Job Description

• Lead end-to-end SOX testing, ensuring effective evaluation of manual and key business controls
• Own Risk and Control Matrices ( RACMs), narratives, and flowcharts, ensuring accuracy and completeness
• Ensure controls coverage across P2P, O2C, R2R, GRPA and other relevant finance processes
• Conduct walkthroughs and validate financial statement assertions
• Lead deficiency assessment, remediation, and re-testing
• Balance own individual contributor work with team oversight and review responsibilities
• Ensure on-time, high-quality delivery of testing and documentation
• Act as primary liaison with stakeholders and auditors
• Lead a team of 3 members responsible for SOX controls testing
• Support SOX scoping, process improvements, and transformation readiness
• Collaborate with ITGC teams on system-dependent controls

SOX Testing & Compliance Execution

• Lead annual SOX testing lifecycle ensuring coverage of key financial reporting risks
• Evaluate design and operating effectiveness of manual and automated business process controls
• Ensure controls effectively prevent/detect material misstatements

Controls Framework Ownership

• Own and maintain RACMs, narratives, and flowcharts across key processes
• Ensure alignment to SOX, ICFR, and financial statement assertions

Business Process Controls Coverage

• Ensure comprehensive control coverage across: P2P (Procure-to-Pay) O2C (Order-to-Cash) R2R (Record-to-Report) GRPA (Reporting, Forecasting and Financial Analysis – GRPA)
• Operate within a shared services/multinational environment, ensuring consistency across regions

Walkthroughs & Risk Identification

• Lead walkthroughs to identify key controls and risks, ensuring assertion coverage (completeness, accuracy, existence, etc.)

Deficiency Management

• Assess and classify deficiencies (control deficiency, significant deficiency, material weakness)
• Drive remediation planning, tracking, and re-testing

Stakeholder & Audit Management

• Act as primary liaison between business, management, and auditors
• Ensure smooth audit coordination and alignment of expectations

Continuous Improvement & Projects

• Support SOX scoping and risk assessment
• Drive control optimization and efficiency improvements
• Ensure SOX readiness for transformation initiatives (e.g., system implementations)
• Partner with ITGC teams for system-related dependencies

Accountabilities:

• Leads the planning, coordinating, executing, reporting and close-out of the annual SOX management testing for STM/ELS (Scientific, Technical & Medical) division’s financial controls. This is executed in close collaboration with control owners and operators
• Acts as the primary liaison with the external auditors (EY) and RELX Internal Audit and Assurance (IAA)
• The individual is also expected to lead in contributing to the wider Controls agenda including ownership of control design, scoping, deficiency evaluation & re-testing activities, to continuous improvement of the internal controls over financial reporting framework
• Oversee the internal controls framework at Elsevier, including managing risk and control matrices and ensuring high-quality of documentation such as narrative descriptions and flowcharts for each significant finance process
• Collaborate with the Head of Financial Controls to ensure that key processes are following Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) requirements, helping to maintain and strengthen the company’s internal control structure
• Conduct comprehensive walkthroughs for in-scope financial processes to identify key controls for SOX purposes. Ensure that all financial statement assertions are covered, providing a complete overview of process controls
• Serve as a primary point of contact between business process and control owners, management at various levels, and both internal and external auditors to facilitate communication and compliance efforts
• Lead the SOX compliance testing process, ensuring that testing procedures are effective in evaluating the controls.
• Verify that controls are performed consistently throughout the testing period and by the appropriate process owners.
• Evaluate whether controls are successful in preventing or detecting material misstatements
• Lead the annual scoping exercise for SOX controls, ensuring that the right controls are identified and documented for the upcoming year’s compliance cycle
• Collaborate with control owners to address any control deficiencies identified during testing.
• Provide guidance and support in developing remediation plans and ensure timely resolution of issues
• Evaluating deficiencies, preparing remediation plans, and coordinating the re-testing process to ensure that controls are operating effectively after remediation
• Support and organize training and awareness programs for controls. Ensure that relevant stakeholders are educated on SOX compliance and internal controls, promoting a culture of compliance throughout the organization
• Work closely with the SOX IT General Controls (ITGC) team to identify and understand in-scope SOX IT systems and applications, ensuring that all relevant IT controls are adequately addressed in compliance efforts

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting or a related field or professional accounting and/or auditing qualification
• Over 5 years of relevant experience in financial reporting processes, SOX Compliance, Internal controls over Financial Reporting, internal controls, audit, compliance, or a similar field
• 2-3 years of leadership experience in people (small team 2–4) and stakeholder management
• Good working knowledge of systems e.g., Excel (advanced level), PowerPoint, Hyperion, Oracle, and appreciation of IT general controls
• Excellent spoken and written English
• Ability to work in multi-location/global team across several time zones
• Advanced stakeholder management and engagement skills
• High degree of honesty and integrity - given nature of the role, it is vital that the individual can speak up in situations where personal values are being tested and escalate rapidly when potential control issues have been uncovered
• Ability to quickly learn and apply enterprise AI tools and technologies to support technical workflows and business objectives
• Must be in current role for 1 year
• Must not have received any Disciplinary Action within the past 12 months
• Must not have any Attendance and Punctuality issues in the past 12 months
  

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