Associate – Client Accountant | Cape Town

The Recruitment Council; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 300 000 - 600 000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is on the lookout for a talented Associate – Client Accountant to join their dynamic team in Cape Town. This role offers the opportunity to excel in client accounting within the financial sector, involving close collaboration with various teams and clients. The ideal candidate will be responsible for maintaining accurate accounting records, preparing financial statements for offshore and onshore entities, and ensuring compliance with tax and statutory requirements. If you are self-motivated, detail-oriented, and have a passion for delivering high-quality service, this is the perfect opportunity to advance your career in a supportive and innovative environment.

Qualifications

• BCom Accounting graduate with SAIPA or SAICA articles.
• Experience in financial services and client accounting.

Responsibilities

• Maintain accounting records and produce financial statements.
• Liaise with clients and external service providers for reporting.

Skills

Accounting knowledge

IFRS for SMEs

STEP accounting

Trusts and investments understanding

Financial statement interpretation

Caseware

Xero

Microsoft Office

Business Central

Laserfische

Education

BCom Accounting

SAIPA or SAICA articles

Tools

Caseware

Xero

Microsoft Office

Business Central

Laserfische

Job description

Our client is seeking a talented Associate – Client Accountant for a premier office family. This opportunity offers a dynamic environment and the chance to excel in client accounting within the financial sector.

The successful candidate’s role is as part of a team in Cape Town and Johannesburg, which reports to the Client Accounting Team Leader. It involves maintaining the accounting records of and producing timely and accurate financial statements for offshore/onshore trusts and companies, therefore requiring close and regular interaction and collaboration with team members in both Cape Town and Johannesburg, all members of the Family Office team, clients, the international accounting team and various external business contacts (including banks, SARS, 3rd party and in-house custodians and in particular accounting and tax compliance service providers).

Principal Elements & Accountabilities:

• Accounts maintenance of relevant information to trial balance level as well as the preparation of offshore/onshore financial statements.
• Maintaining entity ledgers on a regular basis ensuring they are up-to-date.
• Identifying payment requirements for the client, instructing and executing of the payment process to ensure accurate and timing payments.
• Systematic filing and information gathering of client agreements with third parties to identify actions required such as issuing invoices.
• Assisting the Investment Accounting team to ensure that all entity ledgers are up to date by reconciling investment and bank accounts, in the preparation of investment reporting and other financial analysis within strict reporting deadlines.
• Provide external service providers with relevant information to allow them to prepare financial reports, tax and other statutory returns for our clients within strict deadlines.
• Liaising with the Trust Administrator and Middle Office Team to ensure adequate supporting documents are in place for various updates in clients.
• Provision of relevant reports for client reporting purposes including client meeting preparation.
• Provision of reporting for local and international tax purposes.

Qualifications And Experience:

• BCom Accounting graduate having completed either SAIPA (with Professional Exams passed) or SAICA articles (with AGA(SA) registration complete).
• Practical experience within the financial services (wealth management or investment management) environment in a similar role, with exposure to both local and international trust structures being beneficial.
• Experience in communicating with high-net-worth individuals.
• Experience in a deadline-driven environment.

Skills:

• This position requires a good understanding of the following:
• Accounting knowledge and competence including IFRS for SMEs, STEP accounting, a basic understanding of trusts and investments, understanding and the interpretation of financial statements.
• Technical experience in Caseware, Xero and Microsoft Office.
• Experience in Business Central and Laserfische beneficial.

Competencies And Behaviours:

• Energetic: Self-motivated and self-manages with a good work ethic (attitude), schedules and manages workload effectively, think ahead, and sets plans to achieve goals.
• Results orientated: Delivers work of a high standard, output is accurate and error-free; owns delegated tasks and pays attention to detail, takes prompt action and sees tasks through to completion.
• Resourceful problem solver: Considers the wider consequences of each decision, gathers and analyses information to find creative solutions.
• Team player: Supports and works towards team goals, shares information, is helpful and cooperative, and works effectively with people outside the immediate team.
• Efficient and effective communicator: Communicates clearly and concisely with clients and colleagues of all levels, listens effectively, has well-presented written communication and the ability to deal with sophisticated clients.
• Client-focused: Understands and satisfies client needs at all times, takes full responsibility and accountability for all client matters including delegated tasks.