State Street - AVP - Cash & Deposit Accounting Manager

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 Accouting, Intercompany Transactions, Specialized/Producting Accounting, Cash/Deposit governance and others. Each global unit will be responsibe 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 Cash and Deposit Accounting Manager will be responsible for all aspects of State Street general ledger cash, deposit and related accounts recording activity from both manual and automated product accounting system sources. The Manager will also be responsible for day-to-day management of a team of 5-20 experienced Accounting professionals (the level specialists and analysts) that provide support to the Cash and Deposit Accounting group. This individual will provide subject matter expertise in the area of Cash and Deposit Accounting which includes:

- Accurate classification of accounts for US GAAP, IFRS and regulatory reporting

- External cash account agreements compliance with accounting guidance

- Ongoing reviews of dormant/unused client and STT internal-use accounts

- Compliance with global abandoned/unclaimed property escheatment laws

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 the onshore team to understand expectations and deliverable timelines and ensure that deliverables of the team are load balanced as compared to team staffing.

- Develop the team to adopt - owner's mind set-, work independently, and effectively manage timelines

- Manage resources to assist with ad-hoc projects and new transactions to support the GAO Cash and Deposit Accounting Governance group

- Lead the day to day activities of an accounting and reporting team that is performing Accounting, Reporting, Analysis and Tracking

- 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

- Provide support to key stakeholders of the team to present analytical results, findings

- 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)

- May be required to participate in or conduct a wide range of accounting and financial analyses on critical and complex issues which may include variance analysis, accounting transactions and interpretation of formal account agreements

- May serve as a subject matter expert on particular accounting transactions and coordinate product mappings with multiple STT units

- Research & validate findings with discernment & context, identify gaps and recommend solutions which may include operational and/or system changes.

- Coaches the team and works with onshore leadership to establish the team member goals and gather feedback for performance appraisals.

- Participate in or manage function specific projects as needed

- 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;

Daily:

- Ensure timely review and tracking of responses to account reviews

Weekly:

- Prepare off-book currency manual journal entries (and at quarter-end)

Monthly:

- Coordinate month-end close activities including:

Prepare manual journal entries for offsets to USD system clearing accounts for non-US site backvalues

Extract accounting system reports

Review select cash, deposit and related clearing/suspense accounts to assist with resolution of exceptions

Prepare notifications for sites to review and resolve if necessary ledger-only primary nostro overdrafts

- Prepare Regulatory reporting for FDIC and Fed schedules for backvalue impacts

- Prepare status / tracking management reporting

Quarterly:

- Perform Operating Cash account inventory

- Perform Cash Detect control review

- Perform SOX control testing, including identification of new non-client accounts

- Prepare manual journal entries for aggregate IBS backvalues

- Prepare IBS buy and sell clear suspense account analysis for commingled interest and non-interest bearing accounts

Annual:

- Perform CIS critical spreadsheet control testing

- Prepare and update SOX process narratives, procedures and flow charts

- Cycle reviews of external cash account agreements, mapping and internal STT ownership

- Cycle reviews of dormant client and STT internal-use accounts

- Cycle reviews and filings of abandoned/unclaimed property

- Cycle reviews for account exceptions such as for duplicate, test and accounts against closed funds

- Cycle reviews of business unit self-testing for compliance with guidance

Ad-Hoc:

- Respond to internal and external requests including variance analysis and inquires

- Participate in ad hoc projects as SME for new transactions, new systems, new products, new sites, regulatory and accounting changes

- Review and approval for new non-client account openings

- General ledger account research requests

- Accounting systems maintenance and upgrades

- Perform user access reviews & certifications

List of Cash and Deposit Accounting systems:

- IBS, HOGAN, SEI, WallStreet, Intrader, T24 (beginning 2019) and manual sub ledgers for some legal entities

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) and Certified Public Accountant (CPA)/MBA-Finance with 10-12 years of progressive experience in R2R areas with major financial institutions

- GAAP accounting guidance including US and IFRS and regulatory reporting requirements

- In depth knowledge of Cash and Deposit accounting, including related clearance and settlement activities

- 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