Specialist, Accountant

About Northern Trust: Northern Trust, a Fortune 500 company, is a globally recognized, award-winning financial institution that has been in continuous operation since 1889. Northern Trust is proud to provide innovative financial services and guidance to the world's most successful individuals, families, and institutions by remaining true to our enduring principles of service, expertise, and integrity. With more than 130 years of financial experience and over 22,000 partners, we serve the world's most sophisticated clients using leading technology and exceptional service. Role/ Department: A vacancy has arisen in our Private Equity (PE) Operations team. Northern Trust offers a first class service to a variety of PE clients and work as a closely to ensure deliverables are met. You will be working as a key member within the accounting team whilst providing additional support to the wider team that administers either a variety of clients or a very large client with an active investment portfolio. Key components of the role include liaising with internal teams and the Investment Advisor, completion of various non-accounting tasks, completion of all aspects of accounting and dealing with ad-hoc queries as they arise, all within scheduled timeframes and ensuring that all client KPIs are met. The key responsibilities of the role include: Leading by example: Demonstrating professional judgement and attitude in all aspects of your work to assist in furthering an environment which encourages employee participation, teamwork and communication enabling the delivery of a first class professional and efficient service Communication: Promoting effective communication via individual 1:2:1 and team meetings. Maintaining a strong relationship with the client, auditors, administration team and other Northern Trust departments Accounting Team development: Enabling the development of partners by increasing their technical knowledge and skillsets to allow them to fully carry out their functions through coaching. This will include providing and enabling on the job training and ensuring that all procedures are kept up to date and are adhered to on a daily basis Organisation of the Accounting Team: Through discussion with the client and external parties (where required), establish concise timetables for all key deliverables. Ensure that these are adhered to by the team and enable proactive communication throughout the process. Identify system and process enhancements for discussion and following approval, co-ordinate the introduction of such enhancements. Prioritise assignments, providing continuous feedback and escalating issues appropriately. Technical knowledge: Advising on potential accounting issues and current best practises as well as sharing knowledge, expertise and guidance with both the team and the client. Understand complex transactions and be a point of contact for technical accounting matters for the PE accounting team. Pro forma Accounts: The ability to design pro forma accounts as required, ensuring they are in accordance with appropriate regulations/standards and agreed with clients/auditors Account preparation process: Oversee the preparation of the required financial reporting up to and including presentation to the Board of Directors (where required). Review all aspects of client accounting function prepared by fund accountants and senior fund accounts. Ensure that the FRR and LRR calculations for Guernsey licensee entities are completed and that all statutory accounts are filed within the relevant deadlines. Where necessary, the candidate will also be required to prepare financial reporting. Outsourced jurisdictions: In addition to leading a team of accountants locally in Guernsey, the candidate will also be responsible for reviewing financial reporting for certain Guernsey funds where the preparation of the financial statements are outsourced to Northern Trust offices in other jurisdictions. Client reporting: Develop client specific knowledge to facilitate the delivery of ad-hoc queries. Other deliverables: Ensuring the completion of accurate complex fund valuations, distributions, calls / drawdowns, management fee and other calculations Internal reporting: Completion of NT internal reporting as required Team Administration Monitoring mailboxes, completing tasks of a more complex nature, however supporting at all levels as required; Support other team members with workloads and rotate tasks on a regular basis. Client Communications: Providing a premier client service by building strong relationships with the Investment Advisor (at all levels) and any other third parties; Work with the relationship manager on fee structures for any new business/service creep; Developing a thorough knowledge of your client and their bespoke requirements with regards to key processes; Providing solutioning for your client base drawing upon extensive experience and industry knowledge; Working closely with the client to resolve queries; Working with other teams/locations within NT to ensure delivery of client deliverables; To have a good understanding of fund administration business; To be fully briefed / familiar with the issues which are to be considered by the Board of client entities; Attendance and action of day to day communication and Ad hoc meetings; Presenting operational matters to the Board of Directors; May act as a client director on structures. Departmental Tasks may include: Technical training across teams; Updates to procedural documents; Client new business pitch support; May assist with outsourcing oversight; Support other teams during peak activity; Monitor departmental KPIs, own the policing of policies for your team; May lead internal comms to support regulatory submissions; Assist with internal audit, SOC 1 and internal control reviews. General Has an understanding of the anti-money laundering legislation, particularly with regard to Investor 'KYC' able to perform high risk investor reviews; Authorise instructions as an A signatory; Contribute to the management of the department as a whole and keep senior manager informed of significant developments; Work on ad-hoc internal projects and fulfil additional, relevant, tasks appropriate to the role and business requirement; Has an understanding of Guernsey legislation as it effects entities under administration i.e. Guernsey Company Law, POI, COB rules and understands Company Secretarial Procedures. Skills/ Qualifications: The ideal candidate will hold an accounting qualification (ACA or ACCA preferred) and be familiar with both GAAP and IFRS Have an understanding of the Guernsey Company / POI / Partnership laws and possess an ability to keep up to date with all developments Excellent oral and written communication skills Confidence in communicating directly with clients and other senior stakeholders Proven people management credentials Strong leadership and change management attributes Good analytical and problem solving skills Ability to set priorities and manage deadlines Advanced Excel Skills and knowledge of Investran would be an advantage Good team player, self-starter, flexible, with the ability to work under pressure with minimal supervision Working with Us: As a Northern Trust partner, greater achievements await. You will be part of a flexible and collaborative work culture in an organization where financial strength and stability is an asset that emboldens us to explore new ideas. Movement within the organization is encouraged, senior leaders are accessible, and you can take pride in working for a company committed to assisting the communities we serve Join a workplace with a greater purpose. We'd love to learn more about how your interests and experience could be a fit with one of the world's most admired and sustainable companies Build your career with us and apply today. #MadeForGreater Reasonable accommodation Northern Trust is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please email our HR Service Center at MyHRHelp@ntrs.com . We hope you're excited about the role and the opportunity to work with us. We value an inclusive workplace and understand flexibility means different things to different people. Apply today and talk to us about your flexible working requirements and together we can achieve greater.