$130K - $140K Base Salary
Our Client offers a wide range of financial services for corporate, institutional and private investors spanning corporate and institutional banking, wealth management, asset management and insurance.
Our Client passionately embrace diversity and are committed to fostering an inclusive workplace where all employees are valued and encourage applicants of all backgrounds, including diversity of origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion applicants who may be living with a disability. They have a number of internal employee networks in place to empower staff to act and challenge the status quo.
What is the Position Purpose?
The Fund Accounting Team is a customer focused team; they support the business and client activities of the Operations division of Securities Services. The team has extensive interaction and dealings with various managers and all teams within the Operations division as well as other internal Securities Services teams such as the Risk Function and Relationship Management teams.
The team has weekly, monthly and quarterly client reporting deliverables. The Fund Accounting team is responsible for collating and compiling accounting and reporting information for clients from a variety of systems (predominantly HiPort) and divisions within the company. This includes information from the Custody and Registry teams. This involves reviewing reports prepared by our teams offshore prior to being released and ensuring that all data is reconciled to the investment system, registry, clients and other external sources.
The Team Leader Fund Accounting is someone who provides direction, instruction and guidance to the team. They have strong leadership qualities and someone who provides guidance, instruction, direction and leadership to the team. They know their team members strengths, weaknesses and motivations. They coordinate the team workflows; communicate the team status, tasks accomplishment, and direction.
In order to continue to add value to our clients the Fund accounting team must demonstrate an understanding of technical fund accounting practices with an emphasis on NZ specific requirements, trends, and initiatives. The Team Leader Fund Accounting is to ensure the team member’s develop this market specific knowledge.
In addition to this, the team is responsible for the maintenance of the general ledger system and as a result is involved in all major projects and development in the business. The team works with other operational teams to resolve queries and provide advice on accounting and general ledger related queries. They prepare and produce accurate and quality reporting in line with SLA targets.
The Team Leader Fund Accounting plays a key role in leading the service delivered by the Fund Accounting team and meeting the Company's Clients’ statutory reporting requirements. The Team Leader Fund Accounting ensures effective communication lines exist at all times between themselves, the client and the team. Communication is always proactive whenever possible, with each team member taking personal responsibility for managing prosperous relationships with their client contacts.
The Team Leader Fund Accounting has knowledge of Fund Accounting, Unit Pricing, Investment Administration and reconciliations. They appreciate the importance of strong leadership and detailed planning which are critical to the successful delivery of this service. They also understand the importance of accuracy in reporting, time management and the ability to operate effectively within a team to meet critical time constraints are important.
Working with various teams and individuals in the Operations division, the Team Leader Fund Accounting is enlisted with providing excellent client support and service; they deal in a proactive and effective manner with clients, in particular overseeing or investigating and resolving complex client issues and ad hoc queries, on a timely basis.
Communication is also an important attribute for this role as the Team Leader Fund Accounting as they work directly with clients and provide technical advice to our clients and also to our internal departments. They manage clients and ensure all deliverables are provided accurately and on time in line with the clients’ expectations.
In addition to report preparation and review, the Team Leader Fund Accounting is responsible for verifying the work of the Fund Accountants who prepare and produce accurate and quality reporting in line with SLA targets.
Technical And Behavioral Competencies Required
- Demonstrated history of effective team leadership
- Demonstrated history of being results focused and excellent attention to detail
- Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
- Demonstrated history of managing clients and auditors at year end
- Demonstrated ability to Lead by example - Walk the talk:
- Deliver on results promised. Able leadership requires an ability to deliver results.
- Value people and nurture relationships. Top-notch people skills are vital to sound leadership.
- Promote strategic cooperation. Collaboration is an indispensable component of leadership.
- Resolve conflict quickly and effectively. Approach conflict proactively, which means the sooner you resolve things, the better.
- Freely develop and support others.
- Professional development is an extraordinary mechanism for facilitating growth.
- Key System Experience
- HiPortfolio (or other Investment System experience)
- Experience with General Ledger and investment packages/ systems
- Microsoft packages
- Unit Pricing System (HiPortfolio, PControl or other similar UP systems)
- Excellent Excel skills (with macro level) essential
- Lotus Notes (or similar mail applications)
- Accountability - Committed to achieving the organisation’s objectives. Demonstrates perseverance and is accountable for own actions.
- Change management - Displays flexibility to change and is open to new ideas. Encourages others to be open to innovation. Values feedback and gives people scope and confidence to generate ideas.
- Client Focus - Complete commitment to provide professional, intelligent and timely responses to our clients’ needs and to changes in the market (both Internal and External Client)
- Collaborative approach - Supports and shows respect for others. Puts people first, and works effectively with individuals, teams and clients.
- Impact & influence - Creates a positive and professional impact on others. Uses effective strategies to win others over. Exhibits persuasive representation of team and business objectives.
- Individual Leadership - Uses an appropriate interpersonal style to inspire and guide colleagues towards goal achievement. Adjusts behavior to accommodate tasks, situations and individuals.
- Resilience - Continues to work effectively and pursue goals when faced with obstacles, periods of change and uncertainty, or resistance from others. Maintains effectiveness in uncertain or ambiguous situations
Key Responsibilities
- Provide team leadership and coaching
- Create an environment oriented to trust, open communication, creative thinking, and cohesive team effort
- Motivate and inspire team members
- Lead by setting a good example (role model) - behaviour consistent with words
- Coach and help develop team members; help resolve dysfunctional behaviour
- Recognise and celebrate team and team member accomplishments and exceptional performance
- Focus the team on the responsibilities
- Coordinate with internal and external customers as necessary
- Communicate effectively
- Ensure that the team addresses all relevant issues within the specifications and various standards
- Help keep the team focused and on track
- Coordinate Team logistics
- Establish regular meeting times, 1-on-1’s and group discussions
- Actively lead and encourage collaboration with other departments
- Ensure everyone is on the same page and is aware what each other is working on
- Communicate team status, task accomplishment, and direction
- Provide status reporting of team activities against the program plan or schedule
- Keep other teams and managers informed of task accomplishment, issues and status
- Escalate issues which cannot be resolved by the team
- Provide guidance to the team based on management direction
- Cross training such that no single point dependencies
- Ensure Effective BCP
Experience And Qualifications Required
- A minimum of 2+ years team leader ship experience in the financial services industry
- Tertiary Qualification in Business or Finance preferable
- Other Post Graduate or Industry qualifications welcome but not essential
- Approximately 7+ years commercial experience in financial services accounting or financial reporting
- In depth and comprehensive knowledge of the Funds Industry and Operations, Fund Accounting, Reporting and Custody.
- Strong product knowledge in domestic and international securities and funds management.
- Good theoretical and practical knowledge of investment products including Unit Trusts, Gross Income Funds and Superannuation Schemes.
- Experience with general ledger and investment management systems
- Knowledge of compliance and operational risk requirements in the industry
- Demonstrated history of being results focused and excellent attention to detail
- Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written