Category: Career Center

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Job of the Day: Global Partnership Schools Needs a Controller

Global Partnership Schools is looking for a controller to oversee the the financial reporting system and supervise the accounting staff.

This position requires 5 to 7 years experience and CPA or CMA license.

Check out the details for this position, located in New York, after the jump.


Company: Global Partnership Schools

Title: Controller

Location: New York, NY

Experience Required: 5 – 7 years

Description: To develop, maintain and oversee Global Partnership Schools and its associated entities’ financial systems while assisting CFO in all areas of financial management and company operations.

Responsibilities: Design and develop financial accounting systems; prepare budgets; supervise accounting processes; review and analyze financial reports. Coordinate with external auditors and tax consultants; Design, monitor and implement financial systems, policies and procedures; Meet finance operational standards by contributing information to strategic financial plans and reviews; implement production, productivity, quality, and customer-service standards; resolve problems and identify system improvements; Supervise accounting staff and carry out responsibilities in accordance with Global Partnership School’s policies and procedures and applicable state and federal laws; Accomplish accounting requirements by designing and maintaining accounting processes: including journal entries and general ledger, billing, collections, accounts payable, accounts receivable and purchase orders; supervise bank reconciliations and closing processes; Support annual budget processes; develop and maintain forecasts and models; ensure compliance with Generally Accepted Accounting Practices and cash management; Perform budget vs. actual analysis for Global Partnership Schools on a monthly basis; Prepare monthly financial accounts vs. profit and loss statement, balance sheet, and cash flows for management reporting; Manage payroll process by analyzing, preparing and inputting payroll data using automated system; ensure compliance with all applicable state and federal wage and hour laws; Coordinate with external auditors and tax consultants; prepare and file basic tax returns; Oversee projects as assigned by CFO.

Qualifications: 5-7 years of experience in Financial Management, preferably in an educational setting; CPA/CMA strongly desired; Accounting, cost accounting, financial planning and strategy, financial skills, financial software, analyzing information, implementation of Microsoft Dynamics and exceptional written and oral communication skills. Educational experience strongly desired.

See the entire description over at the GC Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.

Three Things to Remember When Changing Accounting Careers

Happy Friday, folks. Hopefully with busy season ending soon, this marks the end of your work week. If not, well, keep reading. Maybe we can change that.

As I mentioned on Tuesday, you might be feeling the tides of change in the next few weeks in your office, whether that be with your personal career or with co-workers dressing better than usual.


• It’s about the total package – Even in the glory days of post-SOX rulings and lush amounts of advisory services work, public accounting has never paid close to what the private sector provides. When looking for new positions, know that you should not be expecting to find 50%-100% salary increases. It can be expected to find base salary increases to fall into the 10-15% range. Why? Because honestly, the stories told over warms beers at your last work function were grossly overblown. Sure, the occasional rock star accountant makes the leap from newly christened manager to controller of a small fund and landing on a cushy financial pillow. The monetary difference between public and private (and I’m speaking of financial services) rests in the annual bonuses:

Senior Associate, Big 4: $70,000 salary + $5,000 bonus = $75,000

Fund Accountant, XYZ Hedge fund: $80,000 salary + $30,000 bonus = a no brainer

These numbers are general but realistic for today’s market. Keep these in mind as you reach for that red wax pencil.

• Be realistic about your next job title – You’re an accountant. No, you can’t be a trader. No, front office is not for you (yet). You need to be honest with yourself and really scrutinize the experience you’re building in your current role. Working on a private equity fund-to-fund will not prep you enough to slip into a fund accounting role at the P/E firm of your choice. Mold your career experiences to fit what you want to do. The right recruiter will manage your expectations, which leads us to…

• Start out with multiple recruiters – Finding the right recruiter is like finding a career counselor. Some will be pushy and force unwanted jobs on you. Others will take the time to polish your resume, help you realize the steps you need to take to work toward your ideal job, and only pass along relevant job opportunities. Consider a recruiter like this a blessing. And don’t forget to pass that person’s contact information on to your buddies. They helped you; return the favor.

Job of the Day: Fannie Mae Needs a Senior Accountant

Fannie Mae needs an experienced accountant that will perform day-to-day accounting operations for Fannie Mae’s investments in Low Income Housing Tax Credit & CI partnerships, including the impacts of consolidating those assets.

The position requires a four to six years experience and a CPA license.

Get more details on the position, located in Washington, DC after the jump.


Company: Fannie Mae

Title: General Accountant, Partnership Accounting

Location: Washington, D.C.

Experience Required: 4 – 6 years

Description: Apply comprehensive knowledge of accounting principles, concepts, practices, and standards in performing complex duties related to preparing and analyzing financial information to record transactions, prepare reports, and review and verify accuracy. Work with consultants, auditors, and others to analyze and provide information on operational, reporting, or system impact related to policy changes and new products. Contribute to special projects. May train staff.

Responsibilities: Compile, review, analyze, and record financial information to the general ledger. Complete monthly closings; Prepare balance sheet and profit and loss statements, consolidated financial statements, and other accounting schedules and reports; Prepare daily, weekly, and monthly reconciliations to ensure general ledger account information is accurate, consistent, traceable, and auditable; Execute and manage timely, accurate transactions; Identify control weaknesses, communicate to management, and participate in making remedial changes to tighten and enhance controls; Provide requested information to auditors, consultants, and others on significant matters requiring coordination; May design, modify, install, and/or maintain accounting systems to ensure adequate recognition of financial transactions; May perform moderately complex accounting projects or participate as a team member on highly complex projects; Understand and analyze partnership financial statements and Schedule K-1s.

Qualifications: Bachelor’s Degree or Equivalent; CPA; 4-6 years or equivalent experience.

See the entire description over at the GC Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.

Job of the Day: VP, Finance Activities Credit Review & Audit at BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas is looking for someone to join their North America Audit Group as a VP for Finance Activities Credit Review & Audit.

An ideal candidate will have a blend of both credit review and audit experience.

The position requires a minimum of five years experience, MBA, CPA or CFA is required and French language skills are a plus. Some travel is required to offices in San Francisco, Chicago, and Dallas/Houston.

Get more details on the position, located in New York, after the jump.


Company: BNP Paribas

Title: VP, Finance Activities Credit Review & Audit

Location: New York

Experience Required: 5 – 10 years

Description: BNP Paribas is seeking a candidate for a VP position in its North America Audit Group as a member of the credit review team to perform credit reviews and traditional audit aspects of these reviews.

Responsibilities: responsible for the audit and credit review coverage of all banking groups and related support areas including: Corporate Banking, Energy & Commodities, Media & Telecom, Merchant Banking, Asset Securitization, Security Industry, Portfolio Management and Risk Management.

Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Finance; MBA, CPA (or equivalent), or CFA required; 5 – 10 years financial services work experience; Credit analysis skills with a solid understanding of the credit process and controls; French language skills a plus but not required

See the entire description over at the GC Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.

Job of the Day: Bank of America Needs a CFO But Not Just Anyone Because This Is a Pretty Major Gig

Brian Moynihan is shopping around for a CFO and he needs a good one ASAP. The Post reports that Moynihan will go with someone from outside BofA so that means you’ve got a shot! Now before you get ahead of yourself and think you’re the BSD to turn this ship around, consider some of your responsibilities.

You’ve got to be the numbers jockey for the biggest bank in the known universe that is constantly being given the stink-eye by Tim Geithner, Barack Obama, Ken Feinberg, et al., plus an angry American populous that will not hesitate to call you names and picket your house. Oh, and you may or may not have to move to Charlotte. Maybe that’s not a sticking point for some of you but if you don’t like NASCAR then we’d suggest passing on this one.


See? Trying to come up with a good and willing candidate will not be an easy task. After all, getting someone to takeKen Lewis’ chair wasn’t exactly a piece of cake and CFO is actually a real job.

Naturally, soon-to-be former KPMG Chairman Tim Flynn comes to mind but Moynihan may want to go with some with a little less sweater vesty and he doesn’t really have the mane to match. Former Lehman CFO Erin Callan is busy hanging out with firefighters and Andy Fastow is still unavailable. Better put a call in to Robert Half.

Serious search party [NYP]
Earlier:
Ex-Bank of America CFO Is in Cuomo’s Crosshairs

Do CPAs Really Love Their Jobs?

A friend of GC pointed us to the image below from Focus.com (link to entire thing below) that shows the latest “Best Jobs in America”. This particular version ranks CPAs as having the 6th best job in all the land.


The methodology broke down like this:

• Top 260 – Jobs that have been projected to grow 10% in the decade and require a Bachelor’s degree; Median pay below $65k for experienced workers was excluded as were jobs that had less than 10,000 positions nationwide.

• Top 100 – Eliminated jobs that did poorly (based on growth in online wanted ads) during the recession and grouped jobs with similar responsibilities.

• Top 50 – 35,000-ish workers were surveyed to “rat their jobs on quality of life factors such as flexibility, stress, and personal satisfaction.” They were then ranked by “current employment, long-term growth, pay, and security; projected openings; and quality of life factors.”

• Top 10 – “Interviewed industry experts and people in each profession.” Rankings were made based on those interviews.

Our source has some questions for the group, “Why are CPAs always ranked so high? Job security? Pay if you stay in long enough?”

Important questions. It simply could be that the people that put these “Best Jobs Lists” interview the Exuberant Accountant every time. You can’t get that many consistent liars in these surveys can you? Or, maybe, just maybe, lots of CPAs really, honest-to-God — gasp — love their jobs. It’s not that we don’t believe that it’s possible but it’s difficult when you hear constant belly-aching.

So if you’re loving your life as a super hero CPA and you’ve got reasons you feel like sharing with the group, please do so. Or if you’re confused like us and have some wild-ass guesses that will be fine too.

Best Jobs in America [Focus]
Earlier:
Three Signs That It Might Be Time to Get Out of Public Accounting

Three Signs That It Might Be Time to Get Out of Public Accounting

Busy season is rounding the corner and, if you look carefully, you might be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Squint. No I swear, it’s there.

My posts this week will shift from social media to the potential job market. As a public accountant, you should always be cognizant of the fact that you have the ability to continuously develop your strengths and mold your career path. Want to pursue of a career in hedge funds? Network within your firm to be staffed on the right engagements. Need to add tax experience to your resume? Seek out a rotation.


Here are three signs that you should get you thinking about exploring your options.

1. You’ve got your CPA – This might go without saying, but many people enter the public accounting industry with the “two years and done” mentality. Pass the CPA, earn some experience stripes, and get the *$@% out. There’s nothing wrong with this, but don’t expect to $100K jobs to be jumping into your lap. The average salary bump for younger staff from public to the private sector can range from 5-10%, usually topping out around 15%. If this isn’t enough of a bump to seriously consider a private job, don’t lose sight of the quality of life improvement a new job can bring. No, not the smoke and mirrors your firm is promising you. The real deal.

2. Someone you know is interviewing – Believe it or not, the job market is actually improving. The hiring freezes on many financial firms is now limited largely to supporting roles (i.e. HR folks like myself). Hedge and private equity funds are picking up their hiring as the markets begin to thaw. Recruiters are not wasting their time with interviewing individuals for the sole purpose of interviewing. So take note next time your senior staff member has three doctor appointments in a week; perhaps you should be “coming down with a nasty bug,” too.

3. Recruiters call – and you listen – Speaking about recruiters, be prepared for an onslaught of calls. Their timing is no coincidence. The private sector has been shuffling around over the last few months (remember when your client contact suddenly went MIA?), and as the cycle goes, the newly opened private jobs will inevitably be filled by auditors and tax accountants from public. Listen to the cold, scripted calls; be open to a pay increase and better work hours; reclaim your weekends. It can’t hurt to listen to the (substantiated) claims that you’re undervalued in today’s market.

Newsflash: you are grossly undervalued.

Job of the Day: Global Wealth Manager Needs a Head of Financial Control

Ashton Lane Group has a global wealth manager client in need of a Head of Financial Control who can implement and maintain existing and new control frameworks.

Candidates should have a minimum of seven years experience and a CPA license. Knowledge of SAP is a plus.

Get more details on the position, located in New York, after the jump.


Recruiter: Ashton Lane Group

Title: VP Head of Financial Control

Location: New York

Minimum Experience: 7 years

Description: Build and lead the financial control team within a global wealth manager.

Responsibilities: Lead a team of up to five entity controllers; Responsible for the monthly general ledger control and account reconciliation processes, ensuring that a robust control framework is embedded and maintained; Represent team at monthly Letter of Representation meetings and escalate any material issues; Review existing end to end revenue processes and implement new controls as the business expands; Support the launch of a new Trust entity and set up the control framework and associated regulatory and statutory reporting;

Qualifications: 7+ years financial control experience within financial services; Understanding of Capital Management principles; Experience of finance process design and implementation; Knowledge and experience of SAP an advantage; Bachelors’ degree or equivalent. CPA/CA preferred.

See the entire description over at the GC Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.

Job of the Day: Citi Needs a Planning & Analysis Manager

Citi needs an experienced accounting professional to join its Citi Capital Advisors Financial Control unit. This position will be responsible for maintaining and improving financial reporting processes for the unit’s management team.

Candidates should have a minimum of six years experience and a CPA license.

Get more details on the position, located in New York, after the jump.


Company: Citi

Title: P&A Manager

Location: New York

Description: Financial Control is responsible for a variety of activities related to the firm’s financial reporting and controls. The team is divided into different areas of specialization where each member is responsible for a unique set of responsibilities that include both analytical and accounting roles. This position will assist in the management reporting and legal vehicle reporting within the Citi Capital Advisors (CCA) Financial Control unit.

Responsibilities: The primary responsibility will be to drive the core processes and assist the CCA Finance management team to have a robust and controlled financial reporting process for both management and legal books. This will include the estimate process, regulatory reporting for corporate and external purposes and monthly deliverables to both the CCA business and Citigroup Corporate Reporting. Additionally, this role will be responsible for leading the entire CCA finance division (controller and planning and analysis departments) in the 2010 rated audit, as well as the ongoing quarterly monitoring performed by internal and external audit teams.

Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in Finance or Accounting degree required; CPA a requirement; 6 to 10 years of experience in financial control or related function required;

See the entire description over at the GC Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.

The Job Outlook Is Good for Accountants…But More Competitive

With one major deadline passed and two more coming up next week, some of you might be thinking about your employment options. It’s a common occurrence post-busy season to reflect on the past three-ish months, contact a recruiter and explore your options.

idea of what kinds of jobs might be attracting accountants in the year ahead so we got in touch with recruiter Adam Klitzke, Managing Partner of Emerson Search, LLC in Denver, Colorado.

Adam told us that he thinks that “2010 and…2011 are years where there is a “hot” background or skill set,” as opposed to a hot position (e.g. financial reporting, IFRS, or technical accounting). “[D]uring the previous 3 months, we haven’t seen the same job come up twice, but we have seen clients targeting the same type of candidate.“


So what does a hot “background or skill set” look like? Adam shared four primary characteristics that recruiters are currently looking for:

• 4-7 years of experience, the majority of which has been spent at a Big 4 firm.

• Experience with clients that comply with SEC regulation.

• Has experience supervising staff.

• Has obtained their CPA license.

“These candidates are not having any trouble landing interviews,” Adam told us. He added that in terms of your competition, there are far more bodies jockeying for a position, “in the current market we are seeing 5-10 candidates like this [with the ideal skill set] competing for the same job, whereas 3 years ago, a client would be lucky to see 2 candidates with this background.”

What if you don’t have the ideal skill set? Don’t worry, it’s not hopeless, “a second tier would look like someone with non-Big 4 public accounting experience coupled with industry experience (with a mid to large size public company – $200M+), supervisory experience, and a CPA license or an MBA,” Adam said.

Naturally, if your current background is lacking in these , it will be more difficult for a recruiter to help you land some interviews. Adam told us that while there are jobs out there for people with backgrounds that don’t fit the model above, those candidates typically find jobs without the services of a recruiter. If you’ve got bigger plans for yourself than that, it will be worth your time to pursue some or all of the points above.

The good news for those of you looking to make a move now is that you can expect to do well in terms of salary. As Adam told us, “Salary negotiations will be firm, but fair. Candidates will be able to negotiate an increase in pay and do NOT need to take a pay cut.”

Finally, another development he has seen has to do with the morale, “employee morale seems to be quite low and neither department heads or human resources are doing anything to combat that.” So, if you’re meeting with a recruiter it pays to be honest why your old employer didn’t give make you feel so good about yourself, “clients have asked us for ideas on how to improve morale and we have been able to help them as there are things a company can do other than increase salary to improve [that].”

Bottom line is that whatever your situation, it pays to be honest with recruiters about exactly what you are looking for. If you don’t like what you’re hearing from them, be honest and don’t settle for a position that you’re definitely not interested in pursuing. It may be a more competitive market but if you’ve got a strong background, you’ll have options.

Job of the Day: J.P. Morgan Needs a CFO/Vice President

J.P. Morgan is looking for a CFO to lead its Commercial Credit Card business. This is a product with the Company’s Treasury Services Card Products business unit.

The position is located in the Chicago with an alternate location in New York.

Get more details, after the jump.


Company: J.P. Morgan

Title: CFO Commercial Credit Card – TS Card Products – Vice President

Location: Chicago with an alternate location in New York

Description: Commercial Credit Card is a $300 million revenue product organization within the Treasury Services (TS) Card Products business unit ($700 million revenue). The CFO of Commercial Card reports directly to the CFO of TS Card Products.

Responsibilities: Work closely with the TS Card Products CFO as a critical member of the finance lead team; Partner with the Commercial Card Product management team to manage the product P&L and create transparency into business performanceEvaluate financial results and ensure they are communicated and understood and that the appropriate actions are identified and prioritized; develop and maintain key performance measures for revenue and expense; Development of annual business plan (revenue, expense, capital and project profile); Forecast, Analysis and Reporting of ongoing monthly results including Revenue, Headcount, Direct Expense and Indirect Expense (allocations); Work closely with Controllers team to manage month end close process; Lead meetings with product and operations partners to discuss product revenues, expense plans, and current issuesHelp maintain product pricing model; Develop, evolve, and automate processes to create reporting efficiencies

See the entire description over at the GC Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.

Job of the Day: Morgan Stanley Needs a Merchant Banking Accounting VP

Morgan Stanley is looking for someone to join their Merchant Banking Accounting and Control Group to handle day-to-day operations and managing the processing and the financial reporting of several products including real estate, private equity and infrastructure.

The position requires three to five years experience. Get more details on this position in New York after the jump.


Company: Morgan Stanley

Title: Merchant Banking Accounting VP

Location: New York, NY

Description: This position within the Merchant Banking Accounting and Control Group includes responsibilities of handling the day-to-day operations and managing the process and deliverables involved in consolidated accounting and reporting of the various Merchant Banking products (Real Estate, Private Equity, Infrastructure, and other private placements) as related to Morgan Stanley’s interest, both as a General Partner and Limited Partner, in each of the underlying funds.

Responsibilities: Ongoing support to and liaison with the Business Unit/Senior Management/Corporate / External Reporting/Segment Group/Fund Controllers/Various Other Internal Divisions: Responsible for monthly close process (Firm’s books); Involvement in new product developments and meetings; Involvement in accounting policy development and implementation; Other areas of exposure include Maintaining the general ledger and Marking to market the Morgan Stanley LP and GP interests in various Merchant Banking funds, Various Disclosures Requirements (FIN 45, FN 46R, FAS 157, FAS 157 g, FAS 159, FAS 160, FAS 161, etc.), SOX /404 documentation, Balance Sheet Review & Reporting, Legal Entity Reporting, Process Control, Transfer Pricing, PBT Analysis, Expense Analysis & Billing, Due Diligence, Senior Management Reporting, Cost of Capital, and others

Qualifications: 3-5 years experience; Bachelors Degree in Accounting or Finance; Strong Accounting Skills

See the entire description over at the GC Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.