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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Fund Accounting Team Supervisor

💰 $85,000 - $140,000

Fund AccountingInvestment OperationsTeam LeadFund Administration

🎯 Role Definition

The Fund Accounting Team Supervisor leads and develops a heterogeneous team of fund accountants responsible for daily and periodic fund accounting activities — NAV calculation and validation, month-end close, reconciliations, fee and performance calculations, investor reporting, and audit and regulatory support. This role is client- and control-focused, requires excellent technical accounting knowledge (GAAP/IFRS), strong operational controls (SOX), and proven people-management experience. The Supervisor is expected to proactively partner with product, trading, middle office and investor services teams to deliver timely, accurate, and auditable fund financials while driving efficiencies through process improvement and automation.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Senior Fund Accountant or Senior Investment Accountant
  • Fund Accounting Team Lead or Assistant Fund Accounting Supervisor
  • Middle Office / Portfolio Accounting Senior Analyst

Advancement To:

  • Fund Accounting Manager / Head of Fund Accounting
  • Director of Fund Administration / Head of Investment Operations
  • Operations or Finance Head for a product line (e.g., Hedge Fund Operations Director)

Lateral Moves:

  • Portfolio Accounting Manager
  • Fund Controller
  • Client Reporting / Investor Services Manager

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Supervise, mentor and develop a team of fund accountants, including workload allocation, performance reviews, coaching, training plans and recruitment to ensure a high-performing, resilient fund accounting function.
  • Oversee daily and periodic net asset value (NAV) calculations across multiple fund structures (mutual funds, hedge funds, private equity, UCITS), ensuring timely production and regulatory/compliance adherence.
  • Review and validate month-end and quarter-end close processes, including general ledger reconciliations, accruals, reclassifications, journal entries and presentation of fund financial statements under GAAP and/or IFRS.
  • Own reconciliation governance including bank reconciliations, broker/custodian reconciliations, position and cash reconciliations, and timely resolution of recon breaks and aged recon items.
  • Ensure accuracy and completeness of trade capture, trade matching, settlement monitoring and corporate actions processing in coordination with middle office and trade operations teams.
  • Supervise and validate complex fee calculations, management and performance fee waterfalls, incentive allocations, carried interest, and any side-pocket or special fee arrangements.
  • Act as primary point of escalation for complex accounting issues such as derivative valuation, fair value adjustments, observable/unobservable inputs (Level 2/3), and impairment or reclassification events.
  • Manage the preparation and review of fund-level financial statements, supporting schedules, footnotes and disclosures required for investor reporting and statutory filings.
  • Lead and coordinate internal and external audit processes, prepare audit schedules, provide reconciliations and commentary, and remediate audit findings in partnership with controllers and compliance teams.
  • Maintain and document internal controls (including SOX controls where applicable), oversee control testing, deficiency remediation, and continuous control improvement to reduce operational and regulatory risk.
  • Coordinate regulatory reporting and filings including SEC reporting, Form N-PORT/N-CEN (if applicable), local regulator submissions, tax reporting packs, and investor statement packages.
  • Drive automation and process improvement initiatives (RPA, straight-through processing, reconciliation tools, or accounting system configuration) to increase accuracy and reduce manual intervention and control points.
  • Partner with tax, legal and treasury to support tax provisioning, partnership allocations (K-1 prep), capital calls/distributions, and cash forecasting for liquidity management across funds.
  • Collaborate with product teams, portfolio managers and risk management to support new fund launches, product changes, corporate actions and complex instrument onboarding requiring specific accounting treatment.
  • Monitor vendor/systems performance (e.g., fund administration platforms like SS&C, Investran, SimCorp, Eze, BlackRock Aladdin) and lead system change requests, testing and implementation of upgrades or new modules.
  • Prepare and present monthly management reporting, KPI dashboards, and operational metrics for senior management and stakeholders highlighting NAV timeliness, recon aging, exceptions and remediation status.
  • Ensure adherence to service level agreements (SLAs) for client deliverables and proactively communicate status, issues and corrective action plans to client relationship managers and external clients.
  • Implement and maintain robust documentation for processes, accounting policies, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and training materials to ensure continuity and auditability.
  • Lead root cause analysis and post-mortems for major operational incidents, implement corrective actions and share lessons learned across the team to prevent recurrence.
  • Oversee client onboarding accounting setup, including chart of accounts, fee schedules, accounting policies, and mapping of client-specific requirements into the administration or portfolio accounting system.
  • Manage vendor relationships for fund administration services, custodians and pricing vendors to ensure data integrity, correct pricing sources, and timely problem resolution.
  • Ensure continuous professional development for the team through technical training (derivatives, valuation, IFRS/GAAP updates), cross-training and career pathing to build bench strength.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc reporting and bespoke investor queries related to fund accounting, fee calculations, transaction history and reconciliation explanations.
  • Participate in cross-functional projects such as fund launches, system migrations, service provider transitions, and regulatory change programs, providing accounting and controls expertise.
  • Assist in the preparation of RFP responses, client proposals and operational due diligence questionnaires (ODDs) to support business development and client retention efforts.
  • Facilitate knowledge sharing sessions and maintain an up-to-date knowledge base (SOPs, FAQs, training guides) to reduce single points of failure within the team.
  • Work with compliance to operationalize new regulatory requirements and ensure the fund accounting team’s documented procedures remain compliant and auditable.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Fund accounting: NAV calculation, month-end close, financial statements, and fund-level consolidations across mutual funds, hedge funds and private equity vehicles.
  • Accounting standards: Deep knowledge of US GAAP and IFRS required; experience with reconciliations and disclosure requirements.
  • Derivatives and valuation: Practical experience accounting for swaps, options, futures, OTC derivatives, and Level 2/3 fair value measurements.
  • Reconciliations & controls: Strong reconciliation governance, SOX control design and testing, and remediation experience.
  • Systems & tools: Proficiency with fund administration and portfolio accounting systems (e.g., SS&C, Investran, SimCorp, Eze, Aladdin), and reconciliation tools (e.g., BlackLine, AutoRek).
  • Excel & financial modelling: Advanced Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, INDEX/MATCH, VBA basics) for reconciliations and reporting.
  • Data & query skills: Working knowledge of SQL or data-querying skills to extract and validate transaction and position data.
  • Fee & performance calculations: Experience with management and performance fee waterfalls, carried interest, HWM/IRR calculations, and side-pocket accounting.
  • Audit & regulatory reporting: Experience preparing audit schedules, supporting external audits, and submitting regulatory filings (e.g., SEC forms, local regulator reports).
  • Treasury & cash management: Understanding of cash forecasting, bank/custodian relationships, capital calls, distributions and liquidity monitoring.
  • Automation & process improvement: Experience implementing or supporting RPA, straight-through processing and reconciliation automation.
  • Tax & investor reporting familiarity: Knowledge of K-1 preparation, tax allocations, investor statements and investor reporting packs.

Soft Skills

  • Leadership and people development: Proven ability to coach, mentor and retain high-performing accounting teams.
  • Communication: Clear, client-focused communication (written and verbal) to present complex accounting matters to non-technical stakeholders and clients.
  • Problem-solving: Strong analytical skills, curiosity and the ability to resolve complex accounting issues under time pressure.
  • Attention to detail: Meticulous approach to reconciliation, journal review and financial close activities ensuring accuracy and auditability.
  • Prioritization & time management: Ability to manage competing priorities during month-end close and peak reporting periods.
  • Stakeholder management: Skilled at building relationships across operations, trading, tax, legal and client relationship teams.
  • Change leadership: Comfortable leading change, system implementations and driving adoption of new processes.
  • Adaptability & resilience: Capacity to work in fast-paced investment operations with evolving product complexity.
  • Integrity & compliance focus: High ethical standards and commitment to regulatory and internal control compliance.
  • Coaching & training: Experience creating training materials and conducting technical workshops for junior staff.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Economics, or a related field.

Preferred Education:

  • Advanced degree (MSc in Accounting/Finance) or professional qualification such as CPA, ACCA, ACA, or CFA (desirable for roles with oversight of financial statements or tax allocations).

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Accounting
  • Finance
  • Economics
  • Professional accounting certifications (CPA, ACCA, etc.)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 5–12+ years in fund accounting, investment accounting, or fund administration with at least 2–4 years in a supervisory or team lead capacity.

Preferred:

  • 7+ years of fund accounting experience across fund structures (mutual funds, hedge funds, private equity) with demonstrated experience in NAV oversight, audit coordination, SOX controls, and system implementations.
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