Finance Manager- Royalties
Universal Music Group.com
Office
Sydney, Australia
Full Time
We are Universal Music Australia (UMA), Part of The Universal Music Group. We are the world’s leading music company. In everything we do, we are committed to artistry, innovation and entrepreneurship. We own and operate a broad array of businesses engaged in recorded music, music publishing, merchandising, and audio-visual content in more than 60 countries.
Are you ready to take your finance career into the wonderful world of music? Our Finance team is looking for a Royalties Manager to join our very important Royalties department (its how we ensure our artists are paid!). This role is a 12-month parental leave cover; however, we're always on the lookout for great people to stay and grow with us long term.
About the Role
The Finance Manager- Royalties, is responsible for the end-to-end oversight of licensing revenue recognition, artist advances, royalty accounting processes, and related financial controls. This role leads royalty operations, ensures compliance with contractual, tax, and accounting standards, and acts as a key point of contact for artists, management, and internal stakeholders.
Key Responsibilities
Oversee the timely and accurate recognition of licensing and broadcast revenues.
Own royalty-related group controls and quarterly controls testing.
Review and approve weekly royalty pay runs and quarterly royalty statements, including manually prepared statements.
Oversee royalty accruals and copyright payable reconciliations.
Monitor and review third-party royalty costs and accounting (Producers, mixers, etc).
Review royalty accounting performed by external parties (Neon records)
Maintain oversight of artist commitment and artist advance balances, ensuring accurate ongoing tracking, classification and reporting.
Approve requisitions and invoices for artist-related costs.
Oversee royalty contract setup and new release processes.
Ensure compliance with non-resident withholding tax requirements
Lead quarter-end royalty close processes
Manage sensitive queries and information requests from artist management and external stakeholders.
Support A&R, Business Affairs, and Merchandise teams with royalty, and cost-related inquiries.
Act as a key liaison with internal and external auditors on royalty and artist accounting matters.
Act as a key liaison on artist audits
Manage Month end and quarter end accounting requirements for royalties, licensing and advances
Review and assess A&R plans and forecasts
Review and approve royalty related journal entries and accounting adjustments.
Support and manage the royalties team
Provide leave cover and operational support for royalty accountant as required.
Take ownership of global royalty projects, driving process improvements, system enhancements, and best practices.
Manage deadlines and Provide day to day guidance to the team to ensure high quality deliverables
Lead team meetings, conduct regular check-ins, manage leave requests and support staff development and performance.
About You
CA/CPA Qualified
People leadership and cross functional collaboration skills.
Strong accounting background with demonstrated experience in internal controls, revenue recognition, accruals, reconciliations, and group reporting.
A genuine interest in building in depth knowledge of royalty accounting and Music industry business frameworks.
Able to manage complex, sensitive and sometimes challenging communications with maturity and judgement.
About Us
Career opportunities-unique and rare opportunity to elevate your career in a supportive, motivated and ambitious team
The opportunity to join the WORLDS leading music company
All the perks of working within the music industry (did someone say live music?)
X 2 ‘U-Days’ per calendar year to spend however you like!
Strengths based learning and development opportunities
Much more….!