Mgr, Royalty Accounting (Remote US)

Overview

HarperCollins is seeking a strategic and detail-oriented Manager, Royalty Accounting to lead the financial control and reporting of royalty-related balance sheet items. This pivotal role oversees the Accounting and Subrights functions for our North American operations, ensuring accuracy and efficiency within the heart of our publishing ecosystem. As a key leader in the department, you will own the scheduling and planning processes, manage complex financial data, and drive continuous improvement through the optimization of our royalty software systems.

Responsibilities

• Team Leadership: Oversee the North American Accounting and Subrights teams, ensuring all transactions are accurately supported and strictly adhere to GAAP, internal policies, and industry standards.
• General Ledger Management: Direct the reconciliation and maintenance of GL accounts, including intercompany balances, accruals, and the execution of monthly journal entries.
• Financial Controls: Control and validate all financial postings for royalty, licensing, and intercompany transactions to ensure data integrity.
• Provisions & Accruals: Review and approve financial provisions and ensure the accuracy of complex accruals for profit shares and joint ventures.

Systems & Subject Matter Expertise

• Systems Architecture: Manage the royalty system structure and coordinate software functionality to optimize financial posting and reporting.
• Strategic SME: Serve as the primary Subject Matter Expert (SME) for North American royalty accounting, providing technical guidance to internal and external stakeholders.
• Reporting Excellence: Empower the team to prepare sophisticated reporting for joint ventures, profit shares, and other high-level financial requirements.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 10 years in corporate accounting, finance, or royalty operations, including at least 5 years in a senior leadership or high-level analyst role.
• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience; CPA or other professional certification is preferred.
• Strong knowledge of royalty or cost accounting and revenue recognition (Order-to-Cash) is required, with book publishing experience preferred.
• Familiarity with sales, distribution of goods, warehouse processes, author contracts, and contract interpretation.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel is required; experience with JDE Financials, Order-to-Cash software, or the Klopotek royalty system is highly desired.
• Exceptional communication skills across phone, email, and in-person interactions with a highly responsible and professional demeanor.
• A self-starter with a clear sense of urgency and the ability to remain unflappable and organized in a fast-paced environment.
• Proven ability to take full ownership of projects and make informed decisions, knowing when to escalate for counsel as needed.

HarperCollins Publishers is a company full of people who are passionate about books. When you apply for a position, we want to know why you want to work here, and why you are interested in the job. That’s why cover letters are strongly preferred. The salary range for this position is $95,000-$100,000. We recognize that attracting the best talent is key to our strategy and success as a company. As a result, we aim for flexibility in structuring competitive compensation offers to ensure we are able to attract the best candidates. The quoted salary range represents our good faith estimate as to what our ideal candidates are likely to expect, and we tailor our offers within the range based on the selected candidate's experience, industry knowledge, technical and communication skills, and other factors that may prove relevant during the interview process. In addition to cash compensation, the company provides a comprehensive and highly competitive benefits package, with a variety of physical health, retirement and savings, caregiving, emotional wellbeing, transportation, and other benefits, including "elective" benefits employees may select to best fit the needs and personal situations of our diverse workforce.