Expense Accounting COE Lead (Technology & Realty Expenses) - Vice President

Functional Job Title : Expense Accounting COE Lead - VP (Technology & Realty Expenses) Reports to : Global Accounting Operations GFC Head - MD
Department/ Division : Corporate Finance CoE, Bangalore
Background :

Driven by the Beacon initiatives, functionalization of the corporate functions and re-alignment of the Finance Operating Model, State Street has established the Global Accounting Operations (GAO) organization in 2017. GAO is a process-focused organization responsible for the majority of the record-to-report (R2R) activities performed at State Street. Organizationally, it combines all groups performing these activities Globally and also includes Accounting Centers residing in State Street Shared Service locations in Poland, India and China. GAO organization is established on principles of Global Process Ownership and process excellence, owning all aspects of business-as-usual activities within R2R areas and driving process improvements and automation Globally.

To achieve this objective, GAO has been structured into several distinct global units each is responsible for all aspects of selected major groups of R2R activities, such as Close & Consolidations, Revenue/Expense Accounting, Payroll Accounting, Intercompany Transactions, Specialized Accounting, Cash/Deposit governance and others. Each global unit will be responsible for all aspects of business-as-usual activities within their group of processes, as well as process re-engineering and automation activities - this includes leading process assessments; driving process design and process re-engineering work; co-owning technology initiatives bringing automation to GAO organization, working in close collaboration with the teams in Finance Technology, Finance Re-Engineering, Data Management, and other partnership organizations.

Basic Purpose of Job::

• The Expense Accounting VP Lead - Global Technology Services & Global Realty Services function will be responsible for all aspects of US GAAP, accrual accounting and day-to-day management of a team of 5-20 experienced Accounting professionals (the level of Managers & specialists) that provide support to Global Accounting Controllers and LFO group.
• In addition to Business As Usual (BAU) responsibilities as described below , this role will lead the process re-engineering, standardization, and automation efforts.

Responsibilities & Tasks Include: Business As Usual (BAU) Activities:

• Collaborate closely with various Finance teams (Controllers, FP&A, LFO) to understand expectations and deliverable timelines and ensure that deliverables of the team are load balanced as compared to team staffing.
• May serve as a subject matter expert on a accounting transactions such accrual calculation for Technology & Realty expenses (Software Rental, Maintenance, Technology Support Fees, Security Deposits, Lease, Rent & Maintenance and others for global entities)
• Required to participate in or conduct a wide range of accounting and financial analyses on critical and complex issues which may include variance analysis and accounting transactions.
• Strong accounting knowledge of Balance Sheet & P&L. Good understanding the Balance Sheet reconciliation, Exception Management, Legal Entity expense management & Hierarchy structure at global organization
• Accruals are being processed based on the PO, System based & Non-PO details received from Boston/ Procurement team (Broker Fees, Fin Transaction, Directed Brokerage Clearing & Others)
• Manage Expense book close process & work with corporate accounting team for monthly book close
• Develop the team to adopt "owner's mind set", work independently, and effectively manage timelines
• Provide support to key stakeholders (Controllers, LFO's) of the team to present analytical results, findings & month-end variance explanations with complete analytics
• Review expense accruals on a regular basis along with aging and validate them with the collaboration of Controllers, FP&A teams
• Manage resources to assist with ad-hoc projects and new transactions to support the GAO Accounting controller group
• Performing managerial reasonableness reviews and discussing reporting & analytics deliverables prepared by the team to ensure results make sense, that messaging is on point for the audience and ensuring the core objective of the deliverable is met
• First point of escalation within the local reporting line for dealing with issues (people/process/technology) and ensuring that compliance requirements are adhered to (e.g. company policies surrounding standard of conduct, information security, employment regulations)
• Coaches the team and works with leadership to establish the team member goals and gather feedback for performance appraisals.
• Participate & Co-ordinate with Internal (FLOD, SLOD, SOX) audit team and external audit requirements
• Ensure completion of deliverables within the committed timeframe including assistance with development of deliverable plans, attending deliverable specific or recurring meetings between the team and the onshore team. Team deliverables revolve around;
• Be primarily responsible for the completion of the following activities through the team and self

Daily/Weekly :

• Monitor General Ledger activity for accuracy based on US GAAP rules
• Part of various Governance meetings to manage SLA, KPI & other process metrics

Monthly:

• Coordinate month-end close with corporate accounting for SSGA Business & Broker Dealer Function
• Lead mid & month end calls and provide accounting transparency to Controllers & LFOs
• Manage Balance Sheet Reconciliation exceptions & provide insights and resolve complex issues

Quarterly :

• Prepare Regulatory, SEC, and Internal reporting
• Perform SOX control testing as required
• Process Intercompany expense settlements

Annual :

• Perform CIS control testing
• Assist in annual audit collaboration (Internal and External)

Ad-Hoc :

• Prepare and update process narratives/procedures and flow charts
• Response to internal and external requests including variance analysis and inquires
• Participate in Ad Hoc projects and new transactions
• General ledger account maintenance requests
• Perform user access reviews & certifications
• Accounting systems maintenance and upgrade

Process Re-Engineering, Standardization, and Automation:

• Lead the process Re-Engineering, Standardization, Automation
• Responsibility for ongoing process improvements
• Responsibility for execution of right-placement strategy
• Implementation support of the GAO process re-engineering and automation efforts

Job Requirements: Education and Experience:

• Master's Degree in Accounting, Chartered Accountant (CA) or Certified Public Accountant (CPA)/MBA-Finance with 12+ years of progressive experience in R2R areas with major financial institutions
• US GAAP accounting knowledge
• Understanding of international regulatory landscape, experience with statutory accounting/reporting groups across several major international geographies
• Experience of building and maintaining strong control environment (risk excellence, experience with SOX, RCSA controls, etc.), establishing policies, procedures and strong internal controls
• Demonstrated leadership in improving/building-out the above process groups for multiple geographies and business areas
• Extensive experience of managing teams performing day-to-day accounting operations, month-end and quarter-end activities for the above areas of accounting
• Experience of leading re-engineering of R2R (record-to-report) processes and driving similar centralization of the end-to-end activities for the major financial institutions

Skills required :

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office suite (Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Word, Visio), advance levels of Excel (pivot tables, formulas, excel workbook maintenance best practices)
• Knowledge of Hyperion Essbase ,Oracle Financials
• Knowledge of Spotfire, Tableau, Cognos data analytics and visualization (or similar) a plus
• Conceptual understanding of company-wide financial architecture (GL, sub-GL technology, specialized tools) applicable to the above process groups of processes
• Senior-level communication skills, presentation skills, prior experience of interacting with multiple stakeholders (Legal Entity and Geography controllers) in NA, EMEA, APAC.
• First or second level management expertise required
• Independent decision-making capabilities, demonstrated thought leadership
• Pride of ownership with the ability to deliver high quality results timely
• Self-motivated, self-assured, and self-managed
• Strong analytical and ability to analyze and summarize complex financial transactions
• Strong attention to details
• Problem solving skill
• Highly organized with ability to multi-task and work under high pressure deadlines
• Must be able to work in a fast paced environment