Manager, Record to Report - Central Accounting

Company Description

VERSANT (Nasdaq: VSNT) is an industry-changing media and entertainment business and home to trusted brands that shape culture, inform audiences, and build lasting connections. It operates across four core markets: political news and opinion, business news and personal finance, golf, and sports and genre entertainment. These markets are served through a powerful portfolio of iconic and innovative brands, including CNBC, MS NOW, USA Network, Golf Channel, Oxygen, E!, SYFY, and Versant's sports division USA Sports, along with complementary digital assets including Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow and GolfPass.

Job Description

The Manager, Central Accounting - Record to Report (R2R) is a key operational leader supporting Versant's centralized enterprise-wide R2R accounting function. Reporting to the Director, Central Accounting - R2R, this role owns the day-to-day execution, quality, and timely completion of assigned central accounting activities across journal entries, account reconciliations, intercompany accounting, PP&E (fixed assets), cash account reconciliations, payroll accounting, compensation and benefits accounting, travel and expense accounting, account analysis, and reporting support.

The Manager will drive accounting transactional, governance, control, and transformation priorities through disciplined daily execution. Working closely with Corporate Accounting, Consolidations, Treasury, Finance, Technical Accounting, Risk & Compliance, and outsourced service providers, the role leads assigned internal and BPO record to report work, manages close dependencies and exceptions, and brings timely risks, insights, and recommendations to the Director.

What You Will Do

Service Delivery & Close Execution

• Lead daily and monthly execution of assigned centralized R2R activities, including journal entry preparation and review, account reconciliations, intercompany postings, PP&E (fixed assets) accounting, cash & banking account reconciliations, payroll accounting, compensation and benefits accounting, travel and expense accounting, account analysis, and close deliverables.
• Manage the month-end, quarter-end, and year-end close calendar for assigned central accounting activities; monitor completion, resolve issues, and escalate risks early.
• Review and approve journal entries, reconciliations, and supporting documentation to ensure accuracy, completeness, timeliness, and compliance with accounting policies and control requirements.
• Coordinate closely with Corporate Accounting, Consolidations, Treasury, Tax, Financial Systems, and business-unit controllership teams on close dependencies, deliverables, and issue resolution.
• Prepare and support recurring reporting packages, P&L and balance-sheet fluctuation analysis, audit schedules, and controllership inquiries for assigned accounts and processes.
• Maintain accurate R2R master data for assigned processes and promptly identify master-data defects or control risks for resolution through established governance.

BPO & Team Oversight

• Lead and supervise day-to-day work performed by assigned analysts and outsourced/onshore/offshore R2R resources; establish clear ownership, priorities, handoffs, and quality expectations.
• Monitor daily provider execution against SLAs, KPIs, close deadlines, reconciliation standards, and documentation requirements; resolve routine issues and escalate material risks, capacity constraints, and recurring defects to the Director.
• Run operational status reviews, maintain issue logs and action trackers, coordinate workload planning, and provide clear performance and risk updates to the Director.
• Coach and develop team members, provide meaningful feedback, and foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, customer service, and continuous improvement.

Standards, Controls & Compliance

• Execute and reinforce a SOX-compliant control environment across assigned central accounting processes, including journal entry governance, account reconciliations, and review procedures.
• Ensure close documentation, account support, desk-level procedures, and standard operating procedures are complete, audit-ready, and consistently maintained; recommend updates when process changes or issues require them.
• Partner with Risk & Compliance, Internal Audit, External Audit, and Technical Accounting to support walkthroughs, testing, remediation, and evolving policy requirements.
• Identify control gaps, recurring defects, and documentation issues; perform root-cause analysis, implement approved corrective actions, and escalate matters requiring cross-functional or policy decisions.

Performance, Transformation & Continuous Improvement

• Monitor assigned R2R KPIs, including close timeliness, journal entry quality, reconciliation completion, aged open items, and provider performance; use data to identify trends and recommend improvements to the Director.
• Implement standardization, automation, and simplification initiatives within assigned processes that reduce manual work, improve quality, strengthen controls, and enhance stakeholder experience.
• Support adoption and day-to-day optimization of SAP, BlackLine, Promenta, and related workflow, reconciliation, and reporting tools; document requirements, test changes, and support user readiness.
• Participate in ERP modernization, centralization, and finance transformation initiatives by providing process expertise, executing transition plans, and supporting implementation of the future-state model defined by the Director.

Qualifications

What You Bring

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, or a related field; CPA preferred
• 4+ years of progressive experience in corporate accounting, controllership, shared services, or Record to Report operations.
• Demonstrated experience leading month-end close, journal entries, account reconciliations, intercompany activity, PP&E (fixed assets), payroll accounting, compensation and benefits accounting, travel and expense accounting, account analysis, and audit support in a complex environment.
• Strong understanding of US GAAP, SOX requirements, internal controls, and accounting operations best practices.
• At least 3 years of experience supervising staff and/or overseeing outsourced, offshore, BPO, or shared-service accounting teams.
• Strong analytical, organizational, problem-solving, communication, and stakeholder-management skills; able to manage competing priorities and close deadlines.
• Experience with ERP, close, reconciliation, journal-entry, workflow, or reporting tools; SAP and BlackLine experience strongly preferred.

Preferred Qualifications

• CPA, MBA, or equivalent advanced accounting or business credential.
• Experience in media, entertainment, digital, advertising, technology, or another complex, multi-entity environment.
• Experience working in a publicly traded company or a Big 4 accounting firm.
• Experience with accounting transformation, process centralization, automation, ERP implementation, carve-out, or newly public company readiness.
• Experience with BlackLine reconciliation automation, transaction matching, journal-entry workflow, Promenta, or comparable close-management technologies.
• Proficiency in SAP HANA S/4 ERP systems

Why Join Versant

This is an opportunity to play a meaningful leadership role in building a scalable, modern accounting operations model for a newly independent, publicly traded media and entertainment company. You will partner directly with leaders across Controllership, Finance, Technology, Treasury, Audit, Compliance, and outsourced service providers while helping shape stronger close execution, controls, automation, and service delivery.

Additional Information:

• Hybrid: This position has been designated as hybrid, generally contributing from the Englewood Cliffs, NJ office a minimum of three days per week.
• This position is eligible for company sponsored benefits, including medical, dental and vision insurance, 401(k), paid leave, tuition reimbursement, and a variety of other benefits and perks.
• Salary Range : $90,000 - $110,000 (bonus eligible).

Additional Information

As part of our selection process, external candidates may be required to attend an in-person interview with a VERSANT Media employee at one of our locations prior to a hiring decision. VERSANT Media's policy is to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, gender identity or expression, age, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, veteran status, membership in the uniformed services, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable law.

If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran and require support throughout the application and/or recruitment process as a result of your disability, you have the right to request a reasonable accommodation. You can submit your request to .

VERSANT Media is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. We include a good faith pay range for each position to comply with applicable state and local pay transparency laws and to promote equity across our organization. Actual compensation will be based on factors such as the candidate's skills, qualifications, experience, and location and may include additional forms of compensation and benefits such as health insurance, retirement plans, paid time off, etc.

VERSANT Media is not accepting unsolicited assistance from search firms for this employment opportunity. All resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at VERSANT via-email, the Internet, or in any form and/or method without a valid written Statement of Work in place for this position from VERSANT's Talent Acquisition team will be deemed the sole property of VERSANT. No fee will be paid in the event the candidate is hired by VERSANT as a result of the referral or through other means.