Senior Fund Accountant, Private Equity Accounting

About Northern Trust

As a global leader in innovative wealth management, asset servicing, asset management and banking services, Northern Trust (Nasdaq: NTRS) is proud to guide the world’s most successful individuals, families, corporations and institutions.

Since 1889, we have aligned our efforts with our three guiding Principles That Endure: Service, Expertise, and Integrity. Together, they reflect the three cornerstones of business conduct which we strive to instill in our employees, whom we call partners, and to provide to our clients and the communities we serve worldwide.

With more than 135 years of financial experience and over 24,000 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 close team 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 a very large client with an active investment portfolio across multiple fund products.

Key components of the role include liaising with internal teams and the Investment Advisor, completion of client bespoke tasks, completion of investment 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:

•            Providing a premier client service by building strong relationships with the Investment Advisor and any other third parties including working closely with the client to resolve queries and other teams within NT to ensure completion of client deliverables.

•            Developing a thorough knowledge of your client and their bespoke requirements with regards to key processes performed in their systems.

•            Own the monitoring of assigned mailboxes, pro-actively completing tasks and those assigned by management.

•            Support basic training of tasks that are learnt on-the-job and support other team members with workloads and rotate tasks on a regular basis.

•            Investments: Create and maintain investment and portfolio records in the client’s bespoke systems, including preparing and processing of purchases and disposals; recording of income receipts; monitoring monthly or quarterly valuations and understanding other types of complex investment transactions and restructurings.

•            Accounting: Bookkeep valuations in structures, perform periodic reconciliations and prepare invoice coding for all fund products.

•            Client reporting: Develop client specific knowledge to facilitate the preparation of regular reporting for the client’s senior management, finance, investor relations and deal team. This includes having detailed understanding of fund structures and the investment portfolio across fund products.

•            Investor reporting: Complete adhoc queries for investors where quantitative data forms a part of the response and other stakeholder reporting, including supporting preparation and review of reports within set deadlines.

•            Organisation of the Accounting Team: For various deliverables, ensure that client expectations are adhered to and that proactive communication is maintained throughout the process; identify system and process enhancements for discussion with the wider team; prioritise assignments, providing continuous feedback to the team and escalate issues appropriately.

•            Other: Prepare and maintain accounts tracker for the fund products; monitor the accounts preparation, input and update SharePoint-based workflows; liaise with other Northern Trust departments and jurisdictions; maintain existing strong client relationships; deal with all queries in an efficient and timely manner and promote effective communication.

Skills/ Qualifications:

The successful candidate will benefit from having:  

• Previous experience of fund accounting or fund administration of private equity funds, credit funds or perpetual funds is necessary;
• The ideal candidate would be at a minimum part qualified ACA or ACCA;
• Be computer literate with proven ability to learn new systems and processes, with data literacy skills advantageous;
• Possess excellent organisation skills with the ability to handle multiple priorities, escalating issues where necessary;
• Have customer service orientation with a concern for quality including being effective in the use of a variety of communication methods; and
• Ability to problem solve and be a team player.

Working with Us

As a Northern Trust partner, you will be part of a flexible and collaborative work culture, which has a strong history of financial strength and stability. Movement within the organization is encouraged, senior leaders are accessible, and you can take pride in working for a company committed to an inclusive workplace and assisting the communities we serve.

Philanthropy is deeply rooted in Northern Trust’s history and is an essential element of our culture. Employees around the world give their time and talent to work for the greater good of their communities.

Reasonable Accommodation

Northern Trust is committed to working with and providing adjustments to individuals with health conditions and disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please email our HR Service Center at MyHRHelp@ntrs.com, or alternatively you can discuss your individual requirements with the recruiter you are working with.