Fund Accountant / Fund Controller
£70000 - £80000 + Bonus + Benefits
Central London

THE COMPANY

They are a fast expanding alternative specialist investment manager focusing on the clean energy sector. It has a number of existing funds and is growing rapidly in the areas of renewable energy, storage, e-mobility and other areas of the energy transition. It has offices in London and Italy. Due to further expansion, a new role has been created in London which will be broad and will give exposure to many aspects of a private equity type business. There will also be the opportunity to take on full ownership over certain areas as experience is gained.

THE ROLE

This is an exciting opportunity for a Fund Accountant/Controller to work in the London based Finance team where they will be reporting directly to the CFO. The funds are domiciled and administered in Luxembourg. Whilst the majority of fund administration, reporting and other fund matters is conducted by the funds' administrators locally in Luxembourg, there is the need for a member of the finance team to oversee all such matters to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of reporting in combination with good ongoing communications with the administrators and other Luxembourg based service providers. The role will initially involve the creation of processes and procedures to allow effective ongoing monitoring of the funds and the Luxembourg administrators. The Finance team is fully integrated with the rest of the business, liaising daily with the Investment and Asset Management functions. There will also be good exposure to senior management. Given the dynamic environment there will be numerous ad hoc projects, some large, some small, that the candidate will be involved in. However, the key attributes of the role will be:

  • Oversight of the half-yearly valuation process;
  • Monitoring of the bi-annual NAV calculation;
  • Review of the fund half-yearly and annual reports;
  • Coordination of year end reporting process and liaison with the auditors;
  • Review of distribution and drawdown notices;
  • Responding to investor queries;
  • Production of annual budgets and projections;
  • Rolling cashflow forecasts and general cash planning for the GP, the funds and the holdcos;
  • Review of fund and holdco VAT returns and review of annual corporate tax returns;
  • Involvement in regulatory matters in both Luxembourg (CSSF) and UK (FCA);
  • Involvement in production of quarterly board papers;
  • Overseeing transactions from a finance perspective and involvement in transaction structuring;
  • Production of technical board minutes to formalise corporate matters (eg issue of loan notes, payment of interest etc);
  • Oversight of payment process;
  • Updating and maintaining the funds' investment records and structure chart;
  • Development of investment monitoring;
  • Ad hoc projects and other work;

There may also be some involvement with the SPVs managed by the company

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

  • Qualified Accountant with 2 to 6 years PQE and strong academics;
  • Prior fund experience in terms of financial accounting and reporting as well as general fund activities such as drawdowns and distributions;
  • Understanding of LP accounting
  • Excellent inter-personal skills and team player with a desire to work in a small team in a dynamic environment;
  • Proactive attitude;
  • Deadline orientated and able to produce work to the highest standards;
  • Demonstrable Excel modelling skills.

There is a strong preference for candidates who are fluent in both English and Italian given the need to be able to communicate with the back offices of a number of Italian investors. However, this is not essential but a preference.