Client Accountant at Stonehage Fleming

The role reports to the Team Leader Client Accountant - South Africa based in Johannesburg. The role requires close and regular interaction with team members in both Johannesburg and Cape Town, 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 payroll, accounting and tax compliance service providers).

OVERALL PURPOSE
The overall purpose of this position is to join the Accounting and SA Tax Compliance team, ensuring delivery to Stonehage Fleming’s clients of the following:

• timely and accurate SA and onshore financial statements;
• timely and accurate SA tax returns;
• timely and accurate data management to streamline the above

PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS & ACCOUNTABILITIES
Accounting

• Accounting for relevant information to trial balance level as well as the preparation of both offshore and SA financial statements
• Providing back up to the Investment Accounting team to ensure that all accounting ledgers are up to date by reconciling investment and bank accounts, in the preparation of investment reporting and other financial analyses within strict deadlines
• Providing external service providers with relevant information to allow them to prepare financial statements, tax and other statutory returns for our clients
• Monitoring the quality and timeliness of the team’s output and adherence to deadlines

Tax Compliance

• Completion of allocated SA tax returns for individuals, trusts and companies within statutory deadlines
• Monitoring the completion of all SA tax returns for individuals, trusts and companies to ensure completion and submission within statutory deadlines
• Monitoring service delivery (quality and timeliness) of the external service providers
• Liaising with external service providers where required
• Handling of tax objections and appeals and liaising with SARS and the external service providers where necessary
• Undertaking tax registrations where required
• Monitoring the completion of all tax registrations

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• BCom Accounting graduate having completed either SAICA or SAIPA articles with 1 – 3 years post article experience.
• Practical experience within the financial services (wealth management or investment management) arena in a similar role, with exposure to both local and international trust structures being beneficial.
• Experience in communicating with high net worth individuals.

SKILLS
This position requires a good understanding of the following:

• Accounting knowledge and competence including IFRS for SMEs, basic understanding of trusts, understanding and the interpretation of financial statements
• A level of tax knowledge and competence in undertaking SA tax compliance work
• Technical experience in Caseware, Taxware, Pastel, MS Excel, E-Filing and Business Central beneficial

COMPETENCIES AND BEHAVIOURS

• Energetic: Self-motivated and self manages with a good work ethic (attitude), schedules and manages workload effectively, thinks ahead, 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, 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 focussed: Understands and satisfies client needs at all times, takes full responsibility and accountability for all client matters including delegated tasks