Finance Manager

Edelman’s Los Angeles office is looking for a Finance Manager to support our Southern California office. The Finance Manager role is responsible for the financial management of Department P&Ls or large complex clients, partnering with senior management on staffing, forecasting and pricing of the business.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Financial management of Dept. P&L including oversight of revenue recognition, financial reporting, forecasting, process compliance and staffing.
• Serve as the Finance Manager on larger or more complex projects or clients including contract and pricing negotiations (with oversight).
• Review and approve client budgets; upload properly into financial system
• Partner with account teams in pricing client proposals, responding to Requests for
• Proposals/Information and developing budgets (with oversight).
• Facilitate negotiation of client and vendor contracts between clients/vendors, account staff/senior management and legal department, including full review of all business terms (with oversight).
• Ensure that projects are managed in accordance with contracts; create summary sheets (contract cheat sheets) for PR teams.
• Ensure written client agreement is obtained (via contract, letter of agreement, signed scope of work, etc.) for all work and are appropriately archived and classified. Liaise with Contract Specialist and Contract office.
• Assist PR teams with monthly project budget to actual tracking and other required client reporting. Coordinate data collection for client audits.
• Communicate with clients regarding budgets, billing and accounts receivable issues. Maintain catalog of required client reporting and ensure timely completion.
• Review monthly fee and expense detail. Analyze monthly financial statements for accuracy and explain significant variances to budget or forecast.
• Complete quarterly financial checklist. Develop annual operating budgets and maintain accurate quarterly projections.
• Provide senior management with monthly financial package describing results to date, forward projections compared to budget and commentary around noticeable trends.
• Prepare management reports, identify and communicate areas of concern and suggested improvements to account staff and management (e.g., client profitability, utilization, over/under service, missing time, revenue risk and staffing plans).
• Prepare staffing and revenue plans. Capital expenditures/cash needs planning, forecasting and monitoring.
• Review monthly fees for accuracy and compliance with Edelman Revenue Recognition policy.
• Facilitate monthly billing – liaison between account staff and billing department and review billing reports. Review time and expense write-offs and unbilled WIP.
• Accountable for timely and valuable AR collection status commentary and liaison with Accounts Receivable.
• Supervise project set up process for department and perform Business Manager role for larger or more complex projects.
• Drive profitability by working with department’s management and account teams to improve client and resource management.
• Review staffing utilization, realization, and capacity and proactively communicate meaningful observations to General Manager.
• Ad hoc requests and projects. Contribute to performance appraisal process for peers and managers.
• Supervise and train Finance personnel and be accountable for their work.
• Provide ongoing constructive feedback and consistently hold staff accountable for performance, compliance and ethical business conduct.
• Train PR staff on internal finance systems, procedures and financial project management. Set achievable goals and tasks, delegate opportunities and provide resources for staff to meet their goals; consistently measure and reward goal achievement. 

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree in FIN or ACC. 5+ years of FIN or ACC experience. Advanced knowledge of financial systems (e.g. PeopleSoft, SAP or any other ERP system) and strong Microsoft Excel skills.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• CPA, MBA, or public accounting experience is a plus.
• Professional services industry experience preferred.
• Well organized with strong time management skills and attention to detail, follows through on multiple projects and juggle conflicting priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong financial analysis and management skills; good business acumen.
• Ability to articulate financial concepts in layman’s terms.
• Self-starter who takes initiative.
• Excellent written, oral and interpersonal communication skills. Client service oriented and fosters positive working relationships.
• Demonstrates behaviors consistent with Edelman’s values, Code of Ethics and Business Conduct.
• Sets and pursues challenging personal goals and for staff.
• Leads by example, demonstrate proven strong work ethic.
• Committed to continuous learning and building your technical and leadership skills through training.
• Helps motivate and coach teams to produce quality work and meet client objectives.
• Shares best practices, good ideas, and mistakes freely to establish trust, transparency and teamwork.