Accountant

Job Title: Accountant

Team: Finance

Location: Singapore                   

ROLE

Kennedys is looking for an Accountant to join our Finance team based in Singapore.

The Accountant will play a key role in supporting the Senior Finance Manager – Singapore in managing the accounts receivable functions of the firm, ensuring compliance with local regulations and international accounting standards. This position involves team mentoring responsibilities.  

This is a new headcount, and it is a varied and exciting role at a dynamic, international law firm. It would suit an ambitious individual who has technical depth and understands the complexity of compliance, multi-entity reporting and partner-level stakeholder management.

Key relationships to establish are with Singapore Finance team, Partners, lawyers, business services and secretaries. There will also be dealings with finance colleagues in the APAC and UK regions.

Team

Our finance team is made up of a Senior Finance Manager, 3 Accounts Executives, a Finance Operations Administrator and a Legal Biller.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Manage the accounts receivable functions, ensuring timely billing, collection and allocation of client payments.
• Monitor outstanding receivables and proactively follow up with clients, partners and matter teams to facilitate prompt collection of fees and disbursements.
• Review billing write offs, unbilled disbursements account balances and disbursements written off on a monthly basis and investigate significant movements and report to management.
• Prepare and review accounts receivable ageing reports and provide analysis to management.
• Reconcile client accounts, investigate and resolve billing or payment discrepancies.
• Support month-end, quarter-end, and year-end closing activities related to accounts receivable.
• Possess a strong understanding of GST regulations and their application, ensuring compliance with Singapore GST requirements.
• Supporting audits by providing relevant documentation and reconciliations.
• Ensure compliance with company policies, accounting standards and internal controls.
• Mentor and provide guidance to junior finance and accounting staff and oversee and review the work of junior team members to ensure accuracy and adherence to deadlines.
• Promote best practices and contribute to continuous improvement of accounts receivable processes and controls.
• Assist in ad-hoc finance-related projects, such as process/system improvements and/or new regulatory compliance initiatives.
• Respond to all queries and requests in a timely and efficient manner, referring complex and contentious issues to the Senior Finance Manager.
• Building and maintaining relationships with various stakeholders across the business.

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field.
• Professional accounting qualification (ACCA, CPA, or equivalent) is required.
• Minimum 5-7 years of accounting experience, ideally with experience working in a law firm or professional services environment.
• Advanced Excel skills for financial analysis and reporting.
• Working knowledge of Elite 3E or similar financial systems is ideal.
• Strong attention to detail and accuracy.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to communicate complex financial information to non-financial stakeholders.
• High level of integrity, confidentiality, and professionalism.
• Proactive attitude and willingness to take on new responsibilities.
• Strong organizational and multitasking skills with the ability to meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a collaborative team.

This is a developing role and the job description is not exhaustive and may vary in line with changes in the team's objectives and the Firm's policy.

About Kennedys

Kennedys is a global law firm with expertise in dispute resolution and advisory services. With over 2,750 people worldwide across 48 offices in the UK, Europe, Middle East, Asia Pacific and America we have some of the most respected legal minds in their field.

Our lawyers handle both contentious and non-contentious matters, and provide a range of specialist legal services, for many industry sectors but we have particular expertise in litigation and dispute resolution, especially in defending insurance and liability claims.

We're a fresh-thinking firm, and we're not afraid to bring challenging new perspectives to the table way beyond the traditional realm of legal services. We empower our clients with a diverse range of ideas, tools and technology to make their lives easier, as well as delivering exceptional results, every time.

What do we have to offer?

We welcome high-performing lawyers, business services professionals, secretaries, graduates and apprentices to join our rapidly expanding global firm. Whatever your role at Kennedys, you'll be involved in exciting and stimulating work, where your input will make a difference.

Our culture and values form a big part of who we are and we take them seriously. We make a difference by being approachable, straightforward, supportive and distinctive. Our values are at the core of who we are and what make us a great firm to work with and for.

The Firm recognises the value of investing in our people's development and believes our culture and values contribute to the quality of our work and of our client relationships. With a culture of on-the-job and experiential learning, peer to peer learning, mentoring, resources and tools that enable you to drive your career, we can support your development in your current and future roles.  A variety of other opportunities are available including secondments to clients and our global offices.

We strive to celebrate diversity, empower our people and ensure everyone can bring their authentic selves to work.  We've created a culture based on client service, professional excellence, hard work and trust, where diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) is a key priority.  We recognise that many of our people want to work for an employer that is aligned to their values, which is why we are building an inclusive culture, decarbonising our operations and supporting our people to thrive at work.  Our people are the key to driving this change and helping us to make a difference to our clients, our people and the communities in which we live and work.

Kennedys is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to ensuring our recruitment processes are as inclusive as possible. We expect all employees to be aware of and comply with all relevant policies and procedures within their jurisdiction, including those relating to Information Security, Data Protection and Quality Management, refer any breach promptly to Risk & Compliance and to complete all mandatory training when requested.