Royalties Administrator

Job Description

Company: Merch Traffic

Department: Finance

Location: Kings Cross, London

Reports to: Finance Director

Contract Type: Full time, permanent

Role Description

The Royalty Accountant is responsible for the preparation and reporting to management for all our artists. This includes end of tour profit and loss statements as well as monthly and quarterly e commerce, retail and licencing statements.

The role requires detailed reconciliations of costs and revenues to the nominal ledger so attention to detail and strong excel skills is essential. In addition, the role requires distribution of quarterly reporting packages to artist management, so good written and oral communication skills are required, plus an ability to work calmly under pressure, as well as being organised and able to prioritise workload.

As Royalty Accountant you will work closely with the touring and retail department and the management accountant, as well as supporting other members of the finance team. You may also be required to carry out ad-hoc reporting duties as requested by the Management Accountant and Finance Director.

Who you are?

Competencies / Skills / Knowledge / Experience

Essential:
• Accruals/Prepayments/Journal Entry experience
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Meticulous attention to detail, but also able to take a higher-level view of data and highlight salient facts for discussion
• Ability to multi­-task and work to tight deadlines
• Ability to operate using own initiative
• Proactivity – display strong initiative and ability to identify and rectify issues
• Ability to build relationships at all levels of the business
• Effective communication with finance and non-finance personnel at all levels of the business

Desirable:
• Part qualified accountant or qualified by experience
• Previous experience of royalty preparation would be advantageous
• Experience using Sage 200 would be advantageous
• Good knowledge of Excel – VLOOKUPs and pivot tables would be helpful
• Media background - Merchandise / Music industry experience

Behaviours
• Hard working, hands on finance professional
• Dependable and responsible individual who takes ownership of tasks and responsibilities
• An adaptable and self-motivated individual who can work on their own and provide guidance to other team members

What the role includes?

End of Tour Artist Profit & Loss Statements
• Produce end of tour profit and loss statements
• Capture and reconcile all revenue streams from Sage
• Capture and reconcile all costs from Sage
• Liaise with the team to invoice crew shirts or band sales at the agreed price
• Understand and produce end stock reconciliations after the tour has ended
• Review artist contracts to obtain the correct royalty rate per territory/product as required
• Produce first draft statements for review by the Head of Touring and Finance Director

Monthly E Commerce & Retail Royalty & Profit Share statements
• Export sales data and reconcile to nominal accounts
• Produce monthly statements, ensuring royalty rates and deductions are accurate
• Liaise with US management and send profit share statements in a timely manner

Quarterly Licencing Royalty Reports
• Export sales data relating to licencing deals and reconcile to nominal accounts
• Calculate the revenue received and calculate the royalty owed to artist per the contract
• Accrue the royalty and profit share with the US if applicable

Quarterly Royalty Reporting Packages for Distribution
• Produce reporting packages for all UK and US managed artists on a quarterly basis
• Liaise with artist management when distributing statements and processing royalty invoices

Quarterly FEU Returns
• Produce and file quarterly FEU returns and relevant deduction certificates online and within the set deadlines
• Liaise with Accounts Payable to ensure that the FEU payment is made and received by HMRC on time
Other Duties
• Maintain an accurate royalty database with correct rates and deals as they happen, ensuring you have a copy or extract of the contract to support the rate
• If an artist is out of contract, communicate this with the wider team and agree next steps
• Update and maintain the royalty accruals, artist advances and provisions schedule monthly, ensuring it reconciles to the nominal ledger
• Preparation and reconciliation of intercompany schedules for international partners
• Prepare artist advance recoupment statements when required
• Ensure all royalty invoices are correctly coded, match the accrual and are processed in a timely manner
• Management of tour cash drawn and expenses of road managers
• Setting up new nominal ledger accounts and cost centres

Reality Check

While this is a great opportunity in an exciting industry this is not just a chance to see shows for free! The role is not your ordinary 9-5 and the industry is demanding with sometimes unsociable and long hours. The excitement and energy of the shows, tours and festivals we create comes from the hard work and dedication we commit to our work, and this role is no exception to this. So, get ready to bring your best to the role.

The Company

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-g3kvbn-3-14-70-203-42 in your application.