Property Accounts Team Leader

SSP is a leading operator of food and beverage outlets in travel locations worldwide, with c.42,000 colleagues in over 600 locations across 36 countries.  We operate sit-down and quick service restaurants, cafes, lounges and food-led convenience stores, principally in airports and train stations, with a portfolio of around 550 international, national and local brands.

These include our own brands Upper Crust, Millies Cookies etc. as well as franchise brands such as M&S, Starbucks and Burger King.

Our purpose is to be the best part of the journey, and this is underpinned by our aim to bring leading brands and innovative concepts to our clients and customers around the world, with an emphasis on great value, taste, quality and service.

Working in the Property Accounting team, you will be responsible for managing four Property Accountants. This will include overseeing the calculation of monthly accruals and validation of contractual liabilities as well as giving guidance on appropriate treatment of leases and working closely with the Financial Reporting Accountant to ensure the teams inputs are accurate under both IAS 17 and IFRS 16 standards.

You will work closely with the team and landlords to resolve any outstanding balances on their accounts so you will need strong balance sheet and vendor reconciliation skills and keenness to develop team members.

This is a great opportunity for a ambitious individual from an Accounts Payable background who wants to strengthen their financial experience in property accounting and take that step up into management within a well-established team in a dynamic retail environment.

What you’ll be doing:

• Make sure all property costs are accurately recorded in our accounts by ensuring control and processes are performed in line with group accounting policies.
• Lead resolution of outstanding queries in relation to property costs from clients and business.
• Review monthly balance sheet reconciliations for rent including aging taking action on any reconciling items and resolving areas that require further investigation.
• Weekly Review of the rolling 13-week property cash flow and approval of payments.
• Ensure all landlord/managing agent and franchisor commitments are calculated and verified in accordance with the terms of the agreement.
• Assist team with the completion of regular client statement reconciliations and resolve outstanding items on statement.
• Liaise with Property legal team on contractual terms.
• Attend monthly client meetings working jointly together to resolve issues and improve working processes.
• Support in client, internal and external audit control and substantiation process.

To be successful in this role you will need:

• Minimum 3 years accounting experience.
• Background in Accounts Payable.
• Previous responsibilities to include complex reconciliation preparation.
• Proactive and go getter attitude with the ability to work independently, challenge through any blockers and assist the team.
• Strong Excel user with experience of large data manipulation.
• Experience of property accounting would be highly beneficial.
• Experience of managing a team is not essential if you are looking to take that next step up.