Central Fund Accountant

Job Summary

The Fund Accountant position is responsible for the preparation and production of Net Asset Values (NAVs), fund accounting records, and investor capital accounts for a portfolio of investment funds administered by the organization. The role sits within the organization’s centralized fund accounting function, which performs the core accounting and reporting activities for multiple funds and jurisdictions. The position involves processing investment transactions, maintaining fund accounting books and records, preparing periodic NAV calculations, and supporting financial reporting for investment funds. As the NAV Checker, the position is responsible for reviewing and validating NAV calculations prepared by Fund Accountants, ensuring the accuracy, completeness, and integrity of fund accounting records before NAVs are released for supervisory approval.

The Fund Accounting Team Lead is responsible for managing NAV production for a portfolio of funds, overseeing the work of Fund Accountants and NAV Checkers, ensuring accurate and timely NAV delivery, and acting as the primary escalation and coordination point for operational issues.

Role & Responsibilities:

Fund Accounting & NAV Production

• Prepare periodic Net Asset Value (NAV) calculations for assigned funds.
• Maintain fund accounting records including general ledger, trial balances, investment registers
• Process accounting entries relating to investment purchases and disposals, realized and unrealized gains/losses, income accruals, expense allocations
• Calculate management fees and performance fees in accordance with fund documentation.
• Service fund clients to ensure timely and excellent delivery of services as agreed with each fund.
• Responsible for accurate and timely issuance of funds’ NAVs in line with prospectus, laws and regulations.
• Transaction monitoring and initiating investor payments and internal transfers for funds.

Investment Accounting

• Record and reconcile investment transactions including equities, debt instruments, private equity investments, structured products, derivatives where applicable
• Maintain investment schedules and valuation records.
• Reconcile investment positions with custodians, brokers, and counterparties.

Investor Capital Accounting

• Maintain investor capital accounts for each fund.
• Process subscriptions, redemptions, capital calls, distributions
• Calculate investor allocations of income, gains, and expenses.
• Prepare investor capital account statements.
• Constant monitoring of shareholder services to ensure up to date processing of subscription and redemptions, with timely completion of KYC/ AML checks.

Cash & Bank Reconciliations

• Perform periodic bank and cash reconciliations.
• Monitor fund cash balances and reconcile with fund accounting records.
• Investigate and resolve reconciliation differences.

Valuation Support & Financial Reporting

• Record investment valuations in accordance with valuation policies.
• Maintain valuation documentation and supporting calculations.
• Process valuation adjustments for NAV purposes.
• Assist in the preparation of financial statements, investor reports, capital account summaries
• Preparation of financial statements, investor reports, capital account summaries, preparation of PBC items and liaison with Auditors.
• Support audit processes by preparing accounting schedules and responding to audit requests.

Operational Aspects

• Work closely with investor services teams, custody and treasury teams, legal and compliance teams, investment managers
• Ensure accurate processing of fund transactions and accounting records.
• Ultimately responsible for all aspects of fund accounting which include creation of security masters, trade processing, pricing, valuation, recording corporate actions, calculation of interest/dividend accruals, cash/position /dividend/coupon reconciliations, periodic accruals, calculation of management/ performance fees, equalization etc.
• Ensure that a Fund Accountant may not review or approve NAV calculations that they have prepared themselves for the same reporting period.

Time Recording:

• Accurately record chargeable time and value of service using Maconomy, ensure effective monitoring of transactions, handle pricing, invoicing and collection of outstanding fees for the portfolio of clients.
• Monitor own productivity and chargeability on weekly basis and review productivity and performance against targets. to ensure that individual financial targets and client communication KPIs are met.
• Follow a disciplined approach to submitting timesheets for client work and meet the weekly and monthly time/ chargeability targets

Required Qualifications

• NAV Approval and Delivery
• Perform final review and approval of NAV calculations.
• Ensure NAVs are issued in accordance with client and regulatory deadlines.
• Approve NAV packs before release to clients or investment managers.
• Complex Transaction & Overall Oversight
• Review and approve accounting treatment for complex transactions such as restructurings, complex capital activity, carried interest allocations, investment disposals, fair value adjustments.
• Act as the main operational contact for client relationship managers, investment managers, internal stakeholders.
• Handle operational queries and reporting issues.
• Ensure adherence to internal control procedures.
• Monitor NAV production processes and identify improvement opportunities.
• Support implementation of system or process enhancements.
• Coordinate fund audits.
• Review financial statements before audit submission.
• Ensure audit queries are addressed in a timely manner.

Team Management

• Lead by example by accurately recording chargeable time and value of service using Maconomy, ensure effective monitoring of transactions, handle pricing, invoicing and collection of outstanding fees for the portfolio of clients.
• Monitor teams' productivity and chargeability/ billing on weekly basis. Solve payment problems, as well as collection of outstanding invoices.
• Monitor all accounting and fund activities to ensure quality and timeliness; Supervise the work of Fund Accountants and NAV Checkers and manage the funds’ team in the day-to-day activities
• Coordinate and supervise training thus ensuring all staff have adequate competences to execute their functions
• Promote and ensure policies, procedures and work-instructions with operational staff in order to achieve a standardized operating model
• Propose relevant changes to procedures and systems in order to optimize the internal processes of the funds department
• Ensure operational excellence with other Group and Central team counterparts
• Allocate work across team members & Monitor workload and reporting deadlines.
• Review productivity and operational performance.

Other Duties

• Undertake the role of director, trustee, nominee, manager, partner, secretary, authorized signatory or any related position in internal entities or client entities of Amicorp Group, where necessary and required by the Management.
• Undertake such other duties, as may from time to time, be required by the Management or/ and Group Human Resources.

Candidate Profile

• Degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related discipline with - 12 years' experience in fund accounting, asset management accounting, fund administration
• Experience working with alternative investment funds preferred, including private equity, real estate, venture capital, hedge funds
• Knowledge of NAV calculation methodologies, investment accounting, capital account accounting, fund structures and investor allocations and accounting systems used in fund administration platforms
• Hands on experience in Fund Accounting, Investor Services (Registrar and Transfer Agent services), Fund Structuring and/or Fund Directorships. Good understanding of Fund regulations. Knowledge of PFX Paxus preferred.
• Strong numerical and reconciliation skills with high level of attention to detail.
• Ability to manage multiple funds and reporting deadlines.
• Effective communication, teamwork and client/ stakeholder engagement abilities.
• Proactive, practical, creative and solution driven with a positive, can-do attitude and ambition to excel in the role.
• Independent, hands-on and takes accountability to deliver solutions and results.
• Ability to adapt and work in a smaller, dynamic local team environment with tight deadlines; along with being part of a bigger matrix organization.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, solution driven, highly organized and detail-orientated with good decision making and time management skills.
• Well-developed spoken and written communication skills and the ability to tailor style to relevant audiences and successfully liaise with people at different levels. Excellent English language fluency: additional languages preferred.