Finance Manager

Job Description

Warner Bros. Consumer Products (WBCP), a Warner Bros. Discovery Company, extends the Studio's powerful portfolio of entertainment brands and franchises into the lives of fans around the world. WBCP partners with best-in-class licensees globally on an award-winning range of toys, fashion, home décor, and publishing inspired by franchises and properties such as DC, Looney Tunes and Hanna-Barbera.

Your New Role...

The role is within Consumer Products, and the Finance Manager will be a business partner to both Finance and Commercial stakeholders across specified EMEA territories and categories and Burbank HQ. In addition, the Finance Manager will manage licensing audits by managing the relationship with external Licensing Audit providers, provide support to the director on operational compliance and assist in Special Projects as needed.

Your Role Accountabilities...

Financial Close (month, quarter, year-end)
• Manage close process across EMEA and APAC regions
• Monthly:
• Review expenses to ensure spending in line with forecast.
• Align with local finance team on quarter end expectations
• Quarterly & Year-End
• Supervise Financial Analyst in completion of Quarter-end processes including:
• Preparation of accrual journals and validation of postings
• Reconciling and validating actuals and forecasts in Planning systems and SAP
• Refresh SAP BW Reports for Profit & Loss review
• Profit & Loss reviews, including variance analysis
• Distribution of Management Pack information
• Year-End Specific - Reviewing Revenue Recognition and Deferred Revenue accounting.
• Regular communicate to Exec on quarter close position
• Attend expense review meetings with various stakeholders.
• Improve cost processes
• Provide insights and updates on close during each cycle, including trending
• Evaluate impact of FX

Licensee Audit and Settlements: Licensees & Agents
• Assist the director with the selection of audit candidates;
• For selected Licensees, assist with audit notifications and manage provision of required documentation to the external audit provider;
• Assist the external audit provider with queries, by liaising with internal stakeholders (e.g. Legal and Category)
• Review audit reports provided by the external provider, provide feedback, and discuss findings with Legal and Category
• Negotiate and settle audit claims with licensees and managing the settlement process which includes drafting final audit reports and settlement letters and requesting audit invoices.
• Manage the relationship with the external Licensing Audit provider, establish audit scopes, audit programmes, provide them with relevant information for the audits, review their work and agree on the final audit findings.
Operational Compliance
• Conduct business reviews of key licensees as part of the licensee audit process and communicate findings and analysis in appropriate formats to key stakeholders.
• Analysis of the reporting environment beyond the financial forecast, compare against CP KPI's, as well as identifying improvements
• Perform licensee debtors age analysis, as well as outstanding royalty statement submissions

Business Partnering and Ad Hoc
• Assist the Director and VP working with category teams to develop actions plans for core initiatives
• Partner with the commercial teams on financial queries, new initiatives and projects
• Participate in preparation of financial models in support of business plan creation
• Assist in preparation of business reviews

Qualifications & Experience...

Relevant Previous Work Experience
• Proven experience in audit and finance required
• Retail/Consumer Goods/FMCG Industry experience preferred
• Advanced – Microsoft suite (essential: Excel and PowerPoint, beneficial: Access)
• Experience of SAP and BW reports preferred
• Knowledge of consumer & retail landscape and trends a plus
• A passion for Warner Bros. iconic brands and franchises
• Strong communication and presentation skills - ability to present financial data to both finance and non-finance teams, at various levels, across the business
• Used to multitasking and ability to work well under time constraints in a fast-moving environment
• Ability to pay close attention to detail
• Ability to organize and schedule work effectively, remembering global time zones
• Pro active, ''can-do'' attitude, team player
• Major European language (French, German, Spanish or Italian) an advantage
• University educated
• 2 years PQE in CIMA or ACCA

How We Get Things Done…

This last bit is probably the most important! Here at WBD, our guiding principles are the core values by which we operate and are central to how we get things done. You can find them at www.wbd.com/guiding-principles/ along with some insights from the team on what they mean and how they show up in their day to day. We hope they resonate with you and look forward to discussing them during your interview.

The Legal Bits…

Warner Bros. Discovery embraces the opportunity to build a workforce that reflects the diversity of our society and the world around us. Being an equal opportunity employer means that we take seriously our responsibility to consider qualified candidates on the basis of merit, regardless of sex, gender identity, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, marital status, pregnancy, parenthood, disability or any other category protected by law.

If you're a qualified candidate with a disability and you need a reasonable accommodation in order to apply for this position, please contact us at recruitadmin@warnermedia.com.

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-r1wnyy-3-16-81-94-42 in your application.