Assistant Manager - Accounting

Who we are:

The Economist Group is a global media and information-services company that exists to champion progress with customers currently spread across 159 countries and an active subscriber base of 1.2 million. We provide individuals and organisations with the expertise, insights and perspective to press forward.  

The Finance team’s vision is to partner with the Group in driving profitable growth, through finance excellence. We support our businesses to make effective commercial and operational decisions; provide information and analysis to management and the Board to support strategic decisions; manage working capital to quickly convert profit into cash; develop and maintain a strong control environment to comply with legal, statutory and tax legislation in all territories we operate in. 

With over 100 Finance professionals operating from offices in London, New York, Hong Kong & Gurugram, we are rapidly building a substantial presence in Gurugram to become our largest finance hub. You will be joining our global organisation at a pivotal moment, working with finance and business colleagues from around the globe to deliver the Finance vision.

Currently we are looking for an experienced Business Accountant to provide management accounting and ad hoc financial analysis to support the Economist Intelligence (EI) business unit. They will work closely with the Commercial finance team globally as well as with accounting colleagues in the Gurugram office.

The Business Accountant will ensure appropriate financial controls are in place, including balance sheet reconciliations.

The role will cover requirements from the group globally, particularly requests from London. As such, while the role is based on local hours (9:00-5:30pm in Gurugram) some flexibility will be required to cover day-to-day contact with London and occasional meetings with other global offices.

Key accountabilities:

• Preparation of monthly management accounts for all EI Subscriptions sub-divisions
• Review and maintenance of the revenue tracker for 2nd Rights, Data Feeds and Speaker Bureau, ensuring alignment with signed contracts and recognition of revenue in line with earn notices
• Regular liaison with and provision of information to the Commercial finance team for financial planning and analysis purposes
• Timely reporting of monthly results to business heads with clear variance analysis to plan
• Timely completion of Balance sheet reconciliations 
• Support the business with invoice coding queries
• Preparation of monthly Partner Commissions and Fedlink payments
• Annual reporting of EIU Risk business to FCA
• Assistance with end of year audit queries

Experience, skills and professional attributes

The ideal skills for this role are:

• Education and training

- Qualified Accountant

- BA/BS in Finance or Accounting preferred

• Previous work experience 

- Management accounting for a multi-currency global organisation including accruals and variance analysis

- Balance sheet reconciliations

• Technology

- MS Office: Excel to intermediate level

- ERP: ideally Peoplesoft

- Google work suite, or similar collaborative work-tool

• Languages

                  - English

• Key skills 

- Attention to detail and Accuracy

- Ability to manage own deadlines and prioritise work

- Excellent written and oral communication skills

• Personal attributes

- Commitment to quality and timely service delivery

- An ability to work under pressure and to tight deadlines

- Self-motivator, eager and willing to learn

- Pro-activity and responsiveness

• Interpersonal skills

- Able to communicate well with global colleagues and provide support to non-financial managers

Performance Measures:

• Accuracy of accounting
• Level of support provided to the business and own team
• Ability to meet reporting deadlines
• Timely and accurate completion and issue resolution of balance sheet reconciliations 
• Timely production of financial information for FP&A purposes
• Ability to provide clear information and insightful analysis of variances to plan

The Economist Group values diversity. We are committed to equal opportunities and creating an inclusive environment for all our employees. We welcome applicants regardless of ethnic origin, national origin, gender, gender identity, race, colour, religious beliefs, disability, sexual orientation, age or marital status.