About Bastion

Bastion is an independent agency that exists to put brands, organisations and people in a position of strength. Our integrated model sees brand, digital, social, influencer, experiential and research experts sitting side by side, working together on major brands to solve their advertising and marketing challenges.

We offer a breadth of specialist capabilities including Advertising, Design, Communications, Experiential, Digital, Insights, Media and Training.

Role Overview The Client Accountant is responsible for the financial oversight of client accounts across the Bastion Group.

This role is responsible for client contractual financial reporting such as, but not limited to, client retainer reconciliations, client invoice registers, client purchase order tracking / reporting.

The role ensures client projects and budgets are accurately established within the agency management system, effectively monitored throughout delivery and commercially optimised.

Working closely with Client Leads, Project Managers, Operations and Finance, the Client Accountant provides financial governance, commercial insight and reporting to support revenue growth, maintain budget integrity, protect project profitability and drive operational efficiency.

This is a new role at Bastion, and as a result will evolve. The ability to adapt is critical to the success of this role.

Roles & Responsibilities

Client & Job Administration

- Set up new clients, jobs, and estimates.
- Ensure client specific rate cards are correct, and jobs have the right commercial structure, billing details, and project information.
- Configure job structures with correct revenue recognition details, including media Service Fee, Production revenue, and pass-through costs.
- Review rate cards and resolve discrepancies between system records and SOW files.
- Maintain accurate job and client information throughout the lifecycle.
- Support client onboarding from a commercial and systems perspective.
- Onboard and train new starters in Account Management and Production on finance best practice

Client Invoicing & Month-End

- Ensure Client Invoicing complies with client contracts, and is timely and accurate.
- Debtors support as required.
- Support the revenue accountant on the revenue recognition / EOM process.
- Assist with job closures and any other requirements to support month-end tidy-up.

Reconciliation, Financial Control & Reporting





- Track WIP, utilisation, and budget consumption, and ensure completed jobs are reconciled and closed promptly.
- Prepare and review with appropriate stakeholders, retainer reconciliations and other client / job related reconciliations.
- Any other required client financial reporting

Media Financial Management

- Support / check client media monthly proof of delivery reconciliation (currently for Geely, but not limited to Geely moving forward). This process is led by the media team, however requires financial oversight.
- Ensure media rate cards and commission structures are accurate and reflect system master files and client contracts.
- Reconcile media WIP and ensure media supplier costs are matched to revenue and cleared in the correct period.

Production Financial Management

- Support Production job reconciliations.
- Monitor production WIP, ensuring all production costs are captured, matched to revenue, and cleared in a timely manner.
- Maintain a production WIP reconciliation tracker to ensure all production jobs are financially reconciled at month-end.

Commercial Project Management

- Monitor project financial performance and profitability throughout delivery.
- Track hours worked, budget utilisation, project end dates, WIP, and invoicing status.
- Identify and escalate commercial risks, budget pressures, and potential overruns.
- Partner with Client Leads and Job Managers to manage and optimise client budgets.

Finance & Operational Support

- Respond to queries, resolve issues, and validate financial data.
- Support audit requirements.
- Contribute to continuous improvement across commercial processes, workflows, and financial governance.
- Provide ad-hoc support to other finance team members and internal reporting as requested.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

- Accurate client and job setup.
- Accurate reconciliations.
- Accurate Project / Retainer Pricing.
- Improved project profitability.
- Timely project closure.
- High internal stakeholder satisfaction.

Key Relationships





Internal

- Finance Team
- Head of Operations
- Client Leads
- Managing Partners
- Project Managers

External

- Clients (commercial matters as required)

Success in this Role The successful Client Accountant is a trusted commercial partner who combines strong financial discipline with a sound understanding of agency operations and client delivery.

They proactively identify and manage commercial risks and provide clear and actionable financial insights. They maintain accurate and timely financial information, support effective budget management and forecasting, and ensure strong commercial governance across client accounts.

Success in the role is demonstrated through effective collaboration between Finance, Operations and client teams, with clear visibility of financial performance and timely resolution of commercial issues. By providing the right financial guidance and support, the role enables capability teams to focus on delivering exceptional client outcomes while protecting the agency’s revenue, profitability and financial integrity.

What You'll Bring

Essential

- 3+ years' experience in an advertising, media, marketing or professional services environment.
- Experience using agency management systems (Accountability preferred).
- Strong commercial and financial acumen.
- Excellent Excel and reporting skills.
- Experience managing project budgets.
- Strong attention to detail.
- Excellent organisational and communication skills.
- Ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.

Desirable

- Experience within an integrated advertising or communications agency.
- Understanding of retainers, project billing, and time-based revenue recognition.
- Knowledge of project profitability reporting.

What we offer

- A supportive culture focused on collaboration and personal growth
- A truly integrated agency network that includes research, data, insights, creative, digital, experiential, reputation management, content production, performance, earned media, etc.
- The prospect to lead fully integrated campaigns that expand your experience in the marketing and communications landscape
- Team Activities - a calendar of events that connects our team in creative and fun ways lead by our dedicated “Captains of Joy”
- Ability to connect with senior leaders within the business via Bastion mentor program

📌 Client Accountant (Sydney)
🏢 Bastion
📍 Sydney