Tax Senior Manager, Private Client & Family Office Services

Job Duties

• Manages the full-life cycle of all assigned engagements by providing technical expertise in all areas within the finance and accounting function.
• Understands the technology packages clients are using to support their accounting/finance functions.
• Describes the major functions each system performs, and knows how the system performs those functions.
• Explains the purpose and value of system functions that a client may not be using.
• Identifies when a client is not using a technology package in a proper or efficient manner; learns new technology quickly, understands the essence of technologies, how they can be used, how they interact with other technologies and business functions, what the best methods/benefits are for using them, and applies these technologies to an engagement.
• Facilitates effective discovery meetings with clients; uses open ended questions to identify what their objectives are, what financial information they value for management/decision making and why, as well creating a map of their current internal finance and accounting structure; looks for root causes and does not take information at face value; understands the complexity that can lie behind data.
• Designs integrated solutions that respond to the specific situation; open to new ideas and solutions, and avoids “locking-in” to a single solution; knows BDO well enough internally to identify when services outside of PCS-FOS should be included and describes what these services achieve and how they operate.
• Outlines the solution in a concise document and vets it internally with their leaders and other BDO stakeholders.
• Accurately determines the cost of building a client solution.
• Calculates the benefit to a client in dollar terms of the solution, using the pricing process.
• Compares the differences between the perspectives, and if there is sufficient margin in between (given our confidence in our calculations) to have a profitable engagement, proposes a fixed fee based on current scope for review by leadership.
• Formulates recommendations to client leadership on technical accounting issues, financial accounting policies and procedures and financial management issues; Educates clients on how their finance and accounting needs will evolve as their business grows.
• Assists clients in identify next steps and persuades the client to value those unperceived needs.
• Identifies what needs are critical versus what are not; looks at the business of the client holistically.
• Periodically reviews solutions with their clients to determine if it is still the right solution for the current state of the business; Develops a compelling future vision for a client; communicates in such a way as to inspire clients to take the journey towards that positive future.
• Assertively manages conflict; uses negotiation techniques to drive difficult agreements between opposing parties/ideas and generally leaves parties satisfied with the result.
• Supports the client through business changes and helps to facilitate the change management process; is comfortable with ambiguity, knows when to create clarity (or when clarity is possible) versus when to make progress without full definition.
• Acts as a partner to clients, as part of their team.
• Diagnoses the relationships and political structure of clients and appropriately navigates these complexities; quickly and accurately assesses people’s perspectives; gathers and/or reviews information necessary from the client to execute on engagements; creates, develops and maintains strong business relationships with clients, both internal and external.
• Comprehends the information presented on different tax return forms, analyzes this information to draw conclusions and have an intelligent conversation with clients – helping clients navigate business decisions and their potential financial and tax implications.
• Appropriately refers tax related matters to Core Tax and Specialty Tax Services.
• Supports PCS-FOS Leadership with business development strategies and service offerings targeted for various industries;
• Initiates building sales pipeline and closes new business;
• Ensures prospect and sales information is entered into CRM as appropriate;
• Rifines designed solutions and work plans into a compelling proposal document that speaks the language of the client and identifies the value clients will be receiving;
• Develops a strong understanding of the various industry groups and builds relationships with business development resources; has a deep awareness of the impact that different industries and service offerings have on the technical work and final deliverable;
• Actively participates in industry trade groups and networking events;
• Identifies new opportunities to cross sell to existing clients;
• Explains the Advisory service offerings, as well as the broader firm to a client, prospect, or contact;
• Gains an understanding of the BDO Alliance and BRN Network firms;
• Develops Others
• Fosters a culture that embraces change and accountability;
• Ensures PCS-FOS Managers and Staff are trained to understand and perform analytics and forecasting at a level where they are capable of interpreting financial results, recognizing trends and gaining insights into business performance improvements;
• Acts as Career Advisor to PCS-FOS Managers and Staff, as appropriate;
• Evaluates the performance of PCS-FOS Managers and Staff, and assists in developing goals and objectives to enhance professional development that aligns with the firm’s and PCS-FOS’s objectives;
• Drives recruiting efforts at all levels and assists with the on-boarding process;
• Serves as a resource for the team.

Developing Others

• Fosters a culture that embraces change and accountability;
• Ensures PCS-FOS Managers and Staff are trained to understand and perform analytics and forecasting at a level where they are capable of interpreting financial results, recognizing trends and gaining insights into business performance improvements;
• Acts as Career Advisor to PCS-FOS Managers and Staff, as appropriate;
• Evaluates the performance of PCS-FOS Managers and Staff, and assists in developing goals and objectives to enhance professional development that aligns with the firm’s and PCS-FOS’s objectives;
• Drives recruiting efforts at all levels and assists with the on-boarding process;
• Serves as a resource for the team.

Project Management

• Creates a work plan following best practices of project management (breaking down projects into phases and tasks, estimating time/budget, setting milestones, managing dependencies, and measuring and reviewing progress).
• Bills engagements in a timely and effective manner, appropriate to the client’s situation and the state of the work.
• Contributes to economic management matters such as forecasting and monitoring/managing to key metrics.
• Aware of how their practice P&L is structured and can interpret common firm metrics (at a practice and an individual level).
• Accurately scopes a new project and constructs a fee estimate/budget that considers all appropriate details, including, but not limited to: architecting, designing and planning/estimating a tailored client solution; Identifies resource requirements and developing transition plan and estimates appropriate Margins for the practice and the overall picture of the client relationship.
• Oversees client satisfaction with quality of work products, assigned staff, and engagement performance.
• Reviews engagement economics for multiple clients to ensure continuous improvement in order to attain practice KPI's.

Tax Related Duties

• Researches: Identifies when research is needed; Clearly and concisely frames issues to be researched; and clearly and concisely reports the analysis.
• Identifies complex issues to be researched by engagement team and provides research methodology for efficient research process.
• Trains managers / staff on research skills and helps to appropriately frame tax issues for analysis.
• Involves firm specialists, as appropriate.
• Strategizes: Introduces and develops new or improved ideas to improve the position of clients, the Firm, or Firm personnel, e.g., by reducing taxes or expenses or providing non-tax benefits.
• Researches and implements tax strategies, including experimentation with promising new strategies and ideas.
• Consistently makes suggestions as to how previous work products or approaches can be improved.
• May lead marketing campaigns, if applicable to role.
• Presents complex strategies to clients and prospective clients.

Supervisory Responsibilities

• Supervises associates, senior associates and managers on all projects;
• Reviews work prepared by associates, senior associates and managers and provide review comments;
• Trains associates, senior associates and managers how to use all current software tools;
• Acts as a Career Advisor to associates, senior associates and managers;
• Schedules and manages workload of associates, senior associates and managers;
• Provides verbal and written performance feedback to associates, senior associates and managers.