Reporting to the Publicis Groupe Chief financial Officer, with a dotted line to the Senior Vice President for Publicis West Africa, the FD for Ghana is responsible for managing strategic financial operations.

The ability to communicate with and work with several different teams is essential, as this role deals with a shared service centre, business unit management and regional finance team.

The FD shares & supports our company’s core values as the cornerstone of their work ethic & actively builds them into their team dynamic & way of work.

Business partner

• Partner with the SVP for Publicis West Africa, to conceive and execute business strategies.
• With the support of their team, ensure financial controls, accounting routine and management systems operate effectively and provide the information required at all levels for the proper conduct of the business.
• Strategic skills – involvement at leadership level in setting business strategy but also financial validation of those strategies.
• Catalyst for change – efficiencies, standardization, quality, operational agility and automation. The finance team should be the shining example of that.
• Advises on the business situation, increasing revenue, reducing costs and accelerating cash collection from clients.
• Helps client and practice leaders and their managers develop new and existing revenue sources.
• Supports Client Services and other services for all financial and operational issues.
• Helps to define the most optimal way to deliver services in order to ensure quality to clients and profitability for the Groupe.

Controlling, budgeting and internal control functions

• Aware of, track risk and advise leadership team on an ongoing basis of status and recommended course of action across all entities.
• Budgeting, monthly forecasting and handling of all analyses/comments to be provided to the SVP for Ghana, and Leadership team.
• Ensuring compliance with the Publicis Groupe SA operational and financial policies and processes including the use of standard tool-sets and methodology, in accordance with the Publicis Corporate Policies.
• Relation / follow-up of the internal audits performed by the Groupe Internal Audit.
• Compliance to FMC requirements defined by the Groupe Internal Audit.
• Managing the working capital improvement including the reduction of overdue receivables and of WIP, the acceleration of the billing process & the analysis of cash generation.

Negotiations

• Ensure all contracts (current and future) are legally and financially sound; this involves the ability to defend the interests of the agency when dealing with procurement, suppliers, clients and prospects.
• Support Leaders in negotiations by providing financial information (pricing, cost of resources and teams, targeted profitability), working and dealing directly with clients as and when necessary.
• Participates with RFPs in order to protect the agency interests and help close the deal with all pitches.
• The client service teams remain fully accountable for the successful outcome of the sale and are responsible for the relationship with the clients while the FD & the finance team support the sales process.

Financial Management

• Organise the Finance function in Ghana to achieve smooth running of the day-to-day Finance operations providing relevant and effective support to the business teams.
• Ensuring fulfilment of all Publicis Groupe SA with a functional line to the Publicis Groupe Africa CFO / Global Finance Team.
• Instituting and/or maintaining sound financial processes and systems to facilitate optimum control and accurate time charging, as well as tracking of all jobs, to improve cash flow; overall, to improve the speed and accuracy of billings, the profitability of time cost based work, and the rapidity of client payment.
• Accurate and on time production of monthly management accounts
• Bonuses accruals, assessment and payments.

Finance Team People management

• Ensure that all members of the finance team receive appropriate professional and job training and supports those taking external professional qualifications.
• Motivates and manages the team to achieve excellent job performance.
• Responsible for completing or supporting others complete the annual performance appraisal within the finance team.
• Ensure that the finance team integrates with other teams in the business.

PREVIOUS WORK EXPERIENCE

• 8+ years ‘experience in a similar position, preferably within a Marketing/Advertising industry- Creative and Media
• Knowledge of Excel, financial systems and business software

THEORETICAL KNOWLEDGE

• Diploma in Business, Finance, Accounting, or related field, or related on-the-job experience
• Knowledge of Excel, financial systems and business software.

COMPETENCIES

• Financially astute: Proven experience at managing P&Ls. Has been responsible for providing on-going accurate and meaningful financial information, propose business solutions which will allow the CEO and the Executive Committee to understand the business performance and take the appropriate decision to run the business.
• Commercial Highly commercial, they have previous experience in all clients’ contracts, leading acquisitions and deals supporting a growth plan.
• Talent oriented: Has successfully partnered with a Chief Talent Officer in managing headcounts, personnel costs, supporting HR reporting, restructuring initiatives and leading cross functional transformation.
• Operational Hands on, the person is deeply operational, understanding not only how to build strategies but work with the teams to execute them smoothly.
• Matrixed organization: Deep understanding of navigating an international matrixed organisation, managing multiple stakeholders and building advocacy.