Portfolio Payroll is delighted to be partnering with a Global Financial services firm based in the City of London. They are seeking a Payroll Accountant on a 6-8 Months FTC basis.
The role covers payroll accounting in the UK, and requires collaboration with a number of different stakeholders including the UK payroll and benefits teams and the various Finance teams, in particular within the UK. As well as being responsible for business-as-usual activity across weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual cycles. The successful candidate will be responsible for proactively identifying opportunities to streamline processes, strengthen controls, and improve efficiency.
Key Responsibilities
Prepare, review, and post payroll related journals, ensuring accurate allocation to profit and loss, balance sheet, and accrual accounts.
Own key HR/payroll balance sheet reconciliations and substantiation, including salary clearing and HR holding accounts, investigating and resolving reconciling items in a timely manner.
Review monthly payroll outputs from an accounting perspective, analysing material variances against prior periods and expectations.
Manage payroll related accruals, including legal and professional fees, Global Mobility costs, flexible benefits, and year end requirements, ensuring accurate recognition across reporting periods.
Administer and process intercompany payroll transactions and recharges, coordinating payment requests and ensuring accurate cross entity postings.
Support the reconciliation between payroll processed compensation (e.g. paid bonuses and allowances) and centrally held compensation accruals, ensuring clear audit trails and timely clearance.
Ensure accurate accounting for payroll related leaver costs, adjustments, and corrections, including alignment with variable and deferred compensation accounting where applicable.
Deliver accurate and timely month end close for HR and payroll cost areas, including journals, accruals, and reclassifications.
Manage end-to-end processing of HR/payroll third-party invoices and intercompany recharges, ensuring accurate coding, approvals, period cutoff, and cross entity settlement.
Provide detailed inputs to support forecasting and budget processes, alongside HR cost analysis and run rate and variance commentary.
Maintain strong governance and audit readiness, providing payroll related financial data, explanations, and supporting schedules, and responding promptly to audit and stakeholder queries.
Coordinate the quarterly allocations process across the UK HR team, ensuring timely submission, accurate cost allocation, and clear supporting documentation.
Person Specification
Qualified accountant with at least 6 to 10 years' experience in a financial services environment
Strong technical accounting knowledge, especially in payroll accounting
Experience of working with SAP and other relevant financial systems
Excellent communication skills, with proven ability to liaise across multiple teams and entities
Demonstrated ability to handle sensitive and confidential information with discretion and professionalism
Knowledge of Microsoft Office suite, including, in particular, advanced Excel skills to support detailed reconciliations, analysis, and reporting
Detail-oriented with strong reconciliation and analytical skills
Ability to manage multiple tasks and deadlines throughout the monthly, quarterly, and annual cycles
Ideally previous exposure to HR forecasting and budgeting processes
Continuous improvement mindset, with experience identifying inefficiencies, streamlining month end processes, and improving controls through standardisation and automation where appropriate
51371BW
INDTEMP
The Portfolio Group are acting on behalf of our client in recruiting for this position