Group Statutory Reporting Accountant in Woking

ABOUT TRAFALGAR ENTERTAINMENT

Founded by Sir Howard Panter and Dame Rosemary Squire in 2017, Trafalgar Entertainment is an award-winning global live-entertainment business, producing plays and musicals, theatre and venue ownership and operations, live music and comedy, events and hospitality, Performing Arts education, ticketing, the distribution and filming of event cinema and TV live-streaming innovative content through Trafalgar Releasing Ltd. Trafalgar Entertainment is home to Trafalgar Theatres, including four London Theatres - Trafalgar Theatre, The Bridge Theatre, The Lightroom King's Cross and the new British Airways Theatre, Olympia.

We are passionate about entertainment, audiences, and the live experience and we value Creativity, Collaboration, Excellence and Respect.

Role Purpose

This is an exciting opportunity to join a growing and well-known entertainment brand at a pivotal point in its development. As Trafalgar Entertainment continues to expand, we are bringing statutory reporting in-house for the first time, and this newly created role will be central to making that happen. You will lead the preparation and delivery of accurate, complete and timely statutory financial statements for the consolidated Group and its subsidiaries. You will own the Group accounts produced from the completed consolidation, coordinate the underlying information and audit work, and take each set of accounts through review, approval and filing. With statutory reporting moving in-house, you will have the chance to shape how the Group delivers its accounts, putting in place the processes, templates and timetable that support the business as it grows. It is a highly visible role with real scope to make an impact, working closely with senior finance colleagues, auditors and stakeholders across the Group.

Key responsibilities

• Maintain the Group-wide statutory accounts register and timetable, covering entities, reporting requirements, preparers, reviewers, auditors, approval dates and filing deadlines.
• Prepare and review subsidiary financial statements, including primary statements, notes, disclosures and supporting.
• Prepare the consolidated Group financial statements, including primary statements, notes and disclosures, using the completed Group consolidation.
• Reconcile the accounts to the final consolidation and resolve differences before audit and review.
• Work with the team preparing the consolidation to understand and challenge consolidation adjustments, intercompany eliminations and significant transactions.
• Prepare elements of the consolidation where appropriate, although ownership of its preparation is not a fixed requirement of this role.
• Coordinate inputs from entity finance teams, tax, legal, company secretarial colleagues and external advisers; identify missing or inconsistent information early.
• Manage the statutory accounts audit workflow: agree deliverables with auditors, provide and track evidence, resolve accounts queries and maintain a clear record of proposed adjustments.
• Ensure the accounts reflect applicable accounting standards, Group accounting policies and relevant company reporting requirements.
• Escalate significant technical judgments to the Senior Manager – Reporting and Accounting and Group Finance Manager.
• Draft accounting papers and disclosure assessments for matters affecting the accounts, including but not limited to leases, provisions and related-party transactions, as required.
• Lead the Group’s adoption of IFRS 18 updating accounts templates.
• Manage the final review, approval, signing and filing process for each set of accounts, working with the appropriate directors and company secretarial colleagues.
• Contribute to Group wide finance projects, including legal entity and bank account rationalisation, and the automation and enhancement of reporting and accounting processes.
• Improve accounts templates, supporting schedules and the hand-off from monthly reporting to year-end, reducing late audit queries and repeated manual work.

Wider Group finance support

Support the Group finance team with ad hoc reporting, accounting and project tasks as they arise, prioritising these alongside statutory reporting deadlines in agreement with the Senior Manager – Reporting and Accounting.

Essential experience and skills

• ACA or ACCA qualified, ideally with an audit or technical financial reporting.
• Direct experience preparing and taking multiple subsidiary statutory accounts through audit and sign-off.
• Experience preparing consolidated Group financial statements and taking them through audit and sign-off.
• Able to understand and review a Group consolidation; hands-on preparation of the consolidation is useful but not essential.
• Strong knowledge of the accounting framework or frameworks used by the Group, with the ability to draft clear financial statement disclosures and assess reporting requirements.
• Able to manage a complex timetable across numerous legal entities and stakeholders, investigate underlying balances and challenge incomplete audit evidence.

Desirable experience

• Experience with acquisitions, joint ventures and groups undergoing structural changes.
• Experience improving statutory accounts templates and audit support processes across a multi-entity environment.