Finance Controller, ANZSEA

At Warner Music Group, we’re a global collective of music makers and music lovers, tech innovators and inspired entrepreneurs, game-changing creatives and passionate team members. Here, we turn dreams into stardom and audiences into fans. We are guided by three core values that underpin everything we do across all our diverse businesses:
Curiosity: We do our best work when we’re immersing ourselves in culture and breaking through barriers. Curiosity is the driving force behind creativity and ingenuity. It fuels innovation, and innovation is the key to our future.
Collaboration: Making music and bringing it to the world is all about the power of originality amplified by teamwork. A great idea, like a great song, travels globally. We ignite passions and build connections across our diverse community of artists, songwriters, partners, and fans.
Commitment: We pursue excellence for our team and our talent. Everything in music starts with a leap into the unknown, and we’re committed to keeping the faith, acting with integrity, and delivering on our promises.
WMG is home to a wide range of artists, musicians, and songwriters that fuel our success. That is why we are committed to creating a work environment that actively values, appreciates, and respects everyone. We encourage applications from people with a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences.
Consider a career at WMG and get the best of both worlds – an innovative global music company that retains the creative spirit of a nimble independent.
Job Title: Finance Controller, ANZSEA
Your role:
This senior leadership role is responsible for ensuring the financial integrity, treasury operations, tax compliance, and corporate governance of both Warner Recorded Music (RM) and Music Publishing (Warner Chappell Music - WCM) entities across Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia .
As a key leader in the APAC Finance Governance team, you will act as a crucial shield protecting regional finance leadership and board directors from regulatory and statutory risks. You will align with the regional vision of "Centralizing governance" and driving "Sustainable, scalable growth."
This role is designed for a highly independent, self-driven, and proactive finance executive who can navigate complex multi-jurisdictional landscapes, identify and escalate issues appropriately, and independently drive solutions.
Here you’ll get to:
1. Finance Management, Accounting and Treasury
Financial Reporting: Ensure all financial reporting aligns with USGAAP standards and collaborate closely with the Shared Service Centre (SSC) to monitor and maintain accurate accounting reporting practices.
Cash Management: Oversee regional treasury operations, cash forecasting, and liquidity optimization for both Recorded Music and publishing entities.
Intercompany Transactions: Manage and resolve complex intercompany transaction issues, including intercompany loan frameworks, cross-border funding, and transfer of funds.
Funding & Compliance: Ensure that all intercompany loans and interest income/expenses are structured in alignment with transfer pricing guidelines, local thin-capitalization rules, and interest withholding tax regulations.
Loan & Capitalization Management: Oversee intercompany loans, equity capitalization, and statutory capital requirements in close coordination with the Corporate Treasury team to ensure optimal capital structure and regulatory compliance across all regional entities.
2. Statutory, Audit & Corporate Tax Oversight
Tax Filing Excellence: Ensure complete, accurate, and timely preparation and filing of Corporate Income Tax (CIT) returns, indirect Tax return and statutory tax requirements in each of the regional jurisdictions (Australia, NZ, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam).
Audit Leadership: Lead and oversee the preparation of Statutory Financial Statements (SFS) in close collaboration with external auditing partners and local finance managers, ensuring timely uploads of audited accounts to global platforms (e.g., Sightline).
Process Standardization: Standardize, automate, and drive efficiency in financial reporting and compliance processes in collaboration with the Shared Service Centre (SSC) and Finance Transformation Team.
3. Leadership, Communication & Independent Problem Solving
Independent Problem Solving: Proactively identify financial control gaps, tax compliance issues, and statutory delays across diverse territories, and formulate and execute corrective plans independently.
Stakeholder Engagement: Act as a critical "Check & Challenge" partner to local Country Managers, Finance Directors, and collaborate and partner with local and regional Legal and Tax teams, presenting and escalating critical issues clearly to regional leadership.
Management Communication: Confidently speak with executive leadership, present solutions, and maintain robust relationships with tax authorities, external auditors, and banking partners.
4. Corporate Governance & Director Liability Risk Management
Director Registration & Secretary Management: Oversee corporate secretarial matters, including the registration, maintenance, and changes of local resident and non-resident board directors.
Mitigating Severe Personal & Corporate Liabilities: Proactively manage and shield board directors from the highly unique and stringent regulatory environments of Southeast Asia
Permanent Establishment (PE) Risk Mitigation: Manage board structure and director activities to prevent accidental corporate PE exposure caused by non-resident directors signing documents locally.
5. Finance Systems & Change Management
Digital/System Transformation: Lead the regional strategy for finance systems and technology, including the oversight of ERP implementations, upgrades, or integrations, ensuring systems are optimized to support both compliance and business intelligence needs.
Change Management: Lead organizational change management during periods of transformation, guiding local teams through process and structural transitions to ensure minimal business disruption and strong stakeholder buy-in.
About you:
Professional Qualification: Professional accounting qualification (CA, CPA, ACCA, CIMA, or equivalent) is required.
Industry Experience: Minimum of 10+ years of progressive financial controllership, audit, or tax leadership experience within multinational organizations. Experience in IP-intensive industries (Music, Entertainment, Licensing, or Media) is highly preferred.
Regional Jurisdiction Knowledge: Strong, proven expertise in managing statutory filings, tax compliance, and regulatory audits in Southeast Asian countries (especially Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam) and Australia/New Zealand.
Treasury & Intercompany Expertise: Demonstrated experience managing treasury, cash forecasting, and complex intercompany financing/loans.
High Level of Autonomy: Exceptional ability to work independently in a decentralized, complex regional environment with minimal supervision. Proven track record of taking total ownership of compliance challenges and resolving them "end-to-end."
Advanced Communication: Comfort and proficiency in presenting complex statutory and tax risks to senior regional executive officers, local business heads, and corporate legal teams.
As the home to 10