Associate Fund Controller

Our client is now looking to recruit an Associate Fund Controller. The business was founded in the US in 2011 to offer Private Equity firms complex fund service solutions that combine technological efficiencies and high-quality personal service. They arenow establishing a European business, including a UK office in Brighton, to complement those in London and Ireland.

Since inception, they partnered with clients who value their philosophy and the way they distinguish themselves as an active participant in their client’s business. They aim to truly know their clients’ businesses and create an atmosphere of collaborationas a valued partner, helping them deliver their own promise of reliable, transparent reporting, regulatory compliance, and proactive investor relations.

Their culture challenges traditional views of financial service organisations because their focus is on people. Their employees are part of a close team. They train together, work hard together, celebrate together, and overcome challenges together.

Being the best fund administrator means having the best people. To accomplish this, they focus on development, responsibility and rewarding an individual’s success. Being a successful member of the team means you embrace our philosophy, strive for excellence,and are motivated by exceeding client expectations in an environment with options and rewards for talent and creativity.

**Overview**

The Associate Fund Controller (AFC) will lead a team of accountants in the processing and review of reconciling cash, securities and other financial transactions to ensure accurate accounting records for a portfolio of fund structures, as well as preparereports in accordance with various accounting standards, fund constitutional documents and client specific requirements. This is a client-facing role which requires proactive communication with our clients and affiliates to foster long-term, meaningful relationships.

**Responsibilities**

The key responsibilities of the AFC role include:

- Acting as the lead accountant for various fund structures within their team.
- Ensuring the accounting requirements for a portfolio of fund, management company and special purpose vehicle entities are accurately recorded.
- Ensuring all client, investor and statutory reporting deadlines are met, via effective planning and scheduling of team resources, and monitoring productivity.
- Acting as an escalation point for day-to-day accounting queries, ensuring that company policy and professional and regulatory guidelines are followed.
- Taking responsibility for the professional quality of service that is provided to clients, investors, and other external contacts.
- Supervising, mentoring and assisting in the training and development of the team.
- Providing performance and formal appraisal management for team members.
- Managing and reviewing the completion of audit queries.
- Managing commercial aspects of client relationships including recoverability / utilisation, the billing process and identification of new opportunities.
- Assisting with on boarding of new business, including system set-up, regulatory compliance requirements e.g., AML / KYC and determining resourcing requirements.

For additional context, the AFC role may include delivering on tasks associated with fund-specific accounting concepts, as follows:

- Interpretation of fund constitutional documents to determine the mechanics of the distribution waterfall and consulting with clients to agree the methodology for associated calculations.
- Preparing a distribution waterfall schedule incorporating return of capital, preferred return, general partner catch-up and carried interest tranches.
- Understanding the different carried interest models, typically referred to as the European and American models, and the areas of complexity e.g., tax versus cash waterfalls, complex catch-up clauses, and investor side letters.
- Recognising how data is stored in the system and assisting in driving efficiencies in the reporting process via increased automation.
- Supervising completion of relevant regulatory reporting e.g., FATCA / CRS and AIFMD Annex II.

**Key attributes**

In carrying out the role effectively, the AFC will rely on a balance of the following key skills, knowledge, and experience:

- Fully qualified accounting professional (ACCA, ACA).
- Post qualification experience in the financial services sector with a focus on fund accounting for alternative asset funds (private equity, real estate, infrastructure, private debt);
- Talent and team management experience with a proactive approach to peer-to-peer communication and the ability to resolve any conflicts of interest;
- Excellent people skills required to develop close working relationships with colleagues, clients, and affiliates.
- Effective advance planning of deliverables, prioritisation, and stakeholder management.
- Computer literacy, word processing and advanced spreadsheet skills are essential.
- Experience using industry-specific fund accounting systems considered an advantage.

If you are looking to take the next exciting step in your career, please send in your CV for immediate consideration.