Senior Accounting Manager

This role reports into Head of Financial Reporting and sits within the Financial Accounting Function, which is committed to delivering the best in class accounting through deploying efficient processes and effective management of external service providers.

This role leads a team of 3 that looks after the accounting for the shared network with EE and Retail estate, both are administered by external service providers and report under IFRS 16 and IAS 17.

Principally the role requires effective management of the external service providers to ensure completeness and accuracy of Financial records to Three’s accounting ledgers. You must be technically competent to understand current accounting requirements at a level to effectively translate, communicate and manage source data requirements from the Service Providers.  Further, you will be required to implement initiatives to improve and track service level requirements. 

This role provides an excellent exposure for an experienced Reporting Manager to apply their technical knowledge of accounting standards as well as gaining valuable experience in service level management through being empowered to challenge, implement and lead project initiatives to improve the process and reporting.

You will work closely with the T&O (Technology and Operations) Finance team (who own the budget and forecasting of the Network Sites cost) & MBNL Finance team and oversee the recording of our share of the expenditure (Capex, rent (under IFRS16 & IAS 17), rates and electricity) in excess of £250M per annum for over 14,000 network sites.

Key part of the role is managing the communication and relationship with Cellnex, who have recently purchased large volume of cell sites from Three and require close liaising with during the transition period.

You will need to build strong working relationships with internal stakeholders being T&O Finance, MBNL, Capital Accounting team & the VAT team.  You will also need to work closely with external stakeholders, AY & SMS – both are outsourced accounting services providers to MBNL for the network sites rent, rates and electricity and AS Watson, who manage the accounting for Retail stores.

You will manage the accounting for MBNL and Retail within Three’s records, under IAS17 and IFRS 16 for the leases. You will review and approve 30 balance sheet accounts, which cover significant value of company’s balance sheet, identify any risks that may exist or arise, thereafter putting controls in place to mitigate or understand the severity of the risk.

You will be expected to support with the preparation of the cashflow forecast related to MBNL and IFRS 16.

With the help of a dedicated head in the team, key focus of the role will be leading the reporting under IFRS 16.  Preparation of the IFRS 16 accounting has been outsourced to AY and key part of the role will be to work closely with AY/MBNL to improve the accuracy and delivery of the IFRS 16 Reporting.

This is a great opportunity that will enable the successful candidate to understand the nature of our shared network agreement with EE, and understand the financials of our network management. 

This is a highly visible role and provides great development opportunity, as you will be managing several high profile external service providers and internally liaising with senior management on regular basis.

• Lead and aspire your team, contributing to their self-development.
• Manage the relationship with Cellnex, who have recently acquired large volume of cell sites from Three.
• Pro-actively manage the relationships with various 3rd parties that the accounting has been outsourced to.
• Responsible for managing the accounting of the monthly Network site spend for Three’s Radio Access Network, any ongoing spend on the network consolidation with EE and Retail.
• Oversee the IFRS 16 reporting of leased network sites and Retail stores.
• Lead on Three’s behalf the Tri-party sign off agreement of balances between MBNL, EE & Three.
• Main point of contact during internal and external audits of the above areas.
• Review and approve 30 balance sheet reconciliations for accounts related to the Network Site accounting and Retail to strict monthly deadlines.
• Deputise for the Head of Financial Reporting and assist in ad hoc projects within the wider team.

Must Have:

• Qualified ACA, with extensive PQE.
• Experience of team management.
• Experience of managing external and internal stakeholders and 3rd party contracts.
• Experience of working in a month end environment with experience of General Ledger close processes and month end reconciliation requirements.
• Experience of working with external auditors.
• Analytical skills with attention to detail.
• Strong Financial Accounting skills.
• Intermediate Excel.
• Being Customer driven - Creating and delivering great customer experience.
• Being a Collaborator - Build and maintain good relationships with multiple stakeholders and understanding their requirement. Strong influencing skills and be able to engage others from broad area of business background.
• Being Agile – Priorities the work and continually reassessing
• Be comfortable presenting and liaising with senior management.

Nice to have:

• Working knowledge of Oracle.
• Experience of working in a Group/Parent/Subsidiary environment.

What you'll receive in return…

• A performance based annual bonus & an additional 'flexible allowance' to spend on additional benefits, topping up your pension, or to be added to your salary
• Hybrid working between your home (2-3 days a week) and our Reading office (2-3 days a week)
• 28 days annual leave + 8 bank holidays + 3 personal days annually, which increases with length of service
• Private Medical Insurance, Life Assurance and Income Protection
• Free mobile phone package & unlimited sim-card
• .... Plus lots more including wellbeing and learning & development benefits!

Our people make us who we are. We’re a diverse and inclusive bunch, and it’s important you can feel you belong here. We value everybody for who they are and what they bring to the table, supporting one another as we continue to deliver for our customers.

With that in mind, if you do not ‘tick every box’ in the job advert above, there are likely other valuable attributes and skills you have that would make you a great addition for the team. So, if you feel this role is for you, then please apply! We are committed to equality in employment and growing a diverse workforce. We embrace those of any race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, religion, disability, marital status, family status or civil status and we want our teams to reflect this!

We are a Disability Confident Committed Employer. Need any reasonable adjustments? Let us know when you apply so we can support you throughout the interview process.

At Three we have a hybrid working arrangement in place as standard for office based employees, where employees work from a mix of office based location and working from their home in the UK to carry on their role.

Excluding retail, our core hours at Three are between 10:00 and 16:00, with operating hours between 08:00 & 18:30. This allows employees to have a start time between 08:00 and 10:00 and finish time between 16:00 and 18:30.