FD, £110k, pro-rata (3m contract)
Posted by Andrew

Category: Jobs of the week
03 Feb 2012

INTERIM FD
 
Interim Group FD/FC sought for VC backed Marketing Services Group. 3-4 months minimum - £110K pro rata

The role:

• Designing and planning the budgeting process, and developing a Group-wide budgeting model which works across all divisions
• Working with divisional heads & agency FD's to develop the underlying budgets, and production of the consolidated group budget. A key role I will play (with the "interim") will be providing significant "challenge" to management's assumptions / drafts
• Design of a Group FY13 bonus scheme
• Preparation of monthly board packs, and consolidated MI
• Property move in June 2012 – significant effect on budget

The person:

• Probably Qualified chartered accountant
• Ideally from marketing services or private-equity backed company background. Other professional (or other people-based) services environments would also be attractive
• Experience of working with international offices
• Very strong technical experience including treasury/forex, transfer pricing, consolidations, working capital & cash flow forecasting / management
• Experience of the reporting requirements of banks, private equity owner and/or public shareholders
• Experience of acquisition accounting and/or the information requirements of potential acquirers of the business
• Thorough knowledge and experience of the design and implementation of financial systems and controls

 Please contact sophie@redhatrecruitment.co.uk

Financial Analyst , Publishing, £50k + bonus
Posted by andrew

Category: Jobs of the week
03 Feb 2012

Financial Analyst  

Global, prestigious Publishing Group seek a talented Financial Analyst  (£50K + bonus + bens)
You will provide support to your line manager and act as a business partner to commercial managers. You will support finance and business managers by assisting in evaluating and pursuing new growth opportunities, both organic and through acquisition. These will arise as a result of an assessment of current products, analysis of competitors and implementation of strategic plans.

The role:

• Provide quality, value added support to the portfolio commercial managers and other budget holders;
• Preparation of monthly management accounts for the products within the portfolio.  This includes reporting results to Head Office using accounting systems, JDE and Hyperion;
• Variance analysis and commentary on monthly results and comparatives;
• Monthly review of results with the Divisional Financial Controller and commercial managers;
• Preparation of annual budget and three quarterly forecasts;
• Weekly sales and activity reporting with commentary and analysis;
• Variance analysis and commentary on monthly results and budget/forecast figures for assigned products;
• Provide accurate and robust financial modelling of new business opportunities in conjunction with the Divisional Financial Controller;
• Involvement in the strategy of the portfolio with input given into the commercial and strategic development of the products;
• Commercial involvement with regard to contractual obligations across the portfolio. Including input into legal contracts and profit share agreements.

The person:

• Qualified Accountant (ACCA/CIMA/ACA) with up to two year’s PQE;
• Strong experience and good progression working in a commercial finance, management accounting or project accounting role;
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills are essential to work effectively with non-finance managers, colleagues and external parties;
• Intermediate use of Microsoft Excel essential.  Advanced Excel skills would be advantageous.

Please contact sophie@redhatrecruitment.co.uk

Commercial Analyst -Major International Ad agency (£50K +bens)
Posted by andrew

Category: Jobs of the week
03 Feb 2012

Commercial Analyst -Major International Ad agency (£50K +bens)

In this role, you will be acting as a finance business partner to the Account Management team and supporting the Commercial Finance Managers, Director and Management with all commercial aspects of a specific client P&Ls across all our discipline offerings.

The role: You will be part of Commercial Finance Team and allocated a portfolio of clients across the business (local and /or multinational clients) to:

• Provide objective analysis and interpretation of financial data to support decision making process and setting targets;
• Manage the profitability of the client account;
• Identify and manage risks and opportunities, driving business improvements and process improvements;
• Comply with internal and external reporting requirements;
• Significant internal liaison with account teams, project management and other finance functions, and some external (client facing) aspects.

The objective is to add value to the business by helping to defend and grow client revenues, support improved profitability and improve the quality of decision-making through better financial information in order to deliver or beat financial targets.

The person: Highly numerate; ACA / CIMA /ACCA or equivalent or qualified by experience; Strong analytical skills and ability to interpret data to identify risk and opportunities; Resourceful, energetic, self motivating and flexible; Excellent interpersonal skills including ability to work across different cultures; Agency (or similar) experience; Good PC skills:  Excel, Word, PowerPoint

Please contact sophie@redhatrecruitment.co.uk

FINANCE DIRECTOR, £100K + EQUITY
Posted by Andrew

Category: Jobs of the week
03 Feb 2012

FINANCE DIRECTOR

FD sought for independent financial resourcing company that specialises in the Marketing Services Sector.

£100K + bonus + possible equity

• To manage a portfolio of clients and develop the company  
• To ensure a portfolio of clients is being serviced properly   
• To maintain the profitability of that portfolio
• To grow the revenue streams from within the portfolio
• To win new clients and expand the portfolio
• Help manage the internal functions   
• To manage a “delivery team” of accountants and bookkeepers     
• Contribute towards the overall growth of the company and  develop other revenue streams

You will be CIMA / ACA / ACCA qualified; ideally MarComms sector; Partner / FD / Senior FC level experience; Experience of managing a portfolio of clients; Entrepreneurial flare; Willing to work hard and muck in at all levels to take the company to the next level

This is an opportunity for the right candidate to be involved in an exciting new business almost from the beginning   

Please contact sophie@redhatrecruitment.co.uk

Trends in Marketing Services Profitability – Kingston Smith 2011 Survey
Posted by Andrew

Category: News
01 Feb 2012

Articles and advice for marketing services agencies

Source: NOVEMBER FRIDAYS, a report by Simon Collard

Trends in Marketing Services Profitability – the Kingston Smith 2011 Survey

Every year Kingston Smith (www.kingstonsmith.co.uk) produce a comprehensive survey of the financial performance of the marketing services sector.

Even given the different year ends, different commercial models and remuneration methods there are still some important nuggets of information, some trends in results which  are worth noting.

 First, some overall stats. The sector by sector analysis covers 220 agencies which employ over 34,000 people. They generate over £3.3billion of gross income and make a combined operating profit of £400million. In short it’s an analysis which is worth trying to understand. I’m no research analyst but for what it’s worth here is my view.

I’ve taken Kingston Smith numbers to see what an average agency of 10 people would look like if they mirrored exactly the overall sector metrics so whilst the sector might grow unless the revenue per head grew this average agency would show a decrease in gross income. I’ve chosen a headcount of 10 for the simple reason it’s easier to compare how your agency compares to the market average – there’s an appendix at the end of the article.

Media Sector

Always the most commercial of sectors they have reacted to an era of flat growth as I would expect by reducing overheads, rewarding staff in a modest way and still generated more operating profit. A text book way of maximising profit in a difficult time. It’s always worth looking at your overheads to see if there is a way of taking cost out of your business. It isn’t, however, a trick you can repeat every year so the focus will be on revenue growth in the next year or two.

Advertising

The 2nd best performance in generating more gross income postpones the death of advertising for at least another year. This was not translated into operating profits as purse strings loosened in Adland. Overheads rose more than staff costs which might be due to the classification of freelancers but if agencies are going to maximise the benefit of any gross income growth they need to be a little more prudent.

PR

A modest upturn in gross income (up 1.7%) was completely wiped out and more by a 6% increase in staff costs, the biggest change in the compensation to revenue metric across all sectors. Given that PR has the highest staff costs per head what is the reason for this? My pet theory is that as everyone scrambles to “own” social media PR agencies have had to bring in a wider range of digital skills without, like many digital agencies themselves, cracking the commercial model to make it pay. If true, PR agencies need to be careful about overstretching their reach.