Payroll Accountant
City of London
6-8 Months Fixed term contract
£65,000 – £70,000
Portfolio Payroll is delighted to be partnering with a Global Financial services firm based in the City of London. They are seeking a Payroll Accountant on a 6-8 Months FTC basis.
The role covers payroll accounting in the UK, and requires collaboration with a number of different stakeholders including the UK payroll and benefits teams and the various Finance teams, in particular within the UK. As well as being responsible for business-as-usual activity across weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual cycles. The successful candidate will be responsible for proactively identifying opportunities to streamline processes, strengthen controls, and improve efficiency.
Key Responsibilities
* Prepare, review, and post payroll related journals, ensuring accurate allocation to profit and loss, balance sheet, and accrual accounts.
* Own key HR/payroll balance sheet reconciliations and substantiation, including salary clearing and HR holding accounts, investigating and resolving reconciling items in a timely manner.
* Review monthly payroll outputs from an accounting perspective, analysing material variances against prior periods and expectations.
* Manage payroll related accruals, including legal and professional fees, Global Mobility costs, flexible benefits, and year end requirements, ensuring accurate recognition across reporting periods.
* Administer and process intercompany payroll transactions and recharges, coordinating payment requests and ensuring accurate cross entity postings.
* Support the reconciliation between payroll processed compensation (e.g. paid bonuses and allowances) and centrally held compensation accruals, ensuring clear audit trails and timely clearance.
* Ensure accurate accounting for payroll related leaver costs, adjustments, and corrections, including alignment with variable and deferred compensation accounting where applicable.
* Deliver accurate and timely month end close for HR and payroll cost areas, including journals, accruals, and reclassifications.
* Manage end-to-end processing of HR/payroll third-party invoices and intercompany recharges, ensuring accurate coding, approvals, period cutoff, and cross entity settlement.
* Provide detailed inputs to support forecasting and budget processes, alongside HR cost analysis and run rate and variance commentary.
* Maintain strong governance and audit readiness, providing payroll related financial data, explanations, and supporting schedules, and responding promptly to audit and stakeholder queries.
* Coordinate the quarterly allocations process across the UK HR team, ensuring timely submission, accurate cost allocation, and clear supporting documentation.
Person Specification
* Qualified accountant with at least 6 to 10 years’ experience in a financial services environment
* Strong technical accounting knowledge, especially in payroll accounting
* Experience of working with SAP and other relevant financial systems
* Excellent communication skills, with proven ability to liaise across multiple teams and entities
* Demonstrated ability to handle sensitive and confidential information with discretion and professionalism
* Knowledge of Microsoft Office suite, including, in particular, advanced Excel skills to support detailed reconciliations, analysis, and reporting
* Detail-oriented with strong reconciliation and analytical skills
* Ability to manage multiple tasks and deadlines throughout the monthly, quarterly, and annual cycles
* Ideally previous exposure to HR forecasting and budgeting processes
* Continuous improvement mindset, with experience identifying inefficiencies, streamlining month end processes, and improving controls through standardisation and automation where appropriate
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