Senior Accountant, Record to Report

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At the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation we believe that by creating an environment for our employees to thrive personally and professionally, we will have maximum impact toward our missions to achieve our vision.

Leadership and Culture
Our culture shapes our choices about what we do and how we do it. We believe that energized people, working well together, fueled by great leadership in an inclusive environment can do extraordinary things. We expect foundation employees to intentionally and consistently embody our values of optimism, collaboration, rigor, innovation, and inclusion.

Summary
The Global Financial & Accounting Services (GFAS) division is a growing team with an increasing breadth of responsibility. The foundation continues to grow in its global footprint and in the complexity of its work. The GFAS team is scaling up to support this meaningful work. The team’s vision is to provide innovative and scalable global business solutions in accounting, tax, payroll, treasury, and financial operations while safeguarding the reputation of the foundation and our related entities, with the highest standards of integrity and operational excellence.

GFAS is a division within the Finance organization at the foundation and an important part of the operations function. Operations supports and enables the program teams to make investments and to run effectively and efficiently. As a function, Finance employs approximately 100 FTEs. The GFAS division is significant (30+ FTEs), and responsible for financial reporting processes, technical and advisory services, internal controls, and the accounting functions at the foundation.

Position Summary
The Senior Accountant is a leader, problem solver, trusted business partner, mentor, and subject matter authority for respective accounting expertise in the GFAS functional areas. This role is responsible for crafting and co-leading standard practices in the accurate and timely recording of all financial transactions (general ledger, financial reporting, payroll, treasury, and tax), monthly close of the books, and preparation of internal financial schedules and external regulatory filings. They are also responsible for leading outsourced processes and serve as the GFAS subject matter authority on foundation-wide projects and initiatives.

The Senior Accountant is responsible for the following:

Reviewing and posting journal entries; reviewing monthly account reconciliations; reviewing and releasing global payment batches for invoice, tax, and payroll related payments; expense program administration.
Preparing year-end audit schedules and financial documents for the Foundation, Trust and related regional offices and affiliates.
Preparing, reconciling, and analyzing annual financial documents and internal financial schedules, sophisticated payroll calculations, reporting metrics, tax, and regulatory related work papers. Maintaining policies and procedures in accordance with standard methodologies and internal control.
Providing accounting mentorship and training as needed, and other ad hoc projects when requested. Maintaining and act as SME for financial systems.
Leading outsourced work, coordinating activities, and answering questions.

While this position has no direct reports, this position works in a highly matrixed environment and works closely with the following internal and external partners:

Internally:

Financial Planning & Analysis regarding the release and timing of financial reports and the data contained in them. Contact is to help them understand the data underlying the numbers when needed.
IT, Human Resources, and GFET (Global Facilities, Events & Travel) regarding various issues ranging from information needed from them to make a decision to information needed to complete a report and vice versa. Communication needs to be concise on what is needed, respectful of their time, but also let them know when it is needed. When providing information to them, it must be timely and complete and involves preparation of the information in a format that is easy to understand.
Interaction with all members in GFAS, including the Controller and Deputy Directors, to assemble information and to collaborate on sophisticated issues. This involves strong listening, presentation, and communication skills.
Interaction with Regional Office and Affiliate Leaders: support and coordination between Regional Office, other affiliates, and Headquarters.
Interaction with staff, cross-functional colleagues for advanced issues.

Externally:

Interaction with external groups including auditors (KPMG), tax advisors, and our investment advisors, requiring professional and concise engagement.
Interaction with our vendors, including outsourced service providers.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
The ideal candidate has a blend of the following:

An individual with a blended background that involves both work in a public accounting firm, and industry experience, would be preferred. A candidate with a background primarily in Audit, and a strong curiosity about financial operations would be considered.
Strong initiative, organization skills and ability to work autonomously and cross-functionally while remaining flexible to changing tasks, priorities, and roles and responsibilities.
Ability to bring work/projects to completion by quickly learning relevant information with minimal direction.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills and ability to authoritatively engage staff and external partners at all levels.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
Intellectually curious with solution orientation and the ability to identify new ways of working.
Technical mentor in their industry domain including processes, systems and tools with the ability to influence and implement change.
End to end process management, including organizational change and internal controls.
The ability to conduct research of sophisticated issues (accounting, payroll, tax, regulatory) and provide recommendations.
Project management skills and ability to supervise and lead the work of others, including outside vendors.
Ability to build positive relationships and credibility with clients and key decision makers.
Models professional courage- engages in trust based debate, asks hard or unpopular questions, and is willing to say no.
Trusted advisor to colleagues throughout the organization.
Bachelor’s degree in Accounting/Finance, 5+ years applicable accounting experience, and a CPA are preferred.

*Must be able to legally work in the country where this position is located without visa sponsorship.

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Hiring Requirements
As part of our standard hiring process for new employees, employment will be contingent upon successful completion of a background check.

Depending upon your work location, we may require proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 and any recommended booster doses. All employees based in the United States are to provide proof of full vaccination upon hire and any recommended boosters, subject to applicable laws.

Accommodations
If you require assistance due to a disability in the application or recruitment process, please submit a request to [email protected].

Inclusion Statement
We are dedicated to the belief that all lives have equal value. We’re committed to creating a workplace where employees thrive both personally and professionally. We also believe our employees should reflect the rich diversity of the global populations we aim to serve-in race, gender, age, cultures and beliefs-and we support this diversity through all of our employment practices.

All applicants and employees who are drawn to serve our mission will enjoy equality of opportunity and fair treatment without regard to race, color, age, religion, pregnancy, sex, sexual orientation, disability, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, and prior protected activity.

To apply for this position, please copy and paste the following link into your browser address bar:
https://gatesfoundation.contacthr.com/109667593