VMLY&R Risk & Controls Director, EMEA

The Company

VMLY&R is a global brand and customer experience agency within the WPP family, delivering a contemporary, fully integrated offering on a global scale. VMLY&R thrives on creating work that brings people together, united by the power of human connection. We harness creativity, technology, and culture to create connected brands that drive value for our clients and touch lives around the world.

About the Role

VMLY&R is seeking a dynamic, forward-thinking Risks & Controls Director for the EMEA Region with substantial accounting and auditing experience who will be based in London. This role leads a regional team and reports to the VMLY&R Global Risks and Controls Director.

This role is critical within the VMLY&R network of operating companies to achieve the following goals:

• Partner with the various operating companies to drive change and establish processes and controls under a comprehensive controls framework to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) and various accounting and control policies;
• Advise the VMLY&R EMEA CFO's and CEO's in the area of internal controls and compliance;
• Provide process improvement solutions, balancing the business requirements and the control framework requirements;
• Be actively involved with and understand the business. This is not an audit position although this person will work closely with auditors and an audit background is required;
• Support the culture of control compliance and continuous controls improvement;
• Provide training and development at the regional and operating company level.

The candidate should be knowledgeable in business controls and documentation thereof, and auditing requirements including the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) requirements, IFRS, European GAAP, and Risk and Compliance best practices and emerging trends.

The job will require approximately 35% travel, primarily within EMEA, although some meetings may require global travel. Travel is currently not expected due to the global COVID pandemic. Remote working skills are essential.

Responsibilities include:

• Operate as a thought leader and Risk & Controls champion.
• Support and actively lead a team.
• Collaborate with regional and the local operating company finance teams to develop the necessary processes and controls based on the WPP Controls Framework.
• Be a source of policy and controls guidance to the operating companies.
• Assist operating companies with process documentation and narratives.
• Provide process improvement solutions, balancing the business requirements and the WPP control framework requirements.
• Partner with local finance teams on remediation plans and timetable for improvement.
• Educate and train local finance teams on control requirements and the control structure that makes sense for their business.
• Assess the process and controls in place by "walking through" these with the operating companies to identify gaps.
• Support and assist local finance teams on management responses to all audit reports.
• Participate in close meetings with auditors
• Liaise and build relationships with peers across VMLY&R and WPP, including WPP Internal Audit and the Risk and Controls group.
• Manage the annual self-certification process for VMLY&R EMEA.
• Manage and support ad hoc requests from WPP Internal Audit or Risk and Controls Group
• Collaborate across functions, particularly Finance and IT.
• Identify digital compliance solutions to and development of online tools to reduce paper usage and become more efficient.

Qualifications and Skills:

• Minimum of 10 years of accounting and internal/external audit experience
• Undergraduate degree in Accounting, CPA (or Chartered Accountant) required.
• Public Accounting experience required.
• Experience with IFRS, GAAP, GAAS, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, SEC, PCAOB requirements, etc.
• Process narrative and risk & control matrices documentation experience.
• Capability to make actionable recommendations to senior management for process improvement solutions.
• Effective communicator at all levels in the organization, with strong oral and written skills.
• Organized and detail-oriented.
• Smart and strategic with a collaborative and team first mindset.
• Strong and proven leadership.
• Can communicate diplomatically and skillfully
• Ability to work under pressure in an environment with constantly changing priorities.
• Proven track record of influencing change.
• Large company process reengineering and systems implementation change management experience a plus.
• Controllership experience a plus.
• Experience with quantifying financial statement impact of deficiencies at a large company a plus.