Senior Accountant, Broker-Dealer Accounting
DriveWealth · Office - NYC · 2y ago
About Us
DriveWealth is on a mission to make investing easier. We believe that everyone should have the ability to control their financial future, and that access to financial markets should not be limited by geography, wealth, or legacy systems. We are a global B2B financial technology organization dedicated to democratizing access to financial independence around the world. Our mission is realized through an API-based platform, empowering our partners to offer seamless investing and trading experiences to clients worldwide, all from their mobile devices. Our technology provides partners with a modern, extensible toolkit, enabling traditional investment workflows and innovative techniques like fractional share ownership. DriveWealth has evolved into a global platform offering trading of US equities, mutual funds, ETFs, fixed income, and options.
There’s never been a better time to build a category-defining business and there has rarely been a team better positioned for this opportunity. Our culture blends the pace and agility of a fintech start-up with the impact, stability, and discipline of Wall Street. We encourage creativity and experimentation while ensuring institutional-grade execution and regulatory compliance in everything we do. Join us and help build the future of global investing!
About The Team
As the executing and clearing broker-dealer, DriveWealth LLC self-clears trades, custodies assets on behalf of introducing broker-dealers, and operates within a highly regulated, SEC/FINRA-supervised environment. As we scale, we're building a finance function with the rigor, precision, and technical depth this regulatory environment demands—and we're looking for a Senior Accountant to be a key contributor to that build-out.
You'll join a lean, high-caliber finance team at a firm operating at the intersection of fintech innovation and serious regulatory rigor. This is a role with real scope and visibility—your work directly supports the firm's regulatory filings and is seen by the CAO, Deputy CFO, and external auditors and regulators. As DriveWealth scales, so will your ownership of the close process.
About The Role
This is a hands-on senior accounting role at the center of a self-clearing broker-dealer's monthly close. You will own a broad set of reconciliations, accruals, and journal entries spanning bank cash management, clearing and execution venue relationships, regulatory fee accruals, and interest income across multiple custodial and sweep banks. You'll work closely with Treasury, Operations, Regulatory Reporting, and the Controller's team, and your output feeds directly into the firm's FOCUS filings and net capital computations. This role suits someone who wants real ownership of a broker-dealer close process—not just a piece of it—and who is energized by the complexity of clearing, custody, and regulatory accounting.
What You'll Do
Bank & Cash Reconciliation
- Perform and review monthly bank reconciliations across multiple operating, sweep, and clearing deposit accounts
- Record and reconcile interest income/expense entries across all cash and deposit accounts, including CD interest income and money market servicing fee accruals
- Prepare intra-bank transfer entries and investigate/clear reconciling items timely
Clearing, Execution & Market Data Accruals
- Prepare and true-up monthly accruals for clearing broker relationships, comparing accrual to actual invoiced amounts and researching variances
- Prepare accruals and actuals for exchange and execution-venue costs and compare current accruals against vendor invoices
- Prepare PFOF (payment for order flow) and commission comparison analyses, reconciling internal billing files to counterparty statements
- Reconcile DTCC/NSCC interest income on deposits (accrual and actual) and related clearing expense entries
Regulatory & Compliance Accruals
- Prepare monthly accruals for regulatory fees, including CAT (Consolidated Audit Trail), SEC Section 31 fees, and FINRA fees (including prepaid FINRA Flex account activity)
- Support preparation of the DW LLC FOCUS report roll-forward and related flux analysis, ensuring balance sheet and income statement movements are understood and explainable
- Maintain documentation supporting all accruals and reconciliations to withstand internal, auditor, and regulatory (SEC/FINRA) scrutiny
Custody, Omnibus & Mutual Fund Activity
- Reconcile omnibus and clearing accounts held at correspondent clearing firms, ensuring activity ties to statements and supporting schedules
- Prepare mutual fund settlement accruals and reconcile related P&L account activity
- Support proper classification of customer payables and pending disbursements (e.g., ACH pulls, sweep account movements) at month-end cutoff
General Close & Reporting
- Prepare and post journal entries in accordance with the monthly close calendar, ensuring accuracy, proper support, and timely posting
- Prepare DW LLC expense accruals and sales compensation accruals
- Partner with the Controller and Deputy CFO on flux analysis, variance explanations, and ad hoc analysis supporting FOCUS/X-17A-5 filings and net capital reporting
- Identify opportunities to streamline, automate, and strengthen close processes and controls as the business scales
You Bring
- 5+ years of progressive accounting experience, including meaningful exposure to a broker-dealer, clearing firm, custodian, or other regulated financial services environment
- Working knowledge of broker-dealer specific concepts: customer/broker payables, clearing deposits, sweep programs, PFOF, and regulatory fee structures (CAT, Section 31, FINRA)
- Strong general ledger and month-end close experience, including complex accruals, multi-entity/multi-bank reconciliations, and journal entry preparation and review
- Comfort working with high transaction volumes and reconciling activity across multiple external counterparties (clearing brokers, exchanges, custodian banks, mutual fund platforms)
- Exposure to FOCUS reporting, net capital rules (SEC Rule 15c3-1), or the customer reserve formula (SEC Rule 15c3-3) is a strong plus
- Advanced Excel skills (pivot tables, lookups, large dataset reconciliation); experience with ERP/GL systems (e.g., NetSuite) preferred
- CPA or active progress toward CPA preferred, not required
- High attention to detail balanced with the ability to work efficiently against a fixed monthly close calendar
- Strong written and verbal communication skills—able to clearly document and explain variances to auditors, regulators, and senior finance leadership
- A self-starter mentality comfortable with ambiguity and process-building in a scaling fintech environment
Location
This role is open to candidates in the following locations: New York, NY - Hybrid
- This role is expected to come into the office three to four days a week, on a cadence set by the Hiring Manager/Team.
- If you're not based in the location above, this role is not a fit, and we cannot accommodate remote work outside these locations.
- Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. DriveWealth does not sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa at this time.
Pay Range: $140,000 – $150,000 USD
Working at DriveWealth
We do our best work when we're in the same room. To maintain the speed our partners expect, our New York, Chicago, and Lithuania teams work in office on a hybrid schedule. We've found that being physically side-by-side is the only way to solve complex problems in real-time and stay truly accountable to the products we ship. When you're here, you're working directly with the people making the decisions.
To support that work, we provide competitive compensation, equity, and a 401(k) match. We also offer Medical insurance, Dental insurance, Vision insurance, Disability insurance, and Paid Parental Leave, along with a wellness reimbursement, a company-provided phone, and a personal development allowance. Finally, we value the time you spend away from the office with generous Paid Time Off (PTO) and observed holidays.
Work Authorization
Applicants must possess the legal right to work in the country where the position is located at the time of application. DriveWealth requires all employees to provide original documentation verifying their work authorization on or before their first day of employment.
For US-based roles: Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis without the need for current or future visa sponsorship. DriveWealth does not provide visa sponsorship or support for employment authorization, including transfers, at this time. Offers of employment are strictly contingent upon an individual’s ability to secure and maintain the legal right to work at the Company.
How We Think About AI
We leverage AI to work smarter and move faster. We seek AI-curious talent who are proactive about using emerging tools to increase signal quality, reduce friction, and improve outcomes to deliver products faster, provide better service to our partners, and to streamline processes. Your ability to leverage our internal tools and technology to drive results is as important to us as your core domain expertise.
Compensation
Pay is generally based on the level, complexity, responsibility, location, and job duties/requirements of the specific position. We then source candidates with the requisite skills, expertise, education, training, and experience. If you are selected for an interview, please feel welcome to speak to a recruiter about our compensation philosophy and other available benefits. This role is eligible for base, bonus, equity, 401(k) match, and heavily subsidized benefits and perks.
Equal Employment Opportunity
To build technology and products that are used and loved by people and solve real-world problems, we need to build a team with many different perspectives and experiences. We are an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply.
Agency Disclaimer
DriveWealth does not accept agency resumes. Do not forward resumes to our jobs alias, employees, or any other organization location. DriveWealth is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.