Careers

Job Purpose

The Global Process Office is a Sony HQ function established to become the guardian of the Global Process Model. We take full ownership for Sony's Global Process Model; defining and supporting all tasks and activities that Accounting & Finance teams are responsible for. Our goal is to develop the Sony accounting function across the group to meet HQ’s Corporation’s Financial Objective; to deliver a world class accounting function to the business under a controlled costing structure.

• The role of the Global Process Owner Record to Report is to lead management, development and improvement of Sony’s standard Global Business Processes; driving the standardisation and simplification, automation, and performance improvement for all RTR- processes (including Tax and Statutory) for Sony’s Global Finance Platform.
• The Global Process Owners define the strategic direction to improve the Process model in Record to Report by assessing best practice tools and applications available to the finance community, and help implement the new ways of working into each tenant of the Sony Global Process model.
• As part of the continuous improvement cycle, the Global Process Owner will select which processes should be advanced through Automation, considering Robotic Programming Automation (RPA) or other AI initiatives to further improve the Global Process Model.
• Ensure the Global Process Model is adhered to by entities across the Globe, specifically all Sony Electronic Entities that must align to the Global platform, as well as future entities that need to roll into the Global Process model. 
• Support the roll out of Global transformation initiatives defined by the Global Accounting Platform Project (GAPP – global roll-out of single SAP Finance Platform built on the Global Process Model).

What you will be doing

• Supervise the Regional (EAST, WEST and JAPAN) Process Owners – Record to Report who will help to design, create, implement efficient and effective RTR-GL Accounting business processes across Sony’s global Finance Platform (incl. all outsourced tasks) for all entities on the S4 HANA platform.
• Coordinate change agents (SMEs) in each Sony entity to deliver global Process initiatives.
• Ensure all statutory reporting requirements in the WEST and EAST (across all Sony SAP Landscapes) comply with the Global Process model.
• Govern the Global Chart of Accounts (GCOA) and communicate GL changes to the Sony Finance community
• Govern the Global Rule Book that defines the GPM Controlling Master Data Objects (Profit center, cost center, Internal order, Segment) and ensure the rules are updated and improved accordingly.
• Develop KPI’s and support SLA creation and monitoring and monitor performance of those processes
• Continuously improve those processes with the target of achieving external benchmarks in terms of efficiency and cost; standardisation & simplification
• Work with entities to be rolled into the Sony Global Finance Platform and develop requirements with IS and other stakeholders
• Support all roll-in activities actively incl. training and testing
• Design SOX and other controls in coordination with the Sony Global Finance Platform Governance Function; support audit activities aiming to strengthen the internal control environment
• Maintain a complete set of Finance process documentation and create training material (to be used by Sony employees and BPO)

Standardisation & Simplification of Process & Solution and Process Improvement for Sony Global Finance Platform

Process Design & Evaluation:

• Lead the establishment of external leading practice benchmarking to drive innovation and continuous improvement of the process design
• Liaise with the various RTR delivery functions, RTR-Finance Reporting Process Owner, Subject Matter Experts in each company and wider Business stakeholders to ensure the standard process supports the on-going operating model and enables the delivery of the cost savings and / or business benefits
• Accountable for standard process performance (including WoW in Delivery teams as well as BPO)
• Agree & Review performance levels to monitor performance against key performance indicators and service levels to identify improvement opportunities
• Drive the initiation of process improvement opportunities
• Drive the design of process improvement with IS functions especially considering Automation (e.g. Global Solution Architect and IS delivery functions)
• Drive the roll-out of process improvement initiatives to automate accounting processes further.
• Ensure Sony Groups are able to successfully adopt changes to move to IFRS reporting in 2021.

Continuous Process Improvement:

• Lead the delivery of process improvements through developing a network of change agents (SMEs) across Sony global Finance community and wider business
• Deliver process and system improvements to deliver value for money improvement opportunities
• Business Case owner for the development of process design across Sony global finance platform to deliver improvement in efficiency, performance, control, and the integrity of financial information
• Business Case owner for the development of system solution developments to deliver improvement in automation, performance, control, and the integrity of financial information
• Lead involvement within global & local change projects i.e. pro-actively identifying potential risk or changes and leveraging network to gain insight & involvement
• Accountable for the strategic plan for process improvement across Sony’s Global Finance Platform in Record to Report.
• Drive improvement plans embracing the overall Sony strategy
• Drive process improvement with Automation & all outsourced process parts
• Coordinate closely BPO quality management activities and work closely with BPO delivery function to manage changes.

Stakeholder Management:

• Local Finance Directors (SEL & SEU, SIE LLC, SIEE and SNL, Pan Asia and other organisations to be rolled in such as LATAM and JAPAN) plus anybody impacted by the PTP functions; ensure targets are aligned
• Local RTR Subject Matter Experts who will implement changes identified by global process owners.
• Liaise with, and influence, Finance and Business stakeholders to agree and implement identified process improvements – coordinate from first requirement gathering to final implementation
• Review continuous improvement performance with Head of Finance Platform, delivery management and Corporate colleagues

What you should have

• Professionally qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA or international equivalent)
• Degree qualification or equivalent experience preferred
• Experience in consensus based decision making
• Expertise of SAP ERP system, advanced Excel skills
• Availability to travel (likely max 25%)
• Experience of working in an international business environment
• Managing experience within a Finance shared service is essential

Benefits you will have

• Flexible work arrangement (because we understand Life happens)
• Comprehensive medical benefits (including physical health screenings and term life insurance benefits)
• AWS and variable bonus
• Special staff purchase rates
• Flexible benefits (so you can claim for that staycay or gym membership you’ve been eyeing)
• Corporate social responsibility time off for 1 day each year to volunteer for a charity of your choice
• Milestone gifts (such as long service award and marriage gift because we want to celebrate both your professional and personal milestones)
• Wellness activities to promote healthy lifestyles
• Curated training programmes to encourage continuous professional development

At Sony, we strive to create a place for you to realise your potential and inspire you to make positive impact through innovation, smart collaboration and boundless curiosity. We are looking for people who believe that they can enrich lives and help us achieve our purpose – fill the world with emotion, through the power of creativity and technology.