Senior Fund Accountant at Alexander Forbes

Job description

Alexander Forbes is looking for a Senior Fund Accountant to maintain a portfolio of funds by completing the daily/monthly/quarterly tasks to produce annual financial statements of the highest quality to clients within 4 months of the Fund’s year end, and (B) coordinate and facilitate submission of financial statements to the FSB within 6 months.

Minimum Requirements:

• Matric (Grade 12) with 6-8 years Retirement Fund accounting experience and studying towards relevant Accounting degree or
• Relevant Accounting Degree/ Tertiary Qualification
• Good verbal and written communication skills
• Minimum 3 years Industry related experience (Advantageous)
• Computer literate in MS Office Suite (Intermediate MS Excel a must)

Job Specification:

Level of Operation:

Accountability:

• Accountable for maintaining daily, monthly, quarterly AF processes and procedures and or client specific requirements on the portfolio of funds.
• Accountable to produce quality annual financial statements within the required time frame per client SLA or within 120 days from the fund's year end.
• Ensure adherence to internal review process prior to the start of the audit.
• Comply with procedures, processes, policies to eliminate possible risk exposure to the funds under administration and AF.
• Accountable for maintaining portfolio of funds as per AF processes and procedures

Key Performance Area:

• Stakeholder Relationship:
• Establish strong, trust-based relationships with internal clients, external clients and other teams within AF Administration Services.
• Effective communication with all relevant parties within Alexander Forbes to achieve the goals and targets
• Working collaboratively with other departments to coordinate client interactions and resolutions to their needs.
• Ensuring that effective communication to clients is conducted timeously i.e. audit plans, etc…
• Client satisfaction with all presentations of AFS at Audit/Trustee Meetings is obtained.
• Communicate effectively with our clients to resolve issues without escalations and ensure client expectations are met.
• Ensuring that the Treating Customers Fairly “TCF” values are top of mind in all dealing with internal and external clients.
• Developing and enhancing skill levels
• TCF:
• Fulfill his/her duties in such a manner that the relevant TCF outcomes are delivered
• Constructively speaks up about any TCF short-coming in any part of the business
• Quickly owns up to any mistakes or oversights he/she may be party to that may have negative TCF consequences (such behaviour is never punished).
• Operational Effectiveness:
• Successfully complete reports for all Funds for review within portfolio within 45 days of the quarter end to the Reserve Bank
• Produce quality financial statements 2 weeks prior to the commencement of an audit
• Ensure all financial statements for Retail products are released to clients within 4 months or per client SLA and signed for submission to the FSB within 6 months after year end.
• Ensure completion of monthly reporting of corporate accounts Licensed under the Long Term Insurance Act and FAIS act
• Resolving all queries to FSB within the required 30 days from receipt
• Ensuring 100% compliance rating on internal audits
• Embrace any technological advancement to gain operational maximum efficiencies
• All processes and document storage for saved on SharePoint /on server/ on Fundi, no shared documents to be saved on desktop
• Management of bank account justifying the bank account balance and processing all investments and disinvestments instructions timeously
• Compile Trustee cash flows and bank recons as per procedure monthly / as per requirements
• Ensure all fees and premiums are paid monthly and timeously per procedure
• Adhoc Invoices are paid within 1 day of receipt/ or on receipt of disinvestment from the market.
• Adherence to procedures to avoid potential PI claims
• Ensure no FSB Penalties lodged within a review period
• Management of individual expenses to avoid overruns
• UA and ALM asset alignments to be completed per instruction
• Clearing of debtors and creditors within required time frames
• Manage the audit process to avoid cost overruns
• Producing monthly / quarterly / bi-annual accounts if so required
• Establish strong, trust-based relationships with internal clients, external clients and other teams within AF Administration Services.
• Working collaboratively with other departments to coordinate client interactions and resolutions to their needs.
• Ensuring that the TCF values are top of mind in all dealing with internal and external clients.

Technical and behavioral competencies:

Skills :

• Good Retirement Fund industry knowledge advantageous
• Good oral and written communication
• Good risk management skills
• Good accounting knowledge
• Ability to multi-task
• Ability to anticipate and manage change
• Ability to work under pressure

Cognitive Competencies:

• Analytical Thinking
• Good decision - making skills
• Problem Solving
• Ability to think the bigger picture (Strategic Thinking)

Behavioral (Interpersonal and Intrapersonal):

• Assertiveness
• Ethical behaviour / honesty / transparency / modelling of values
• Excellence orientation
• Flexibility / adaptability
• Personal growth orientation/learning agility
• Resilience / perseverance
• Stress management
• Rule orientation
• Results & solution focused (drive, energy & follow through)
• Self-management (planning, prioritising & time management)
• Responsible and accountable
• Effective communication