Senior Corporate Accountant

The overall scope of this role is to supervise and manage the accounts receivable at the corporate office of Kempinski Hotels SA. To provide financial, administrative and clerical services in an effective and efficient manner in order to ensure that finances are accurate, up to date and give a clear picture of the financial situation.

Key Responsibilities

The main objectives are to secure revenue and contribute to the effective cash flow of the company by ensuring that customers are timely and accurately billed for provided services and by collecting outstanding payments in a timely manner, verifying and recording transactions, resolving account discrepancies and performing other tasks to achieve the main objectives.

• The AR team is supervised and managed efficiently so that all tasks are accomplished in a timely manner according to Accounting principles and business needs.
• Rendered services and recharges are billed in a timely and accurate manner.
• Management fees, withholding taxes, finder fees and interest are correctly calculated, reconciled and processed in a timely manner.
• Payments are collected on time and the accounts receivables ledger is up to date.
• Revenue, recharges, management fees, taxes, finder fees, interest, provisions, write-offs and other transactions are correctly and timely recorded in the accounts.
• A monthly, quarterly and year-end closing is prepared in a timely and accurate manner.
• All corporate bank account transactions are processed and reconciled in a timely manner.
• Inter-company reconciliation of all open receivables and payables and P&L transactions are done in a timely and accurately manner.
• Preparation of monthly and / quarterly VAT Returns for entities in Germany, Switzerland, U.A.E. and Russia in an accurate and timely manner.
• Reconciling balance sheets in a timely manner and investigating, as well as correcting discrepancies.

Billing

• Being responsible for the billing of services rendered and recharges in a timely and accurate manner by collaborating with different departments and accounts payable while also making sure that the invoice content and back-up is accurate as well as transactions correctly reflected in the accounts. Moreover, a timely response to client inquiries is required which might occur after sending out invoices.
• Correctly calculating, reconciling and invoicing management fees, withholding taxes and interest in a timely manner. This includes understanding legal documents and to transfer the information into accounting processes.

AR collection

• Ensuring that the payments are collected on time and the accounts receivables ledger is up to date, by regular reviews of the ledger, collecting pro-actively payments, researching and resolving outstanding discrepancies and investigating circumstances for non-payments by liaising directly with the hotels around the world and ensuring an accurate documentation and distribution of received relevant information.
• Preparation of monthly credit meetings with the management and regional offices which comes along with diligent follow-up of any discussed action points.
• Ensuring an active involvement in the collection process by various departments. This include a regular communication of departmental outstanding invoices and a pro-active follow-up on action points.

Finder Fees

• Correct calculation, reconciliation and process of finder fees in a timely manner.
• Liaising with the relevant external parties, having a proactive and diplomatic communication in place and strengthening the trust and relationships. This also includes a pro-active exchange with accounts payables to provide the relevant finder fee invoices and any updates on eventual changes (e.g. bank details, payment plans) and continues with a regular collaboration and communication with the legal department as well as management in case of disputes with the external parties.
• Understanding legal documents and to transfer the information into accounting processes.

Reporting

• Ensuring that the aging report and all related balance sheet accounts (e.g. other receivables, deferred/accrued income, finder fee accruals, etc.) are up to date, researching and resolving discrepancies.
• Reconciliation of all relevant balance sheet and certain P&L accounts in Blackline on a monthly basis.
• Preparation of monthly, quarterly and year-end closings (incl. reconciliations, checks, reviews and analysis) in a timely and accurate manner.
• Provide ad-hoc analytical reports to management.

Other responsibilities:

• Ensuring an adequate allowance for doubtful accounts and making recommendations on provisions and potential write-offs and being responsible for the respective journal entries in the accounting system in a timely and accurate manner.
• Perform the entire accounting (AP, AR, GL, monthly closing, reconciliations and analysis) of companies on an accurate and timely basis.
• Informing the Finance Manager of area activities and of any significant problems.
• Standing-in for other Corporate Accountants during their absence as agreed internally.
• Recording and reconciling all bank receivables and payables for all corporate entities
• Reconciling the inter-company accounts of all corporate entities and liaising with the different subsidiaries and reviewing and challenging existing processes and procedures.
• Preparing VAT Returns for entities in Germany, Switzerland, U.A.E. and Russia. This includes reconciling VAT GL accounts to ensure those are in line with returns submitted and that outstanding amounts are being paid or recovered on a timely basis.
• Providing assistance to the Finance Manager in the supervision and allocation of tasks to the corporate finance team, to ensure a smooth and timely execution of all accounting processes and keeping closing deadlines.
• Helping to ensure that the internal control procedures (ICS) are well documented and actively monitor, train and implement such measures on a regular basis within accounting
• Assisting with annual year-end audit by completing requested reports and documents. Together with the Finance Manager being a main point of contact for the auditors during the annual audit process.
• Assisting in reviewing accounting processes and support in improving efficiency
• Assisting the implementation of a new accounts system

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

Education 

• Degree in Accounting/Finance or similar
• Understanding of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and general ledger accounting. 

Work Experience

• Ideally 2-5 years accounting experience in all accounting areas (AR, AP, GL)
• Hospitality or service industry background is highly preferred
• Solid understanding of basic accounting principles and accounts receivables practices

Languages 

Ability to work and communicate in a multinational environment:

• English – excellent verbal and written skills
• German is an asset

Computer Skills 

• Proficient in Microsoft Office (Excel, World and PowerPoint)
• Experience with accounting software (Filosof, Blackline a plus)

Soft Skills

• Proactive and confident, enjoying to liaise with people, within the finance team as well as other departments and with the Financial Controllers worldwide
• Organised with the ability to see the bigger picture and able to break it down into smaller steps to be achieved within tight deadlines
• Enthusiastic and able to take on responsibilities
• Detail-oriented and persevering to achieve results
• Committed to communication, quality and compliance
• Organizational, prioritizing and problem-solving skills
• Dynamism and ability to work under pressure
• Strong analytical and accounting skills
• Ability to work independently and with a team in a fast-paced, high volume and changing environment with emphasis on accuracy and timeliness

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