Senior Accountant (Shanghai)

**Purpose of the role

Reporting to Assistant Finance Manager, APAC, Senior Accountant assist to lead the overall finance encompassing commercial, financial and management reporting aspects for the North of Asia regions mainly. This role is expected to take the lead for an efficient set of finance operations and reporting of the business both annual statutory accounts and monthly management accounts and ensure all financial output is processed in a timely and accurate manner.

Financial/ Management reporting, analysis and control:**

• Lead the monthly closing process for North of Asia.
• Ensure timely analysis and reporting of monthly financials submission to Regional Finance Team.
• Reporting the monthly management accounts, assist to review the produced various P&L analysis and liaise with the business to investigate variances to produce a commentary and reconciliation for Actuals vs Budgets/ Forecasts etc.
• Lead on matters relating to revenue & cost recognition, tracking and analysis.
• Work with Assistant Finance Manager, APAC on all matters relating to the financial control environment and compliance with IFRS and local accounting standards.
• Prepare and support for cash flow forecast, status and report.
• Review periodic working capital usage reports and implement timely corrective action.
• Lead foreign exchange practices and provide guidance to the operations team in minimizing exchange related losses.
• Work with FP&A on annual budget and forecasts preparation.
• Ensure the accuracy of data provided by the team.

Operational Finance:

• Ensure completeness of monthly revenue recognition.
• Cashflow Management including review of payment process.
• Oversee the management of AR AP issues of north of Asia.
• Lead team for fixed asset management.
• Work with business teams to ensure accurate, relevant time reporting at the end of each month.
• Help identify process improvements to finance procedures and work on implementation of such initiatives.
• Support the agency client profitability periodic review process by providing relevant analysis for discussion with business teams.
• To assist and provide support to Assistant Finance Manager, APAC with specific projects and Ad hoc duties where required.

Tax & Audit:

• Lead and improve north of Asia tax process and statistics reports of tax returns (Corporate Income Tax, Withholding tax, VAT etc) included.
• Ensure timely and compliant tax filings in North of Asia for all tax types.
• Coordinate with tax advisors to ensure compliance with local tax laws and mitigate risk.
• Ensure statutory audits for all the regions are completed in a timely manner. Also assist with any internal, group audit or client audit requirements. Work with external advisors (Tax, Accounting, Legal).
• Review on vendor’s contract on terms & conditions and highlights on potential risk to the company.

Finance Projects / Process Improvement

• Any ad-hoc duties or projects assigned by Assistant Finance Manager, APAC which is necessary to improve the processes or controls within the company.

Professional Experience

• 5 years minimum experience in Tax & Accounting in a mid to large organisation.
• Big 4/in house tax experience is a plus.
• Fluency in English and Madarin required; Korean & Japanese is a plus

Knowledge & Skills

• Preparation of statutory accounts.
• Great working knowledge and experience of local and regional tax rules/regulations/processes in North of Asia.
• Strong Excel, systems and process skills.
• Experience of working in a customer facing environment (internal or external).
• Excellent numerical skills.
• Excellent attention to detail and accuracy.
• Ability to evaluate and interpret data.
• Ability to work on own initiative.
• Ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing.
• Excellent organization and project management skills
• Commercial awareness

Mindset and temperament to navigate the role

• Effective stakeholder management and service delivery.
• Respond positively to stakeholder requests.
• To promote an efficient and positive image of the company.
• Act as business partner to provide relevant financial information when required.
• Ensure excellent working relationships with all staff and external stakeholders in a professional manner to create a positive working environment.

Other role requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or above in Taxation, Accounting, Finance or a related field;
• CPA or equivalent preferred.