Finance Manager – Belgium

You will lead the Belgium & Netherlands National Service Centre (NSC), based in Belgium — spanning Accounting & Controlling, Tax, Treasury, Credit & Collections and Insurance & Risk Management — combining hands‑on ownership of accounting operations, people leadership, and the reliable, timely delivery of financial reporting to group. You will be the bridge between the local businesses, the group controlling and consolidation team, and external partners (auditors, tax advisers, banks), ensuring that financial processes are compliant, consistent and aligned with ECG’s group standards, and helping to drive the group’s standard processes and systems (Finance Blueprint) across the cluster.

Key responsibilities:

• Lead the National Service Centre: manage, coach and develop the Belgium & Netherlands National Service Centre team (accounts payable, accounts receivable, general ledger, treasury and month-end); set priorities, workloads and performance standards through target setting and monitoring — including corrective actions where needed — and inspire and coach the team to the next level of performance.
• Own the month-end close: run a timely and accurate close across the Belgian and Dutch entities, and deliver standardised monthly, quarterly and year-end reporting packages to the group controlling team in line with the group reporting calendar and policies.
• Group reporting & controlling support: ensure reporting packs, intercompany balances and reconciliations meet group standards so the data feeds cleanly into ECG’s consolidation; provide analysis and commentary on P&L, variances and key drivers for the Belgium & Netherlands cluster.
• Budgeting & forecasting: manage the budget cycle (process, templates, timelines and guidelines) and support the local business leaders in developing their budgets; consolidate input into the group planning cycle, track actuals against budget, and deliver reforecasts when significant deviations arise or when required by Group Management.
• Statutory & compliance: oversee the preparation of the statutory annual accounts under Belgian GAAP (WVV) and Dutch GAAP (Title 9, Book 2 of the Dutch Civil Code), and ensure compliance with local VAT, corporate income tax and filing obligations — including the timely filing of the annual accounts — working with external advisers.
• Audit coordination: act as the key local contact for external auditors, ensuring timely and accurate delivery of financial information and a smooth audit for the Belgian and Dutch entities.
• Treasury & working capital: actively manage cash flow, receivables and payables across the cluster; manage net cash across the entities — ensuring timely cash concentration in case of excess and coordinating funding requests with local leaders and Group Treasury in case of deficits.
• Credit & collections: coordinate the credit collection activities across the cluster and manage litigation and bad-debt recovery.
• Insurance & risk management: monitor and improve the national insurance policies, identifying areas of over- and under-insurance.
• Process, controls & systems: contribute to the design of the group’s standard finance and purchasing processes (Finance Blueprint) as defined by Group Finance, and drive their implementation — together with KPIs and internal controls — across the entities, including an active role in the ongoing group ERP roll-out.
• Financial discipline & profitability: safeguard financial discipline and cost control, proposing and implementing corrective actions to keep operating and overhead costs in line with activity levels and targets; analyse the profitability of services, business lines and client groups and propose improvements to the sales mix.
• Business partnering: work closely with local operational and commercial management so that financial data supports decision-making, and represent finance for the Belgium & Netherlands businesses to the group.

Who are you?

• Education: a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Commercial Engineering (handelsingenieur / TEW) or equivalent; a professional qualification (ITAA) is a strong asset.
• Experience: minimum 7–10 years’ experience in a similar finance leadership position, ideally within a multi-entity, international or shared‑services environment.
• Leadership: proven experience leading and developing a finance team, with the ability to set standards, delegate and drive performance.
• Technical: strong knowledge of Belgian GAAP (WVV) and/or Dutch GAAP and experience across accounting, controlling, treasury and credit & collections; exposure to IFRS and to group consolidation and reporting is a distinct advantage.
• Multi-entity: comfortable working across a large, multi-