Merlin Entertainments Employee Reviews about "long hours"

Pros

Friendly and inclusive finance team that socialise together, and help each other out when time permits. It's for this reason that I give an overall score of 2 stars rather than 1.

Cons

The accounting system is Sage Line 500 which is not adequate for a multi-site, multi-operational global FTSE100 business. Hyperion is used for consolidated reporting, which is updated via a spreadsheet upload. Consequently there is heavy reliance on spreadsheets and manual processes, and a lot of room for human error. Inter-company transactions are particularly manual and time-consuming. Manual invoices are raised in Excel between entities with no real controls other than clearing the inter-company matching report during month end. A lot of time is spent producing a draft P&L down to EBITDA in Excel before the period has ended. More time is then spent providing reasons for variances that may not materialise, rather than working on the actual figures. This inevitably leads to long hours trying to close the P&L by working day 5, and compromises the accuracy of the accounts. Actual figures will likely be adjusted for any variances to the draft figures regardless of the correct accounting treatment. Senior management do not value their staff at all, and seemingly have no idea what is involved in meeting all their demands. There is no appreciation for unpaid overtime, the attitude being that if you have worked late it's because you have done something wrong. Flexitime is not permitted. Health and safety within the office is non-existent. In general, the company does not seem willing to invest a penny unless they believe it will directly drive sales.