Financial Reporting Senior Associate - Equity Methods

Senior Associate - Financial Reporting Group

Our award-winning Financial Reporting team is looking for an energetic professional who possesses strong technical and practical problem-solving skills to deliver creative solutions to Fortune 500 companies and beyond. The ideal candidate enjoys solving complex problems, aspires to create a delightful client experience, and appreciates using technology to bring automation to accounting/finance problems.

With ~100 professionals and experience serving hundreds of publicly traded clients (including 40 of the Fortune 100), Equity Methods seeks to combine the best of a large professional services firm with the best of an entrepreneurial, technology-enabled company. We work hard in the quest to have a high impact and deliver exemplary client service that supports our client retention and overall growth story. We have consistently been rated a Top Company to Work for in Arizona.

The Financial Reporting team at Equity Methods specializes in developing controlled processes to manage the external and internal reporting for publicly traded companies’ share-based payment programs. The role provides outstanding breadth of exposure, ranging from numerous areas in GAAP to forecasting, planning, and analysis (FP&A) to data analytics and visualization.

About the Successful Candidate

You built a reputation as someone who is eager to learn and enjoys problem-solving. You grasp new concepts quickly, and you enjoy the challenge of complex accounting and business problems. You are passionate about your career and hope to find a home where you can make a genuine impact and see how your efforts are linked to the firm’s growth. Teammates view you as someone who is driven and is stellar in follow-through.

You enjoy finance, accounting and data analytical work. The idea of taking a manual, multi-step process and automating it sounds interesting to you. Going the extra mile to make clients’ lives easier and using plain English to explain complex technical issues is something you enjoy doing every day.

In short, successful professionals at Equity Methods are analytical, resourceful, low on politics, and high on impact.

Typical Qualifications:         

1. Bachelors or Masters in accounting, finance, economics, or related discipline.
2. 1 – 4 years of experience in financial reporting, advisory, audit, or other related fields.
3. Exposure to high-pressure professional services environment, external deliverable deadlines and client/project management.
4. Exceptional ability to perform independent analysis and propose solutions in preparation for discussing with the team and executing the necessary solution steps.
5. Capable of interpreting complex accounting theory and translating it into a functional process.
6. Creativity in designing processes from both a controls and efficiency perspective.
7. Ability and willingness to think critically and solve “out-of-the-box” problems independently.
8. Clear, gracious oral and written internal/external communication and exceptional time management skills. Able to successfully coach junior associates.
9. Desirable: Exposure to programming language/s for high-volume data handling.
10. Desirable: CPA license or CPA candidacy; CFA or other similar pursuits also welcomed.

The Senior Associate Role

As a Senior Associate at Equity Methods, you will have an immediate opportunity to apply your skills to client work. You will gain exposure to client communication, engagement structures, project deliverables, and how we engineer well-controlled algorithms to reduce risk and drive automation. You’re on a fast track towards the consultant role where you interact with clients, lead external meetings, supervise associates, drive new client implementations, and much more. 

More specific roles and responsibilities include:

1. Completing our Senior Associate training program. The training covers skills the fundamentals junior associates are expected to master (internal algorithms, programming and process design) so that you have credibility with them and the requisite know-how, in addition to the foundations of project management and client communication. After completing the training program and the initial launch period, you will be able to contribute in the following areas.
2. Supporting day-to-day client interactions in a way that demonstrates accountability, upholds quality standards, and ultimately delivers client delight through ongoing improvement of the client experience.
3. Designing, implementing, and documenting processes to proactively manage risk and inject thoughtful control measures to ensure adherence with accounting regulations, plan specifications, and client’s needs.
4. Reviewing deliverables and owning successful client service outcomes. Completing reviews promptly, offering high attention-to-detail feedback, insight on packaging and framing to clients, and astute identification of process improvement opportunities.
5. Supporting ongoing financial reporting engagements and leading new client implementations by learning the inner workings of processes, data structures, and end-state reporting requirements.
6. Executing client processes with full attention to detail, draft client emails, and support clients on ad hoc requests.
7. Participating in client delivery meetings and external audit review sessions, ensuring that clients understand the work product delivered and their external auditors grasp all essential features of the solution.
8. Participating in practice- and firm-level initiatives involving client service, thought leadership, technical research, process reengineering, and risk management.
9. Promoting a low-drama, collegial environment in which results are the ultimate benchmark of success

Launch Period

You’ll need a launch period to learn our processes and become productive.  During the launch period, you’ll be responsible for enhancing your subject-matter expertise in stock-based compensation and related accounting literature reporting (e.g., ASC 718, 260, 740, 805, 470, and 480; IFRS 2, etc.) You’ll complete assigned programming exercises in SAS and engage in self-directed practice to develop the skills necessary to understand and build processes in our technology environment.

Being Part of the Financial Reporting Team

Like any other company, ours isn’t the right fit for everyone.

• We solve novel problems on tight deadlines. Thus, a proactive, ownership-based work style is expected for all members of the engagement team, regardless of seniority level. 
• We create a positive impact by delivering results for clients as a team, which requires an agile, forthright communication approach and tight, ongoing internal collaboration horizontally and vertically. 
• Small teams = big responsibility.  Good judgment is required. The upside is you have excellent autonomy.
• All employees work from our headquarters in beautiful Scottsdale, Arizona.  Scottsdale is part of the Greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area and boasts a high quality of life—despite the HOT summers. 
• Travel is generally light (<20% in most cases).  Since clients are located all over the country, and our users are around the globe, we use video conferencing software and email heavily.
• We move fast as part of our focus on having a high impact.  This is not a slow-paced 40-hour-per-week position. 

More About Equity Methods

Equity Methods serves a diverse clientele from dozens of Fortune 500 firms to early-stage pre-IPO firms. We have served 40 Fortune 100 firms all the way to early-stage venture-backed organizations. Our clients span the entire United States, in addition to some in Canada, South America, and Europe. We offer a diverse array of services that solve mission-critical priorities within corporate accounting and human resources functions.

At our size of ~100 professionals and countless brand-name clients, we combine the best of a large professional services firm with the best of an entrepreneurial growth venture. The culture fosters excellence in client service, innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement. We have a bias toward promoting from within and we celebrate the diverse strengths of our colleagues. We have consistently been rated a Top Company to Work for in Arizona.