Assistant Production Accountant - 12 month Fix Term Contract

ABOUT THE TEAM

This role is part of a team of Production Accountants and Assistant Production Accountants who are located within production departments. They are part of a larger team within Finance Central. Finance Central is the BBC’s shared finance service centre which provides a finance service to all areas of the BBC. 

THE ROLE

This role is part of a team of Production Accountants and Assistant Production Accountants who, although being part of a wider finance community, are embedded within production departments, working closely with the Production Management teams. The purpose of this role is to:

• Support the Production Accountant in managing the financial control of a production/ slate of productions
• Work with the Production Accountant and Production Accounting Manager to ensure the delivery of timely and accurate financial information to support effective cost management of productions
   

Key Responsibilities: 

General Accounting:

• To record transactions in the production’s books of prime entry and general ledger
• To assist in the preparation of weekly cost reports based on the costs recorded in the BBC’s main accounting system
• To establish and review production records in order to assist with the overall cost control of the production
   

Purchasing: 

• To maintain a purchase order log and monitor the use of manual purchase orders
• To ensure all transactions are entered accurately in the appropriate accounting system
• To resolve any instances of incorrect charges or disputes and to liaise with external and BBC suppliers
• Liaise with Procurement to progress out of scope purchasing
• To provide administrative support with the booking and payment of freelance crews
• To be responsible for processing expense claims and subsequent coding into the relevant system
• To be responsible for the Supporting Artist and Walk-ons payment process
   

Bank and Cash:

• Where relevant to assist in the operation of the production bank account(s) including the disbursement of cash to cover agreed expenditure
• To prepare weekly finance and expenditure reports and produce petty cash and bank reconciliations
• To assist with the management and control of production Barclaycards
• To assist as necessary in the preparation of Section 16 Reports
   

Controls and Compliance:

• To monitor and check that costs are appropriately authorised and to ensure that they are completely and accurately recorded in line with the BBC Guidelines
• To obtain and retain appropriate supporting documentation of all production transactions and ensure audit trails are maintained
• To maintain the Production Asset Register in line with BBC Policy

ESSENTIAL CRITERIA:

• Vocational training/experience within financial or accountancy field.
• Understanding of basic accounting principles, practice, controls and compliance requirements.
• Numerate with analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Computer literacy in key computer packages such as Microsoft Excel, Word and Outlook.

DESIRABLE CRITERIA:

• Experience in working in a production environment within a media organisation
• Working towards recognised accounting qualification e.g. ACA, ACCA, CIMA, or equivalent