Senior Partnership Accounting Manager

A&O Shearman; London; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading firm in London is seeking a Senior Partnership Accounting Manager to join their Finance team. This strategic role involves overseeing partner finance processes, managing payroll for over 1,000 individuals, and ensuring compliance across global finance teams. The ideal candidate will possess a strong accounting background, excellent leadership skills, and a commitment to high-quality service in a dynamic work environment.

Benefits

Occupational pension scheme

Private medical insurance

Mental health resources and free apps

Onsite gym

Health and wellbeing services

Parental and special leave

Holiday entitlement increasing with length of service

Season ticket loans

Online discounts

Qualifications

• Accounting qualification ACA/ACCA or similar.
• Previous experience within a professional services function (desirable).
• Ability to adapt to using unfamiliar software packages.

Responsibilities

• Manage Partner Finance, Accounting, and Payroll functions with a team.
• Ensure compliance with internal policies on partner accounting.
• Develop systems to enhance partner payroll processes.

Skills

Communication

Leadership

Numeracy

IT Skills

Education

ACA/ACCA or similar

Job description

Job Description

We are recruiting for a Senior Partnership Accounting Manager to join our Finance team in London.

Department purpose
The remit of the team is to support all aspects of the firm's partnership accounting/partner finance function across the territories in which the firm operates. This includes the calculation and payment of partners' profit share (drawings & distributions), the management of partnership capital and partnership capital loan, partners' tax reserving and tax payments.

Role purpose
The Senior Manager - Partnership Accounting is a key member of the Partners' Affairs & Tax (PAT) team. The role will have responsibility for several key areas withing the PAT team namely Partner Finance, Partnership Accounting and Partner Payroll.

Role and responsibilities
Responsible for all Partner Finance, Partnership Accounting and Partner Payroll including the management of five reports (three direct reports)

Partner Accounting:

• Management of the team's relationship with global finance teams, ensuring that partner accounting transactions with overseas offices are recorded correctly and compliant with internal policies.
• Ownership of the Partner Points process (including prior shares) used to drive the firm's partner profit allocation process.
• Management of the team's input into the firm's management accounting process, including monthly management accounts, budgeting and forecasting.
• Ownership and management of year end processes including disclosure in the firm's Annual Report & Financial Statements and partner accounting disclosures for valve entities.
• Ownership of the firm's provision for payments to former partners for inclusion in the Group accounts.
• Management of the team's year-end audit processes including the timely delivery of audit data.
• Ownership of the Trial Balance and associated controls (e.g. Balance Sheet Reconciliations).
• Development of foreign currency accounting practices for the team including inter-office/inter-entity accounting.
• Ongoing development and enhancement of Partner Finance processes

Partner Payroll & other:

• Responsible for the management and review of current partner, retired partner, and annuitant monthly payrolls (c.1,000 individuals) including the processing of all monthly adjustments.
• Continuous development of the Partner payroll system ensuring the system keeps pace with policy and process changes.
• Management of the global partner benefit policies including the arrangement and maintenance of Life Assurance, Personal Accident, and Permanent Health Insurances
• Development of new processes and systems improvements to improve our overall service to the partners and the firm

Key requirements

• Accounting qualification ACA/ACCA or similar
• Excellent communication skills, ability to interact positively with stakeholders across the finance function.
• Strong leadership skills, ability to manage and develop members of the team to provide a high level of 'client service' in a global environment.
• Ability to multi-task, prioritise and critically review.
• Enthusiastic, dynamic, pro-active, ambitious, commitment to "getting the job done".
• Ability to assimilate large amounts of information and a strong eye for detail.
• Strong numeracy and IT skills, including knowledge of Windows, Excel, and Word and the ability to adapt to using unfamiliar software packages, with particular emphasis on experience of Excel.
• Previous experience within a professional services function (desirable).

Should you require additional support at any stage of the recruitment process due to a disability or a health condition, please do not hesitate to contact a member of our recruitment team who will work with you to provide any adjustments as required.

We are an equal opportunities recruiter and do not discriminate on the basis of race, colour, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or any other protected characteristic.

We recognise that our people are our most valuable asset, which is reflected in the wide range of benefits that are available to our employees. Some of these benefits include: our occupational pension scheme, group income protection cover, private medical insurance, mental health resources and free apps, health and wellbeing services encompassing an onsite gym, wellbeing centre and GP service, emergency back-up care support, parental and special leave, holiday entitlement increasing with length of service, holiday trading, season ticket loans and online discounts and lifestyle management services.

Our approach to hybrid working seeks to combine and maximise the benefits of effective remote working with the benefits of being in the office. Our current hybrid working arrangements require office based working for a minimum of 60% of your time (i.e. three days per week for a full time role) in accordance with our hybrid working policy.