Head of Accounting & Financial Reporting

The Family Office Management (FOM) group at Bessemer Trust, which provides operational and administrative services to ultra-high net worth families is actively recruiting for the Head of Accounting & Financial Reporting in its Woodbridge, New Jersey office. The Head of Accounting will lead and oversee all accounting operations within the Family Office Management Group. This individual will be responsible for delivering high-quality, timely, and accurate financial reporting and accounting services to ultra-high-net-worth families and complex entity structures.

The role combines technical accounting expertise, operational leadership, risk oversight, and client-facing engagement. The ideal candidate is a strong people leader who can manage a growing team, drive process improvement, and maintain best-in-class controls in a highly customized, client-service environment.

Primary Responsibilities

1. Leadership & Team Management

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of 16 accounting professionals.
• Set clear performance expectations and manage capacity planning.
• Oversee staff recruiting, onboarding, training, and career development.
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, and client service excellence.
• Manage department budget and resource allocation.
• Evaluate service model efficiency and scalability.

1. Client Service Oversight

• Oversee accounting for complex family structures, including individuals and trusts, partnerships, LLCs and foundations.
• Ensure timely and accurate delivery of financial statements, 1099s and tax preparer support packages.
• Provide guidance to staff as needed on complex accounting issues including investment accounting for alternative investments.
• Participate in prospect and client meetings as needed.
• Oversee all aspects of client onboarding, including fee proposal, FOM service agreement administration, receipt of client data from prior service providers, establishing accounting procedures.
• Administer QuickBooks data files by managing both staff and client access and the creation of new client data files.
• Oversee expense coding on all bill payments processed for clients through a third party vendor (Bill.com) and the subsequent syncing of that data to the accounting system

1. Strategic & Operational Oversight

• Proactively integrate regulatory requirements and operational risk management considerations into all processes, maintaining a strong audit-focused mindset.
• Manage accounting policy and procedures documentation and consistency across clients.
• Review billings from all FOM third party service providers for accuracy and ensure timely payment.
• Maintain FOM Dashboard and client billing on a monthly basis.
• Identify and implement process improvements and automation opportunities including evaluation of alternative accounting platforms.
• Partner with technology teams and other family office management teams on system enhancements.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting or finance with a minimum of 15 years of relevant experience.
• CPA required.
• Proficiency in QuickBooks Desktop and Microsoft Office preferred.
• Experience with individual, partnership, and business accounting preferred.
• Demonstrated progression in responsibility, including direct staff management experience.
• Demonstrated track record of implementing process improvements, scaling and automating workflows, and leading accounting system migrations; comfortable leveraging technology to enhance efficiency.
• Excellent organizational skills with the ability to prioritize and manage multiple assignments across several clients in a fast-paced environment, while meeting deadlines accurately and efficiently.
• Clear and effective communicator with strong writing, presentation, and interpersonal skills; detail-oriented, highly motivated, and self-directed.
• Proven ability to exercise tact, discretion, confidentiality, and sound judgment when handling sensitive matters and documentation.

The base salary range for this position is $170,000