AU Senior Accountant

Position Description

• Position Title: Senior Accountant
• Reports To: Managing Director
• Functional Oversight: Group Chief Financial Officer
• Location: Philippines (Remote/Offshore)
• Employment Type: Full-time, dedicated resource
• Working Hours: Aligned with Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) business hours, Monday to Friday

Australian public holidays are not required to be worked. The successful candidate must be available on all other days, Monday to Friday.

Position Purpose

The Senior Accountant will take ownership of day-to-day accounting and financial reporting across three related but distinct areas of the business:

• The corporate and holding group of companies
• Company's operating verticals — currently Australian Skin Clinics (ASC), with further verticals expected to be added over time
• Company's external client services business, providing Accounting & Bookkeeping, Payroll, Governance Reporting, and Company Secretarial & ASIC services to external clients

The role reports directly to the Managing Director, with functional oversight from the Group CFO on accounting standards, processes and reporting quality.

Initially a hands-on individual contributor role, the Senior Accountant will also oversee a small team of bookkeepers and junior accountants who carry out day-to-day processing work, with the team expected to grow as ACAM's external client base scales.

Key Responsibilities

Day-to-Day Accounting

• Oversee transaction processing across internal entity ledgers and ACAM client ledgers in Xero, including receipts, payments, invoicing and journal entries.
• Perform and review bank reconciliations across all entities and client accounts.
• Oversee Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable, including supplier invoice processing and payment run preparation.
• Maintain and reconcile intercompany accounts across the internal group.
• Maintain the chart of accounts and ensure consistent, correctly coded transaction entry.

BAS Preparation and Compliance

• Prepare quarterly Business Activity Statements (BAS) for applicable entities and, over time, clients, for review and lodgement.
• Reconcile GST-coded transactions and maintain supporting workpapers for each BAS cycle.
• Support PAYG and other routine statutory reporting obligations as directed.

Financial Reporting

• Prepare monthly and quarterly management accounts, including Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow.
• Prepare draft annual financial statements to support finalisation by EY.
• Maintain clean, audit-ready workpapers and reconciliations.

Board Reporting Support

• Prepare the financial sections of board packs in coordination with the Managing Director and Group CFO.
• Prepare supporting schedules, variance commentary and cash position summaries.
• Maintain a reporting calendar to ensure financial packs are delivered ahead of scheduled board meetings.

Team Leadership

• Directly supervise a small team of bookkeepers and junior accountants, reviewing and approving their work.
• Set and maintain workflows, checklists and quality-control processes for the team.
• Train and mentor junior team members as they are added.
• Plan for the team's growth in line with ACAM's expanding external client base.

ACAM – External Client Services

• Oversee delivery of weekly bookkeeping, reconciliations, BAS preparation and EOFY workpaper handover for ACAM's external clients.
• Liaise with clients' own accountants or ACAM's partner firms where clients require income tax return preparation.
• Ensure consistent quality and process standards are applied across client ledgers.
• Support the design of standard workflows and checklists as ACAM's client services are established.

ACAM – Payroll Service Oversight

• Oversee payroll processing for ACAM clients across weekly, fortnightly and monthly pay cycles.
• Ensure correct award interpretation, including pay rates, penalties, overtime and allowances, is applied to each client's pay runs.
• Oversee STP lodgement, Payday Super compliance and annual STP finalisation for ACAM payroll clients.
• Oversee employee onboarding/offboarding and leave management processes within the payroll service.

ACAM – Governance Reporting Oversight

• Oversee preparation of quarterly board reports and annual reports for ACAM clients, ensuring figures are drawn directly from reconciled bookkeeping.
• Oversee board pack assembly, including agendas, financials and supporting papers, as well as minutes support.
• Maintain oversight of the governance document repository and each client's annual governance work plan.

ACAM – Company Secretarial & ASIC Compliance Oversight

• Oversee ACAM's registered agent function, including ASIC correspondence and lodgement deadlines for clients.
• Oversee annual company statement reviews and timely lodgement of changes ahead of each client's review date.
• Oversee maintenance of client company registers, including office holders, shareholders and share structures.
• Oversee additional company secretarial services where engaged by a client, including registrations, change lodgements, company formations and Public Officer support.

Key Selection Criteria

Essential

• Minimum 5 years of accounting experience, including experience operating at a senior or team-lead level.
• Demonstrated proficiency in Xero across multiple organisations or clients.
• Working familiarity with Australian BAS/GST requirements.
• Experience preparing financial statements and management accounts to a standard suitable for review by a qualified accountant.
• Prior experience supervising or reviewing the work of junior bookkeepers/accountants.
• Strong Excel skills, including reconciliation and schedule preparation.
• High attention to detail and the ability to manage multiple entities and client ledgers concurrently.
• Excellent written English and clear, professional communication skills suitable for direct liaison with the Managing Director and Group CFO.
• Tertiary qualification in Accounting or Finance.

Preferred / Highly Regarded

• Prior experience with Australian clients or entities is strongly preferred.
• A recognised accounting qualification such as CPA, CA or ACCA is highly regarded.
• Previous experience working within an offshore or BPO arrangement supporting an Australian business is an advantage.
• Exposure to Australian payroll and award interpretation is highly regarded.
• Exposure to ASIC company secretarial obligations, including annual reviews, lodgements and registered agent duties, is highly regarded.
• Exposure to board or governance reporting is highly regarded.

Training will be provided in Australian payroll/award interpretation, ASIC company secretarial obligations and board/governance reporting where required.

Systems and Tools

• General Ledger: Xero
• HR & Payroll: Employment Hero
• Reporting: Microsoft Excel and Astra Capital board pack templates
• Document Handling: Microsoft Word and Excel using Astra Capital templates and formatting standards
• Communication: Email, video conferencing and instant messaging tools used by the finance function

Key Relationships

• Managing Director, Astra Capital
• Group Chief Financial Officer, Astra Capital
• Bookkeepers and Junior Accountants
• Astra Capital internal entities and operating businesses
• ACAM external clients
• External accounting and advisory firms, including EY, RSM and BDO

Confidentiality and Data Security

Given the nature of the role, the successful candidate will handle financial information relating to both Astra Capital's internal entities and ACAM's external clients and will be required to:

• Execute a confidentiality and non-disclosure undertaking before receiving access to Astra Capital or ACAM financial systems or data.
• Comply with Astra Capital's data handling and access-control requirements for all financial systems, including Xero.
• Restrict access to entity and client-level financial data to what is necessary for the performance of the role.
• Not disclose, copy or retain financial information outside authorised systems, including upon conclusion of the engagement.

Originally posted on Himalayas