Royalty Accountant at LexisNexis South Africa

About the Role

• The Royalty Accountant, Global Royalties position will maintain relationships with authors, business units and internal departments. Primary duties include: analyze and interpret contracts for royalty terms; ensure that all contract terms and adjustments are accurately entered into the royalty system and/or produced manually via Excel; ensure payments are processed successfully and transmitted to the payee within contractual due date; royalty statements are accurate and distributed timely by reconciling sales data to source systems. The Royalty Accountant will also be responsible for: resolving royalty related queries, reviewing and approving contracts in royalty system, completing special assignments involving research, investigation and resolution of royalty payment issues, as well as functional and technical system support, acting as training and knowledge resource for the department and creating and maintaining process documentation.

Responsibilities

• Reconciliation and Month-end
• Assemble, format and distribute monthly reports to respective stakeholders. Review the data and apply macros according to standard procedures; review for reasonableness and accuracy.
• Account reconciliations per ownership in Blackline. Complete Blackline assigned task timely and accurately. Identify variances and resolved variance issue. Liaise and work with tech team through webstar, for any tech-related issues.
• Analyze and interpret contracts for royalty terms before entering them into the royalty system. Review and approve contract terms in royalty system, meeting individual metrics as stated in Key Performance Objectives. Perform manual royalty calculations in accordance with agreements (to include varied and complex escalating royalty and threshold parameters); support new contractual agreements by reviewing terms, to identify any concerns that may impede meeting contractual obligations. Perform (lead as directed) system testing efforts in support of new product releases and/or upgrades; system enhancements; and, migration.
• Independently own special project assignments, including researching and resolving royalty payment issues involving complex technical calculations.
• Follow up and respond to author queries in a timely manner (either by phone, mail or email). Foster internal relationships with the business. Liaise with internal P2P team members for payment tracking. Liaise with various business units, auditors, and legal, as necessary.
• Assist with completion of all tasks associated with the royalty pay out (monthly, quarterly, and semi-annual). Ensure all adjustments, contracts updates, off-cycle payments, and vendor updates are completed and properly authorized. Research and resolve returned payments/statements, and if necessary, move to the unclaimed property account. Assist with any other miscellaneous project assigned.

Requirements

• Studies towards an associates Bachelors Degree required (Accounting or business administration with majors in business Administration, Financial Accounting, Management Accounting and Finance, Taxation and Auditing) or studies towards a CIMA qualification
• Accredited traineeship
• One - two years’ experience in a customer service, finance, payables or contracts related environment
• Excellent verbal and written communication and customer service skills required
• Must be able to meet deadlines consistently and effectively while working under pressure
• Willingness to work overtime during peak periods
• Willingness to work a different time zone, as agreeda