Assistant Account Manager, only from R2R, GL background

ASSISTANT ACCOUNT MANAGER
Job Title - Assistant Account Manager, only from R2R, GL background.
Location: Pune (India)
Reports to- Account Manager
Shift: Primarily Evening shift or Flexible.
Experience: 10 to 12 years
Job Type: Full-time

The Assistant Account Manager will support the Account Manager in client
management, financial analysis, and reporting while ensuring operational excellence,
team development, and process adherence. This role requires a strong background in
Record-to-Report (R2R) and General Ledger (GL). A key responsibility is managing
work assignments, balancing team workload based on individual capacity and skill
levels, and optimizing productivity. The AAM will drive the team to meet deadlines and
provide high-quality client deliverables, while effectively managing resources and
fostering skill development.

Key Responsibilities:

Client Management:

• Serve as a reliable and consistent point of contact for client inquiries, handling all
  communications (email, calls, Slack, etc.) effectively and proactively addressing
  queries to support the Account Manager.
• Prepare for client meetings, including organizing agendas, taking meeting
  minutes, and summarizing client meetings with action items and next steps.
• Strong written and verbal English communication skills, including clarity in written
  tone, making emails simple and easy to read.
• Independently manage selected clients, ensuring timely and accurate delivery of
  services.
• Support strong client satisfaction through accurate and timely work delivery.
• Be prepared to field any client-related questions, proactively resolving issues to
  free up the Account Manager's time.
• Know Your Customer: Research clients thoroughly by exploring their financials
  or websites - understanding their vision, mission and core values and identifying
  their key priorities and pain points. Ensure this understanding is incorporated into
  client interactions and deliverables, aligning services with their goals to provide
  tailored and impactful solutions. Ensure that you are proactively anticipating
  client needs based on their business focus and play a key role in enhancing
  satisfaction and trust.

Financial Analysis and Reporting:

• Conduct detailed financial analysis and review financial statements for clients,
  identifying trends or issues.
• Execute the month end close process, ensuring accurate and timely completion
  of reconciliations, journal entries, and financial reporting.
• Develop financial plans, forecasts, and budgets for clients in collaboration with
  the Account Manager.
• Ensure compliance with accounting standards, such as GAAP, and help clients
  stay updated on relevant regulations.
• Manage and support the 1099 tax process and other tax-related services.

Audit Support:

• Coordinate audit activities, including preparing schedules, gathering
  documentation, and liaising with auditors to ensure a smooth audit process.
• Perform a final review of all audit schedules and financial support documents
  prior to client or auditor review.

Team Management and Development:

• Monitor the time tracking of team members working on managed client
  engagements, checking their time logs at regular intervals throughout the day to
  ensure accuracy and proper allocation.
• Ensure client work is completed within the budgeted time.
• Conduct comprehensive workload analysis and planning, assigning deadlines for
  all tasks delegated within the team to provide ample review time prior to client
  due dates.
• Guide and mentor junior staff, providing training and helping them develop skills
  in accounting and client management. Foster team development by giving feedback on communication skills, transparency, ownership, effort, quality, and mindset during performance reviews and as needed.
• Identify high-potential team members and create development plans to prepare
  them for advanced responsibilities.
• Encourage cross-training among team members to ensure versatility and reduce
  dependency on specific individuals as well as create flexibility within the team to
  share workload effectively.
• Provide clear expectations and constructive feedback to team members on an
  ongoing basis. This may occur immediately after client interactions, during
  regular one-on-one meetings, or as situations warrant. Document outcomes of
  these feedback sessions.

Operational Excellence:

• Conduct research to resolve internal queries.
• Proactively update the Account Manager on project status.
• Encourage team members to identify and come up with process improvements
  ideas and support in implementing the best practices for improvement in quality,
  customer satisfaction or efficiency of the process.
• Maintain process documentation to reflect changes and improve team
  effectiveness.
• Take ownership of personal and team performance, ensuring accountability and
  results.
• Process Standardization: Work with the team to identify opportunities to
  standardize processes and workflows, ensuring consistency and efficiency
  across all client engagements.

Supporting Team Documentation

• Make sure the team follows all required processes, including:
• Completing month-end trackers
• Using Canopy for project management
• Maintaining Service Improvement Tracker, Client Relationship Tracker
• Keeping client-specific documents up-to-date
• Attention to Management initiatives such as OKRs
• Check and approve step-by-step guides (SOPs) for all client work.
• Use existing how-to guides and resources to help the team work better.
• Look for ways to improve how we do accounting for clients, focusing on making
  things faster and more accurate.

Collaboration and Teamwork:

• Foster collaboration and teamwork within and across teams (e.g., tax specialists,
  auditors).
• Work closely with the Account Manager to ensure seamless service delivery to
  clients.
• Promote a positive and motivated work environment where every team member
  is valued.
• Foster Sutro Li company values such as transparency, collaboration, generosity,
  and self-discipline.

Qualifications

• Minimum Bachelor's degree in accounting or related field, MBA or CA inter preferred
  Proficient in Microsoft Excel and other accounting software.
• The successful candidate will have a strong background in GL accounting and
  experience working with US GAAP. AP background not required.
• Thorough understanding of nonprofit accounting principles added advantage.
• Ability to apply accounting principles and solutions to meet unique client needs and
  clearly articulate proposed solutions to client's problems.
• Ready to work in evening shift (5:30PM to 2:30AM IST) or any other shift that business requires.
• Willingness to work from office or home or in hybrid model as per the requirements.
• Self-starter, work with minimum guidance, ability and willingness to go extra mile to meet
  business requirements