Business Finance Manager / Credit Control

About Us

Edelman is a new kind of agency, at the intersection of PR, Advertising, Social, Digital, Earned Media and Experiential. We blur the lines between each medium to create smart, innovative, and powerful work that gets people talking and engaging with brands in new ways. You will be challenged to push convention and your creativity to find modern ways to drive consumer behavior in today’s socially charged, digital environment.

We are passionate, unconventional, and driven by a desire to do the best work possible. We get results for our clients and have the trophies to prove it. We are tough on work. We are kind to each other. We also laugh a lot ....

THE ROLE

As a business manager/finance manager, you will be responsible for handling the financial transactions, analyzing financial reports, credit management and AR, and monitoring investment activities. You will strategize effective techniques to boost the company’s financial performance and identify business opportunities to increase revenues. You will be able to drive performance in a fast-paced environment,operating across a complex structure to provide financial insights to support decision-making.

Key Roles And Responsibilities

Billing/Cash Flow Management

• Manage monthly billing – liaison between account staff and billing department and review billing reports.
• Responsible for entering required information and tracking status on all required billing portals such as Etimad, Ariba and other client owned portals.
• Proactively follow up on submitted invoices to ensure no issues are being raised, and on overdue invoices in person and via email/ phone as necessary.
• Produce monthly statements to clients to ensure timely collections.
• Monitor client accounts, identify potential payment risks, and escalate issues on a timely basis as needed.
• Assess and manage credit limits for new and existing clients based on company policies.
• Maintain a detailed record of credit transactions, payment commitments, and follow-ups.
  
  
  

Financial Management Analysis and Planning

• You will be responsible in reviewing monthly client fee phasing and expense detail with Client Leads or relevant Senior Finance
• Manage credit and collection - Account receivable (Etimad, GFS and any other client portals)
• Analyze monthly client budgets for accuracy and explain significant variances to budget or forecast.
• Assist with developing annual revenue and staffing budgets and maintain accurate monthly projections.
• Provide Client Finance Director, Finance VP and Client Leads with monthly financial package describing results to date, forward projections compared to budget and commentary around noticeable trends
• Analyze client finance reports and identify and communicate areas of concern and suggested improvements to account staff and management (e.g., client profitability, utilization, over/under service, missing time, revenue risk and staffing plans)
• Accountable for accuracy of client financials including client billing, pricing, receivables, WIP and monthly projections.
  
  
  

Revenue Recognition and Project Reconciliation

• Review monthly fees for accuracy and compliance with Edelman Revenue Recognition policy.
• Responsible for project reconciliation.
  
  
  

Pricing Contracts

• You will be responsible in reviewing and approving client budgets and upload properly into financial system for various department.
• Facilitate negotiation of client and vendor contracts between clients/vendors, account staff/senior management and legal department, including full review of all business terms (with oversight)
• Ensure that projects are managed in accordance with contracts; create summary sheets (contract cheat sheets) for account teams.
  
  
  

Client Reporting & Audits

• You will report to account teams with monthly project budget to actual tracking and other required client reporting.
• Coordinate data collection for client audits.
  
  
  

Knowledge & Skills

• 7+ years of finance and accounting experience
• Bilingual, reading and writing Arabic at professional level.
• Bachelor's degree in finance or accounting and CPA, MBA, or public accounting experience is a plus.
• Knowledge in financial systems (e.g., Workday or any other ERP system) and strong Microsoft Excel skills is a must.
• Team player with proven ability to work cross-functionally and across multiple stakeholders to achieve goals and objectives.
• Capacity to manage a busy workload and tight deadlines.
  
  
  

Guiding Principles for our Team:

Fearless: We take big swings. If we don’t fail every now and then, we aren’t trying.

Curious: We are a team that embraces challenges - curious people are often unafraid of change

Inclusive: We are open-minded to ideas wherever they come. We build through diverse thinkers and backgrounds.

Integrity: We do what we say. We are honest and respectful in how we make