaising with external auditors and preparing IFRS-compliant financial statements.
• Restructuring & Strategy: Supported a loss-making client through comprehensive restructuring by challenging business plans, defining intercompany agreements, and preparing short-term cash flow forecasts.