Business Controller

Business Controller / Senior Business Controller

Are you eager to use your financial skills ?

Do you enjoy working developing budgeting and financial plans to achieve growth?

About our Team

As a member of the global Centre of Expertise Sales & Revenue (CoE S&R), you will primarily be responsible for providing financial analysis and insight in the performance of Elsevier's Research Business Unit "STM Journals" (STMJ), representing over $2b worth of revenue of Elsevier. The main focus of the role is on sales and related revenue/direct costs profile for the STMJ products portfolio, as well as the day to day management of the sales environment of the Elsevier planning, planning budgeting and forecasting tool (OBIEE, Essbase, Hyperion Planning and Reporting).

About the Role

You will be responsible for the delivery of key management reports and forecasts and LVs, distributed to Senior Management Team of Elsevier. You will be an important point of contact for all STMJ S&R CoE related questions, responsible for delivery of key management reports and analytical models, at the same time supporting and driving the global setup of the CoE's Operating model, e.g. effective forecasting tools for sales and revenue, standardization of reporting and processes across Elsevier.

You will review current practices and develop tools to improve and standardize reporting, analysis and insights in the Journals business. In addition, you will be responsible for coordinating monthly reporting and forecasting cycles within STMJ, ensuring the requirements and deadlines of Elsevier FP&A are met on time. Lastly, you will be supporting projects to automate and streamline reporting capabilities within Sales Finance BI tools (Sales Data Warehouse, Planning Budgeting & Forecasting).

You will be supporting the Open Access high-growth business model, for which the financial reporting systems are being developed; and you will be involved to design this new process to make it smooth.

**Responsibilities**:
Management reporting
- Provide a high level of support in preparation of BU monthly management financial reports and presentations
- Provide a wide range of analyses and support for other sales, finance and other key stakeholders
- Respond to ad-hoc requests for analysis and insights into financial information
- Take care of periodic financial reporting such as monthly revenue reporting, renewals progress reporting, pipeline reporting, dashboard reporting, print reporting etc.

2) Planning, budgeting and forecasting
- Prepare a driver-based sales forecast based on input gathered from responsible individuals, revenue conversion of sales forecast and load into HFM
- Prepare revenue by destination analysis and other reports
- Review and provide insights and initial commentary on variance analysis on actual/budget/forecast

3) Financial accounting
- Convert deals to recognised revenue (subscription adjustments and content allocation)
- Accounting review and variance analysis to preserve integrity of accruals and actuals; review both Oracle and HFM postings at month end and submit correcting entries

4) Business modelling
- Develop and maintain business case models
- Provide financial inputs for business case and populate standard templates
- Provide inputs for analysis of strategic/operational initiatives

**Requirements**:

- Atleast a Master's degree (Regular) in finance, accounting or a related field; CA, CMA, CIMA, MBA or advanced business degree desirable
- Minimum 7years of relevant experience in end-to-end forecasting, budgeting, monthly financial / business performance analysis and reviews.
- Strong business acumen, analytical skills, and continuous improvement mindset.
- Experience in working closely with the senior stakeholders & leadership team on business initiatives.
- Excellent knowledge and understanding of financial and management accounting, process and systems
- Advanced knowledge of MS Excel. Experience with manipulating large amounts of data and PowerPoint, Hyperion and Oracle knowledge are required, as well as the ability to quickly learn to work with new systems/tools (OBIEE, HFM)
- Experience working within a large and complex international environment; Experience in collaborating with remote and culturally diverse teams
- A strong commercial and organizational awareness, ideally in a comparable industry
- A critical and accurate mindset with an eye for detail
- The ability to perform in stressful circumstances, with a resilient and proactive 'can-do' mentality
- Excellent time management skills in order to meet strict deadlines and manage priorities
- Excellent verbal and written English skills

Work in a way that works for you

We promote a healthy work/life balance across the organisation. We offer an appealing working prospect for our people. With numerous wellbeing initiatives, shared parental leave, study assistance and sabbaticals, we will help you meet your immediate responsibilities and your long-term goals.