Financial Controller

London, England, United Kingdom

12/12/2024

Job Description

Operating Company

GroupM

Job Title

Financial Controller – Revenue

Department / Team

GroupM Finance

Reporting To

Senior Financial Controller - EMC

Location

One Southwark Bridge, London



Essence MediaCom, each global operations in their own right with leading market positions. GroupM’s primary purpose is to maximize performance of WPP’s media agencies by operating as leader and collaborator in trading, content creation, sports, digital, finance, proprietary tool development and other business-critical capabilities. GroupM’s focus is to deliver unrivalled marketplace advantage to its clients, stakeholders and people. Discover more about GroupM at www.groupm.com.

About GroupM

GroupM is the leading global media investment management operation serving as the parent company to WPP media agencies including Mindshare, Wavemaker and Essence MediaCom, each global operations in their own right with leading market positions. GroupM’s primary purpose is to maximize performance of WPP’s media agencies by operating as leader and collaborator in trading, content creation, sports, digital, finance, proprietary tool development and other business-critical capabilities. GroupM’s focus is to deliver unrivalled marketplace advantage to its clients, stakeholders and people. Discover more about GroupM at www.groupm.com.

About The Team And/or Client

This role sits within the Controllership pillar of the GroupM UK Finance team primarily supporting the Mediacom London and Mediacom North operating units. The role has full responsibility of the controllership and reporting of revenue for these Mediacom units and leads a team of 6.

A Hybrid working model

Here at GroupM we are embracing a hybrid working model, which encourages our employees to split their time between the office and other locations, something we hope will provide everyone with flexibility during their working week, whilst also continuing to focus on collaboration, our communities, careers and clients. The expectation is that working life at GroupM will involve working from an office for 3 days a week for most people.

The Role Objective

The role has full ownership of revenue reporting in an accurate and timely manner to both GroupM management and GM EMEA. This requires working closely with the Commercial and FP&A teams to understand client revenue and providing insightful analysis to support those teams. This role assumes full responsibility of the P&L and balance sheet for all revenue related items and is responsible for delivering on all audit and SOX requirements and providing detailed variance analysis and exception reporting. To be successful in this role, engagement with various parts of the business is required, often at different levels of seniority as well as being fully immersed in the objectives and culture of the Agency team(s) that you and your direct team work alongside to support

To be successful in this role, collaboration, adaptability, drive and engagement is of the highest importance as well as maintaining efficient control processes and promoting process improvement.

Responsibilities

Month-end process

Responsible for:

• Full ownership, understanding and management of the Balance Sheet and P&L for EMC revenue items
• Managing the month-end revenue reporting process from start to finish, meeting deadlines and providing clear and accurate commentary on variances against forecast and proforma
• Provide Timely Management Information to Commercial and FP&A Finance Leads of the Agencies
• Responsible for the input and data extraction for reporting and accounting purposes in Cartesis/DDS/Adaptive.
• Leading a team of 6, delegating responsibilities as appropriate. Manage, support and develop all members of the team to actively train and improve staff knowledge and experience
• Compile and report the monthly revenue recognised on each client
• Investigate and understand any variances between forecasted and actual revenue reported on a monthly basis
• Provide support and back-up to Client Leads and Commercial Team
• Managing monthly Revenue postings, net sales and billings commentaries
• Drive efficiencies and establish procedures within the business to improve the financial reporting process and balance sheet reconciliations
• Responsibility of general ledger management and accuracy of a fully reconciled Balance Sheet for all revenue related items such as accrued and deferred income
• Supplying management information (MI) and insight to the Senior Leadership Team and holding monthly revenue reviews with senior management
• Responsibility for overseeing robust Revenue Controls and ensuring compliance with our SOX timetable and implementing improvements to existing processes
• Understanding clients and the terms under which they operate, including remuneration structures
• Main contact for Group audit and Financial Statements Audit
• Relationship management of key group contacts across the Agencies, GroupM UK, GroupM EMEA and Finance Plus
• Provide any ad-hoc reporting requested by the GroupM UK Market CFO, Group Financial Controller and Head of FP&A
  
  

Skills and Behaviours

Desirable

• Experience working with DDS / Media Ocean
• Experience working with Cartesis / BFC
  
  

Essential

• Intermediate / advance level of Excel (knowledge of sumIFs, sumIF, Pivot tables, VLOOKUP is essential)
• Media revenue experience
• Organized with good attention to detail
• Quick to learn and adaptable to changing work allocation and able to prioritise workload to meet challenging deadlines
• Strong analytical and reconciliation skills
• Strong communication & relationship building skills
• Enthusiastic with a can do attitude
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team