Accounting Manager

CORPORATE PROFILE

Ziegler is a privately held investment bank, capital markets and proprietary investments firm. Specializing in the healthcare, senior living and education sectors, as well as general municipal and structured finance, enables us to generate a positive impact on the communities we serve. Headquartered in Chicago with regional and branch offices throughout the U.S., Ziegler provides its clients with capital raising, strategic advisory services, equity and fixed income sales & trading and research.

POSITION OVERVIEW

We are seeking an Accounting Manager to join our team. In this role, your knowledge and experience will be applied to provide accounting and management support for the industry specific accounting regulatory matters, business functions, and the related accounting, tax, and cash management activities. The Accounting Manager will play a vital role in Ziegler’s accounting operations working with our CFO and Controller. This role will also provide support to the businesses within Ziegler involving liaison support and business unit financial analysis as well as overall general ledger accounting support. This position will be based in our Chicago Headquarters.

PRIMARY FUNCTIONS:

• Assist with the monthly activities required to close the books
• Assist in the management of broker dealer net capital and regulatory reporting. 
  • Assist the CFO in the regulatory oversight and reporting responsibilities associated with the Financial and Operations Principle duties.
  • Prepare the monthly FOCUS reports and the related broker-dealer net capital calculations.
  • Prepare other monthly and yearly regulatory reports.
  • Participate in matters associated with the management of broker-dealer net capital.
  • Oversee the daily estimated net capital report.
• Manage the accounting and financial support for the ZFC/HUD mortgage financing business. 
  • Provide accounting support for the ZFC/HUD mortgage origination activities which includes transaction accounting, monthly financial activities, and oversight of regulatory capital.
  • Provide required ZFC/HUD financial and regulatory reports. The reports include quarterly and annual government reports to FHA, quarterly web-based reports, year-end financial statements, and web-based LEAF reporting to HUD.
  • Act as a primary liaison, providing documentation and answering questions for independent auditors and regulators related to ZFC/FHA/HUD requirements.
• Manage the accounting and financial support for the proprietary private equity investments developed by Ziegler and its subsidiaries. 
  • Act as the key business liaison to the Private Equity businesses.
  • Oversee input and post activity to the dedicated accounting system, Investran.
  • Prepare quarterly and annual financial reporting.
  • Calculate, pay and book proprietary fund management fees.
  • Oversee payment of proprietary fund vendor invoices.
  • Oversee accuracy of customer capital account statements.
  • Coordinate proprietary fund entity tax compliance and yearend tax preparation.
  • Coordinate and support the audit, if required, for the proprietary funds.
• Perform the treasurer cash management functions and related transaction matters. 
  • Perform daily cash management / treasury activities and the supervision of the completion of the process on a timely basis to avoid bank or clearing broker balance errors.
• Provide assistance in tax-related areas. 
  • Assist in the tax administration process in the areas of data accumulation and analysis of information required for State and Federal tax reporting.
  • Assistance with the year-end tax work papers and any potential quarterly adjustments to the tax accounts.
  • Oversight and assistance in the completion of other tax compliance matters such as sales and use tax and franchise tax returns.
• Assist in payroll activities and other compensation matters. 
  • Manage the annual budgeting activities with respect to all matters associated with compensation and benefits.
• Provide information and support for internal financial reporting and analysis. 
  • Act as a key business liaison to assigned business and support areas.
  • Assist in all functions and reporting related to the Workplace expense report processing system.
  • Act as a back-up for the general ledger consolidation of all entities and the monthly closing process. 
  • Assist Controller in the administration and completion of the budgeting process.
  • Oversee the completion of all financial compliance documents, requests for financial information from third party requestors, and government surveys.
  • Provide backup for fixed asset processing.
  • Provide accounting support for lease accounting.
  • Provide accounting support for broker dealer activities which includes transaction accounting, monthly financial activities,

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

Ideal candidates should meet the following requirements: 

• A Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, CPA or CPA candidate required.
• At least five years of appropriate accounting experience, prior experience as manager/supervisor at a broker-dealer preferred.
• Regulatory designations, as determined by Compliance Dept – Series 99 or 27 a plus.
• Attention to detail and good organizational skills are essential for this position.
• Experience with Great Plains accounting software and ADP payroll system preferred.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite, including MS Word, Outlook, and Excel is also required.
• Communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, with all organizational levels. 
• Demonstrate efficiency and flexibility in performing detailed transactional tasks in a fast-paced work environment.

Ziegler is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace dedicated to pursuing and hiring a diverse workforce.