After completing my education at the National College of Ireland, I was fortunate enough to start a role as Fund Accountant with Hedgeserv. For almost six years, I worked alongside a group of talented professionals. This is where I gained crucial skills that helped shape the future of my career.
This is a concise summary of my duties, skills I gained, and typical procedures I was responsible for at Hedgeserv.
Responsibilities
Monitor progression of accounts being prepared and reviewed.
Monitor daily tasks outside of account preparation.
Inform team of task completion and support tasks falling behind.
Inform client of daily account reconciliation completion.
Inform client of weekly and monthly milestones/tasks are met/complete.
Daily tasks
Reconcile accounts assigned in order of priority.
Review other team member’s work.
Raise issues with accounts/mapping/trades as soon as possible.
Ensure external data is received on a daily basis and at the correct time.
“Tieback” client data to broker data (ensure balances and market values are matching).
Work with IT team to assist with improvement to account and transaction mapping.
Work with Middle Office team to resolve trade issues.
Daily goals
Complete daily reconciliations in timely matter, investigate new issues and provide client with end of day update.
Monitor data arrival, ageing breaks are under investigation and accounts are being prepared in an efficient manner.
Check for any mistakes made or incorrect data being fed in when reviewing daily cash recs.
Approve accounts post reviewing as well as approving mails to be sent to client.
Create tickets for any incorrect data fed in, incorrect transaction matching, keep track of ageing cash breaks.
Financial analysis
Developed a deep understanding of financial instruments and markets enabling me to analyse, assess and identify calculations and issues.
Attention to detail
Precision is crucial in fund accounting, as even small errors can have significant consequences. Here I honed my attention to detail through meticulous record-keeping.
This is something that helped me massively in picking up on crucial nuggets left by clients during user testing sessions at Smartstream.
Problem-solving
Sharpened my problem-solving abilities as I tackled challenges like troubleshooting discrepancies, reconciling data and resolving trade issues that arose on a daily basis.
Accounting principles
Gained a strong grasp of accounting principles in order to accurately record financial transactions.
This skill was hugely beneficial when transitioning to Smartstream and helping my design team understand financial jargon.
Technology proficiency
Worked with specialised accounting software developing proficiency in these tools along with spreadsheet software like Microsoft Excel.
Time management
Learned to prioritise tasks effectively and manage my time efficiently to meet reporting deadlines and client expectations.
A crucial skill for any profession going forward.
Regulatory compliance
Working in such a regulated environment I became skilled at navigating regulatory requirements and ensuring compliance with laws surrounding fund administration.
Communication
Frequent collaboration with colleagues, clients, auditors and external departments improved my communication skills enabling me to convey financial information clearly.
This skill was crucial in providing me with the confidence to run user interviews and user testing sessions at Smartstream
Teamwork and collaboration
Throughout my six years with Hedgeserv I worked as part of a team in both a junior level as well as in a leadership role. Guiding and mentoring others within the team required excellent collaboration skills in order to succeed.
