Finance Associate
AS Watson
London Area, United Kingdom
Sales / Marketing, Finance / Banking / Insurance
You may not have heard of us, but you’ll know our brands! AS Watson is the world's largest international health and beauty retailer with over 17,000 stores in 31 markets. Each year, over 5.3 billion customers and members shop with our well-known retail brands, both online and offline, including the likes of Superdrug, Kruidvat, Watson’s, Marionnaud, The Perfume Shop, and many more.
Overview
This is a pivotal role focused on delivering operational and financial audits that strengthen internal controls across our diverse business units. You’ll work closely with management to develop practical, efficient, and cost‑effective solutions and support key retail and financial processes. This role offers the opportunity to partner with business units internationally, influence control standards, leverage data analytics and AI, and contribute to high‑impact governance activities across Europe and Asia.
A typical day in this role
- Conduct operational audits across all parts of the business including but not limited to; Store Operations, Warehouse, Trading, Stock Management, Non‑Trade Procurement, and Personal Data Governance.
- Deliver financial audits assessing the strength of controls over Balance Sheet transactions
- Use data analytics and AI tools to analyse audit data and deliver risk‑based insights.
- Prepare twice‑yearly reports summarising business units’ internal control self‑assessment results for Group management.
- Produce quarterly presentations on progress in addressing Group-level audit findings.
- Liaise with business units and colleagues in the FCS team to gather and validate required data.
- Act as a business partner to up to two business units, reviewing and constructively challenging their self‑assessment results and ensuring supporting evidence for rectified issues.
- Support special or ad‑hoc reviews requested by Group or Business Unit management.
- Collaborate with BU process owners, FCS management, and Group functions.
- Travel internationally for 40–60% of your time (mainly Europe, occasionally Asia).
- You enjoy building trusted relationships and working collaboratively with diverse teams.
- You thrive in environments that combine problem‑solving, analysis, and continuous improvement.
- You’re motivated by delivering high‑quality results and strengthening business performance.
- You enjoy using data and technology to gain insights and guide decisions.
- You bring a proactive, curious mindset and are comfortable navigating complexity.
- You like variety, from audits to analytics to stakeholder engagement.
- You’re excited by international exposure and travelling as part of your role.
- Ideally, an undergraduate degree (Upper 2nd class) in Accounting & Finance or a similar field.
- Keen interest in completing the ACA (ICAEW) or ACCA qualification (AS Watson is an Authorised Training Employer).
- 1–2 years of experience in a Finance or Retail environment (highly desirable).
- Strong attention to detail.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
- Ability to stay highly organised, manage multiple tasks, and prioritise effectively.
- Highly desirable data analytics skills (e.g., Power BI or equivalent tools).
- Competitive Salary and Bonus Scheme
- Exclusive Discounts across our iconic brands
- Holiday Entitlement
- Hybrid Working Model
- Refer‑a‑friend Scheme
- Learning and Development Opportunities
- Mental Health and Wellbeing Support
- Life Assurance
- Interest‑Free Loans
About the company
Company website•Retail
AS Watson Group, the world’s largest international health and beauty retailer, is operating over 17,000 stores under 12 retail brands in 31 markets, with over 130,000 employees worldwide. For the fiscal year 2025, AS Watson Group recorded revenue of over US$26 billion. Every year, we are serving over 6 billion shoppers via our O+O (Offline plus Online) technology-enabled platforms.
Together with our 12 retail brands including Watsons, Kruidvat, Trekpleister, Superdrug, Savers, Rossmann, Drogas, ICI PARIS XL, The Perfume Shop, PARKnSHOP, FORTRESS and Watson’s Wine, we set O+O (Offline Plus Online) as the new standard for retail. O+O is more about creating an integrated offline and online experience to better serve customers’ needs through digital transformation, that enables them to shop across any channel, anytime, anywhere. Every day, we work towards a clear purpose: To put a Smile on our customers’ faces today and tomorrow.
Our success depends on our people staying ahead of the game. We believe that our attitude to teamwork and our encouragement for your personal growth comes shining through everything we do. We also know that our success as an employer isn’t just about influencing you on why you should join our business. It’s about asking you to imagine where it could take you.