Client Finance Assistant

Client Finance Assistant

Department: Finance

Location: Sea Containers House, London

Contact type: 6 month fixed-term contract

Full Time/Part time: Full Time

Reporting into: Business Finance Manager

About Ogilvy: 

Our vision is to inspire brands and people to impact the world. To create big ideas that make a significant contribution to the planet, society, and the bottom line. We believe in today’s world this is the best way for our clients to achieve sustainable growth. We achieve this by breaking down the barriers that restrict talent and ideas. 

Which is why our teams work fluidly across 5 capabilities: Advertising, Consulting, Experience, PR & Influencer, and Health. This allows us to not only operate but innovate at the intersection of capabilities and talent. We believe impact and magic lies at this intersection. Ogilvy scales this by seamlessly connecting and accessing the deep cultural expertise of 132 offices in 83 countries. 

The result is multifaceted ideas for our clients that drive impact and are born from the intersection of platform x culture x technology. 

We call this Borderless Creativity. 

Ogilvy was ranked the number one UK agency at D&AD and was the only UK agency to win a Glass Lions at Cannes. Ogilvy was also nominated network of the year in Cannes Lions, Campaign, Effie Awards EMEA, London International Awards, The One Show and WARC Rankings. 

In 2022, Ogilvy was the most creatively awarded agency globally – including the most awarded agency at the Clio Awards, DMA Awards, Influencer Marketing Awards, London International Awards and The One Show. 

Ogilvy UK’s PR practice won large agency of the year at the PR Week awards. And our Consulting practice was in the Forbes 2022 list of best management consultancy firms. 

The Role:

We are a world-leading advertising and marketing agency, seeking a Client Finance Assistant to join our  Finance Team. This is a key role within the team, responsible for the billing and WIP management of a portfolio of brands on one of our prestigious client accounts. As the gatekeeper of the jobs, you will work closely with the brand teams and the Business Finance Manager (BFM) to ensure best commercial practice is at the heart of all agency business transactions.

We are looking for an approachable, efficient, and self-motivated individual with a methodical approach to tackle the high level of repetitive tasks that come with the role. As the Client Finance Assistant, you will be responsible for ensuring the adherence to the job opening process, timely management and follow up on jobs with brand teams, and explaining to the brand team how the job processes work on a client and why.

In addition, you will be responsible for reviewing WIP balances on open jobs, billing the client on a timely basis, and ensuring invoices are in line with client processes and internal processes. You will keep a log of Credit Notes and obtain relevant sign off in accordance with the Credit Note policy. You will also advise the BFM if client teams are not following internal processes or not making themselves available for WIP reviews.

The successful candidate will need to be organised, efficient, possess strong communication skills and be able to operate under tight deadlines. They will liaise with the finance team on supplier set-ups, urgent payment requests, timesheet management, and system queries.

Key Responsibilities:

• Manage the end-to-end job lifecycle, ensuring adherence to the job opening process and timely management of jobs with brand teams.
• Communicate effectively with brand teams, providing explanations of job processes on the client account and fostering strong working relationships.
• Collaborate with your CA to optimize the use of Maconomy/media Ocean for each brand's specific needs.
• Reviewing and processing the team expenses.
• Advise CA on instances where client teams are not following internal processes, ensuring compliance and smooth operations.
• Review open purchase orders (PO's) and provide guidance to teams on closing them when appropriate, maintaining accurate financial records.
• Ensure proper closure of jobs when necessary, obtaining sign-off from Project Managers and reviewing profitability.
• Working closely with our billing team to make sure invoices are being processed in a timely manner.
• Assisting on vendor set ups and manual payment requests.
• Proactively review WIP, identifying and resolving issues or escalating them to avoid negative working capital (NWC) provisions.
• Other Ad- hoc

Requirements:

• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to work independently and take ownership of tasks.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to explain financial concepts to non-finance staff.
• Excellent customer service skills.
• Proven ability to manage multiple priorities and work well under pressure.
• Strong analytical skills, with the ability to review financial data and identify issues.
• A methodical and structured approach to work, with a focus on following established processes and procedures.
• A collaborative approach to working with other members of the finance team and brand teams, with a focus on achieving shared goals.

How we help you Thrive:

• 25 days annual leave + 1 Volunteer Day 
• Bupa Healthcare
• Enhanced Maternity, Adoption and Shared Parental Leave
• We have a Flexible Working Model with core working hours: 10am – 4pm
• A 1.5:1 Matching Pension Structure
• Wellbeing and Health: Up to £25.00 per month towards physical or online exercise class membership, Unmind membership, LifeWorks tool and annual eye tests and development budgets and Wellbeing incentives and activities throughout the year 
• Season Ticket Loan and Cycle to Work Scheme
• Life Assurance

Our ambition is to attract the very best diverse talent to Ogilvy, and to be the employer of choice in the UK. We want everyone to feel welcome when they join us, and once they’re here, for them to want to stay with us, grow their career, and to feel they belong with us. 

We are an equal opportunity employer and we’re committed to creating an inclusive, welcoming environment for anyone who wants to work at Ogilvy. We believe that for creativity to flourish, everything about how we work must have diversity at its core. Your race, colour, ancestry, religion, gender, gender identity, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, or veteran status have no bearing on our hiring decisions. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know and we will do everything we can to accommodate.