Reporting Accountant

WPP Shared Service Centre (SSC)

The WPP SSC provides transactional financial services to WPP companies in the UK, including:

• Accounts Payable, including Inter-company transactions
• Accounts Receivable (Billing, Credit Control & Cash Allocation)
• Treasury
• Accounting and Reporting
• Statutory Reporting

By consolidating activities, the WPP SSC takes advantage of volume to deliver increased efficiency.  This is achieved by standardising, streamlining, and aligning relevant processes, and introducing tools and technology to drive effectiveness across our operations. By taking over transactional financial activities, the WPP SSC enables our agencies to focus on commercial activities, client management as well as revenue and cost management.

In 2021, the WPP SSC UK organisation transferred specific process and transactional activities to the WPP SSC in India. The WPP SSC teams in the UK and India work together to provide services to WPP companies in the UK.

Why we’re hiring:

The WPP SSC is on a global transformation journey, and this is a 15 month opportunity to join the UK team to help us deliver exceptional financial services to our UK companies.

What you’ll be doing:

The Media Reporting team is responsible for the timely delivery of accurate and high-quality month end accounting tasks, balance sheet reconciliations, monthly actuals, and inter-company reporting for WPP Media entities and operating companies.

The department liaises with CFO’s, Finance Directors, Finance teams, WPP Group, WPP Group Reporting, External auditors, internal auditors and with the various Finance teams in the SSC constantly throughout the year.

You will oversee a portfolio of media entities and manage the end-to-end reporting, observing our Target Operating Model (TOM).

You will report into the Media Reporting Manager.

Monthly corporate reporting:

• Managing the submissions of all month-end schedules into the WPP group reporting system (BFC) and ensuring they are complete and accurate before publication.
• Managing day-to-day accounting in the Media reporting system (DDS) including general journal posting, following the WPP internal controls (SOX & ICFR);
• Ensuring that all balance sheet reconciliations supported by the SSC are completed and follows the month-end timetable.
• Reviewing the reconciliation of intercompany reporting on DDS and BFC ensuring Group Balances reconcile and are documented.
• Identify fixed assets on ledger and add to Excel fixed asset register.
• Identify prepayments on ledger throughout the month, create and post journal.
• Agency actuals in Cartesis to strict deadlines (P&L, Balance sheet.

Bank accounts:

• Coordinate daily review and authorization of payments in line with agreed timelines and month-end bank reconciliations.

What you’ll need:

• Management Accountancy experience
• Experience of the Month End cycle
• Excel (can perform complex functions)

Who you are:

You’re open: We are inclusive and collaborative; we encourage the free exchange of ideas; we respect and celebrate diverse views. We are accepting: of new ideas, new partnerships, new ways of working.

You’re optimistic: We believe in the power of creativity, technology and talent to create brighter futures or our people, our clients and our communities. We approach all that we do with conviction: to try the new and to seek the unexpected.

You’re extraordinary: we are stronger together: through collaboration we achieve the amazing. We are creative leaders and pioneers of our industry; we provide extraordinary every day.

What we’ll give you:

Passionate, inspired people – We promote a culture of people that do extraordinary work.

Scale and opportunity – We offer the opportunity to create, influence and complete projects at a scale that is unparalleled in the industry.

Challenging and stimulating work – Unique work and the opportunity to join a group of creative problem solvers. Are you up for the challenge?