Assistant Financial Accountant

Who we are and what we do

About Hachette UK

Hachette UK is a creative powerhouse and the UK's second largest book publishing group. Our mission is to make it easy for everyone to discover new worlds of ideas, learning, entertainment and opportunity.

We're made up of 11 autonomous publishing divisions and over 60 imprints with a rich and diverse history and an incredible range of authors. We're also the market leader in e-books and publish a range of bestsellers in audio format, the fastest growing part of our business.

Our award-winning adult publishing divisions are Orion, which won Publisher of the Year at the 2021 British Book Awards; Little, Brown; John Murray Press; Hodder & Stoughton; Headline; Quercus; Octopus, and Bookouture. They publish fiction and non-fiction in digital, audio and print format, from the world's best and most diverse authors, including Brit Bennett, Candice Carty-Williams, Martina Cole, Michael Connelly, John Grisham, Stephen King, Stieg Larsson, Nelson Mandela, Stephenie Meyer, Maggie O'Farrell, Delia Owens, Ian Rankin, J.K. Rowling, Colson Whitehead, and Malala Yousafzai. Hachette Children's Group publishes a wide and vibrant range of books for children across all age ranges, while Hachette Learning is a market leader in resources for both primary and secondary schools.

Hachette UK is part of Hachette Livre, the world's third largest trade and educational publisher. As well as our headquarters in Carmelite House, London, and our state-of-the-art book distribution centre in Didcot, Oxfordshire, we have recently opened five new offices in Manchester, Bristol, Sheffield, Newcastle, and Edinburgh. The UK region also includes offices in Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, the Caribbean, and Ireland.

It's an exciting time to join our business because the publishing market continues to grow and thrive. The UK remains the largest exporter of physical books in the world and book adaptations for film and TV are the foundation of the UK's creative industries.

What you'll be doing

This role is positioned within the Hachette Finance team, reporting to the Group Financial Controller. A key role in the Central Accounting & Reporting team, producing key reporting tasks, including; cash reporting, sales reporting, divisional submissions to our French Parent Company, and external statutory reporting. This role also helps to support the Group Accountants during our bi-annual budget phase.

Responsibilities include:

• Production of the Group weekly sales
• Production of sundry invoices
• Group cash reporting
• Production of the annual statutory accounts in accordance with set deadlines
• Preparation and management of monthly submissions to the French parent company for certain divisions of the group
• Production of our monthly Group management pack
• Perform trade debtor reconciliations
• Maintain the group’s locally held company secretarial records and those held at Companies House
• Collate data necessary for reports to be submitted to the Office of National Statistics
• Raising PO’s, as required
• Supporting the budgeting process
• Perform month end processes for commissions
• Perform reconciliations and postings for various group and external parties
• Perform royalty postings and reconciliations for specific divisions
• Ad-hoc tasks as required by management

The above list is not exclusive or exhaustive and the job holder may be required to undertake such other duties as may reasonably be required.

Who we are looking for

This person will be expected to work with the wider finance and non-finance teams in order to deliver timely and accurate reporting. The role holds key parts of the month end process.

The successful individual would have the following:

Skills/Knowledge

• Competent in Excel
• Ability to understand and explain complicated concepts
• Ability to deliver to tight deadlines
• Inquisitive, eager to learn with a willingness to gain and use practical knowledge and understanding of issues affecting the business where required

Experience:

• Knowledge of Tagetik and SAP (of advantage)

Qualifications:

• Studying towards ACCA, ACA or CIMA

Attributes

• Able to work as part of a team
• A self-starter with the ability to manage and plan own deadlines and arrange workload in order to meet all deadlines. At times demonstrate flexibility in order to achieve this.
• Resilient, with a can-do attitude (essential)
• A good communicator with the ability to prioritise and build strong relationships across multiple functions/businesses at all levels
• Someone with an eye for, and not afraid of, detail (essential)
• Desire to continually improve processes, reporting etc

What we offer

Our staff are our greatest asset, and our benefits reflect this:

• 28 annual leave days per year, increases to 29 days after 2 years' service and goes up to 30 days after 5 years' (+ bank holidays)
• Private medical insurance
• Dental insurance
• Generous pension schemes
• Rent deposit loans
• 2 community days per year
• Summer hours (finishing at 1pm on Fridays during the summer months)
• Retail discounts through Hachette rewards
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Eye care vouchers
• Wide-ranging training library
• Development programmes (including mentoring)
• Up to 70% off book purchases
• A charity bookshelf
• 12 Staff-led employee networks that are voluntary, including Gender Balance, Thrive, Pride, All Together, Wellbeing and religious networks
• Season ticket loans
• And much more!

The role will be based at our Didcot office, with a blend of in-office (3 days) and homeworking (2 days) per week.

Our commitment

Hachette employs people on the basis of their abilities. We aim to attract and develop talent from a base as broad as the world of readers we want to reach, with a wide and representative range of age, faith, disability, race, gender, sexuality and socio-economic, regional and cultural backgrounds.

If you are shortlisted and need us to make any adjustments to help you attend for interview, please let us know.

The Book Trade Charity offers financial support to people looking to enter the book trade but who may struggle to afford the costs of attending interviews and undertaking junior roles. For more information visit www.booktradeentrysupport.org