Assurance Experienced Senior, Accounting Advisory & Outsourcing * F&A Outsourcing

Job Summary:

The Technology Experienced Senior, Accounting Advisory & Outsourcing supports the full-life cycle of NetSuite Implementation engagements. BDO is seeking a professional with a public accounting background and extensive experience in NetSuite implementations. The successful candidate is adept at leveraging their accounting expertise to demonstrate and deploy sophisticated cloud-based financial systems using NetSuite.

This role collaborates with a team of technology leaders, software developers, client-facing outsourced finance and accounting professionals, and various other SMEs. The individual supports project work from demonstration through to successful completion. In this role, the Experienced Senior Associate assists in discussions and helps oversee the client's (internal and external) needs, striving to contribute to strong delivery and ensuring client expectations are successfully met.

Job Duties:

General

• Supports the implementation of NetSuite projects, ensuring seamless transition and integration of financial operations
• Demonstrates NetSuite financial reporting functions to meet client's needs, ensuring that reporting solutions align with client requirements
• Utilizes public accounting knowledge to assist in system configuration, ensuring both compliance and efficiency
• Works with clients to understand complex accounting needs and help translate them into effective NetSuite solutions
• Supports the management of client (external and internal) expectations and assists in delivering difficult messages to keep project delivery on track
• Contributes to the vision of the project solution under the guidance of project leaders
• Prepares formal and informal presentations for client meetings and internal meetings
• Identifies potential new business opportunities and communicates them to engagement superiors
• Acts as a liaison between change requesters and the software development team, addressing development team needs efficiently
• Facilitates meetings with developers by providing functional clarification and setting delivery expectations with team and client
• Supports the on-time delivery of projects, helps eliminate impediments, and contributes to building a high-performing team environment
• Assists in managing time input and billing activities to ensure timely completion
• Independently implements the repackaging of third party or BDO proprietary software to ensure consistent installation with minimal to no user interruption
• Collaborates with team members in the development of utilities and/or tools to improve efficiency of internal and external users
• Evaluates business rules to determine the most efficient manner to meet end-user requirements
• Creates technical documentation to assist with Quality Assurance code review
• Works with the Quality Assurance team to ensure thorough testing and remediation of technical solutions
• Stays current on latest technologies and emerging trends, recommending ways to utilize new technologies in the BDO environment
• Other duties as required

Client (external and internal) Service Delivery

• Understands the technology packages clients are using to support their accounting/finance functions; describes the major functions each system performs, and knows how the system performs those functions; explains the purpose and value of system functions that a client may not be using; identifies when a client is not using a technology package in a proper or efficient manner; learns new technology quickly, understands the essence of technologies, how they can be used, how they interact with other technologies and business functions, determines what the best methods/benefits are for using them, and applies these technologies to an engagement
• Facilitates effective discovery meetings with clients; uses open ended questions to identify what their objectives are, what financial information they value for management/decision making and why, as well creates a map of their current internal finance and accounting structure
• Designs integrated solutions that respond to the specific situation; knows BDO well enough internally to identify when services outside of the business line should be included and describes what these services achieve and how they operate; outlines the solution in a concise document and vets it internally with their leaders and other BDO stakeholders
• Accurately determines the cost of building a client solution; calculates the benefit to a client in dollar terms of the solution by using the pricing process; compares the differences between the perspectives, and if there is sufficient margin in between (given our confidence in our calculations) to have a profitable engagement, proposes a fixed fee based on current scope for review by leadership
• Works with Senior Managers to learn to formulate recommendations to client leadership on technical accounting issues, financial accounting policies and procedures and financial management issues; educates clients on how their finance and accounting needs will change as their business evolves; helps clients identify areas of opportunity and future business needs
• Periodically reviews solutions with their clients to determine if it is still the right solution for the current state of the business and recommends appropriate changes
• Manages conflict; proactively engages senior leadership when conflict arises
• Supports the client through business changes and helps to develop and execute the change management plan; handles full-life cycle of all assigned engagements by providing technical management for all areas within the accounting function
• Gathers information necessary from the client to execute on engagements; maintains a running list of information that is needed and follows up to gather information that is missing; organizes this information so it is easily accessible for the team and the client as applicable
• Creates, develops, and maintains strong business relationships with clients, both internal and external

Business Development

• Learns business development strategies and service offerings targeted for various industries; ensures prospect and sales information is entered into CRM as appropriate
• Recommends and designs solutions for clients
• Evaluates clients for acceptance (e.g., general risk matters, regulations that affect our work, international business, background checks, etc.), and develops statements of work based on solutions they have proposed, with support from leadership
• Develops exposure to industry teams and business development resources; develops an awareness of the impact that different industries and service offerings have on the technical work and final deliverable; participates in industry trade groups and networking events
• Listens for and identifies new opportunities with existing clients, and communicates those potential opportunities to leadership
• Articulates the Advisory service offerings, as well as the broader firm, to a client, prospect, or contact
• Understands and articulates the value proposition and understands the target market/client profile

Developing Others

• Fosters a culture that embraces change and accountability
• Identifies staff needs to develop analytics and forecasting skills at a level where they are capable of interpreting financial results, recognizing trends and gaining insights into business performance improvements
• Ensures Senior Associates and Associates are trained on all relevant software, processes, and resources
• Participates in recruiting efforts for Associates and Senior Associates and assists with the new employee on-boarding process
• Serves as a resource for Associates and Senior Associates, while developing an in-depth knowledge and understanding of finance and accounting functions, and technology for supporting these functions; knows what is required from a compliance perspective and develops an understanding of what is considered a standard or best practice for the industry or business structure

Project Management

• Creates a work plan following best practices of project management (breaking down projects into phases and tasks, estimating time/budget, setting milestones, managing dependencies, and measuring and reviewing progress)
• Bills engagements in a timely and effective manner, appropriate to the client's situation and the state of the work; contributes to economic management matters such as forecasting and monitoring/managing to key metrics
• Scopes new projects and constructs a fee estimate/budget that considers all appropriate details, including, but not limited to: architecting, designing and planning/estimating a tailored client solution; identifies resource requirements and develops transition plans and estimates appropriate margins for the client engagement and the overall picture of the client relationship
• Oversees client satisfaction with quality of work products, assigned staff, and engagement performance
• Ensures clients are billed timely in accordance with the statement of work (SOW) and follows billing and collections best practices; works with team to resolve any client billing issues
• Other duties as required

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• Supervises the day-to-day workload of the team on assigned engagements and reviews work product
• Evaluates the performance of Senior Associates and Associates and assists in developing goals and objectives to enhance professional development that aligns with the firm's and business line's objectives
• Acts as mentor to team, as appropriate
• Acts as a Career Advisor to Senior Associates and Associates, as appropriate

Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

Education:

• Bachelor's degree, required; focus in Business or Information Technology, preferred
• MBA or Master's in Accountancy, preferred

Experience:

• Three (3) or more years of experience performing general accounting transactions and functions, required
• Two (2) or more years of experience supporting technical solution projects, strategic or integration/implementation of NetSuite, required
• Experience with software development life cycle and contributing to multiple project teams, required
• Experience participating in software development teams and supporting meetings with internal teams, required
• Supervisory experience, preferred
• Experience working with outsourced and/or delivery center operations, preferred
• Consultative or business advisory experience, preferred
• Client-facing consulting experience, preferred
• Experience in managing scope, timeline, or budget, preferred

License/Certifications:

• NetSuite Implementor certification, preferred
• CPA certification, preferred
• Sage Intacct Implementation certification, preferred

Software:

• Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office Suite, specifically Excel, Word, and PowerPoint, required
• Experience utilizing industry standard accounting software such as Netsuite, Sage Intacct, BILL, Expensify, preferred
• Prior experience utilizing industry recognized accounting research tools, preferred

Language:

• N/A

Other Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Strong business process analysis & design and process flow skills
• Understands the finance and accounting functions generally performed by a business (e.g. sales, purchasing, A/R, etc.) and common best practices/processes for how they operate, as well as how they interact; understands other business imperatives/functions (e.g. data security, internal controls, etc.) and how they can affect the finance and accounting functions; uses this knowledge to analyze the current structure of a client and identify what services or processes may be inefficient or missing and where we can add value
• Presents well in one-on-one and small group settings; presents well to all levels of management, internally and with clients; projects confidence and expertise; communicates in a clear and concise manner that emphasizes key points; persuades others to their points of view; self-aware - knows when an approach is not working and can change course immediately
• Strong analytical and basic research skills
• GAAP knowledge, financial statement presentation, and report writing
• Strong analytical, facilitation, documentation, and communication skills
• Strong project planning, scoping and management skills
• Solid organizational skills especially the ability to meet project deadlines with a focus on details
• Ability to work in a deadline-driven environment and handle multiple projects simultaneously, while focusing on quality, customer satisfaction, and service delivery
• Ability to successfully manage multiple tasks while working independently or within a group environment
• Ability to act as the primary contact on assigned engagements and effectively manage a team of professionals including delegating work assignments as needed
• Ability to effectively manage a team of professionals and contribute to the professional development of assigned personnel, while delegating work assignments as needed
• Interacts effectively with people at all organizational levels of the firm as well as the capability to build and maintain strong relationships with internal and client personnel
• Ability to travel up to 25% of the time
• Able to manage projects within a software solutions environment
• Capacity to work in a deadline-driven environment while handling multiple projects/tasks simultaneously with a focus on details
• Excellent communication skills, both written and spoken, along with strong facilitation and collaboration skills
• Excels at operating in a fast-paced technical environment
• Ability to solve problems, identify solutions, and appropriately escalate issues

Keywords: NetSuite, Sage Intacct, Implementation, CAS service, PowerPoint, User Experience, User Enablement, Data Visualization, Application Development, Software, Data Analytics, CRM, Cloud Strategy