UK Financial Controller

Hudson Executive are assisiting our high profile media client in the critical appointment of their UK Financial Controller. Reporting to the Group FD, this compelling and challenging role affords exposure to the most senior stakeholders within the UK leadership team and genuine opportunity to add tangible value to the bottom line.

A key part of the role will be accountability to lead and drive a broad range of projects within the UK business including involvement in their extensive M&A work and post acquisition integration. In addition to leading strateic projects, the successful candidate will also be accountable for:

• Ownership of reconciliation of payroll register, payroll funding and general ledger journal postings as well as other employee related items such as pensions, employee benefits and loans.
• Management of payroll related month end close journals for UK and US expatriate payrolls and become the subject matter expert for accounting for expat payroll.
• Management of UK employee balance sheet related reconciliations at month-end in accordance with internal controls requirements and pro-active investigation of reconciling items on the reconciliation
• Assisting regional financial controllers in payroll related balance sheet reconciliations, especially with regards to the impact of worldwide expatriate employee population.
• Working cross functionally with HR, payroll providers as well as Group Finance Director and Regional Financial Controllers to ensure that payroll related finance policies, processes, procedures, controls and systems are developed, enhanced and adhered to.
• Manage the day to day activities of the Payroll and Assistant Accountant, ensuring that they are working in an organised and efficient way to agreed deadlines, producing accurate financial information on a timely and accurate basis
• Lead Balance Sheet review and reconciliation process across all UK entities, ensuring best practice is employed. The preparation of many of the balance sheet account reconciliations rests with members of the wider finance team, but overall responsibility for controlling the timely and accurate preparation, review and follow up rests with the Financial Controller.
• Review of the monthly depreciation and fixed asset register for all UK legal entities
• Review UK statutory accounts prepared by reporting team
• Play a key role in a variety of projects as determined by Group Finance Director and/or Chief Financial Officer
• Ensure legal & operating entity structure meets the needs of the business shareholders and systems are used to best effect.
• Authorisation of payments on a weekly basis and cover of other payment approvers in periods of absence
• Deputise for Group Finance Director as appropriate

The successful candidate will:

• Qualified ACA with first time passes
• Previous financial control experience, either as financial controller or assistant/deputy financial controller
• Experience with external auditors and tax bodies
• Confidence in dealing with non-finance staff
• Strong working knowledge of excel
• Oracle R12 experience an advantage
• Ability to work to demanding deadlines
• A Self-starter with the ability to identify key issues and present them to the relevant audience appropriately
• Enthusiasm, resilience, drive and commitment, with the ability to work effectively in a constantly changing environment.
• Strong commercial acumen, the foresight to ask the right questions and the skills to work effectively with other areas of the finance function
• Good interpersonal skills enabling the individual to influence and persuade finance and non finance colleagues. The individual will need to build relationships with stakeholders within the business at senior management level to produce key deliverables.

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