Tax Managing Director, Private Client & Family Office Services at BDO

Tax Managing Director, Private Client & Family Office Services

The Tax Managing Director, Private Client & Family Office Services (PCS-FOS) provides overall direction and oversight for the PCS-FOS Practice, including business development, practice development and client management. This role is expected to collaborate with firm leadership on overall approach and direction of the PCS-FOS Practice to ensure consistency with overall firm philosophy.

The PCS-FOS Managing Director applies educational background, experience and industry knowledge of business issues, trends and economics on client work. This position is a critical part of the office's/region's leadership team. The PCS-FOS Managing Director leads and reviews the results of financial and advisory services of a given client engagement, is involved in supervision, "big-picture" problem solving and scheduling client projects to the appropriate personnel. In addition, this position is responsible for developing and mentoring PCS-FOS management and staff.

The PCS-FOS Managing Director is responsible for marketing, networking and business development, as well as maintaining key client relationships. This role identifies, discusses and advises the client on key financial and non-financial performance measures, formulating and communicating a strategy plan and answering complex financial questions. The Managing Director also applies experience and knowledge of business processes to improve client internal controls and accounting procedures through process improvement suggestions.

Job Duties:

Client Service Delivery

• Oversees the full-life cycle of all assigned engagements by providing technical expertise in all areas within the finance and accounting function
• Identifies opportunities for technological and process improvements to the practice's service offerings
• Facilitates effective discovery meetings with large and complex clients; uses open ended questions to identify their objectives, what financial information they value for management/decision making and why, and creating a map of their current internal finance and accounting structure
• Designs integrated solutions for large and complex clients 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
• Accurately determines the cost of building out a solution
• Advises client leadership on technical accounting issues, financial accounting policies and procedures and financial management issues
• Periodically reviews solutions with their clients to determine if it is still the right solution for the current state of the business
• Leads the client through business changes and facilitates the change management process
• Maintains strong business relationships with clients, both internal and external
• Understands tax planning considerations/concepts for various business entities

Business Development

• Responsible for achieving business development goals by developing and executing business development strategies and service offerings targeted for various industries
• Participate in the roadmap/strategic planning process
• Refines 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
• Evaluates clients for acceptance (e.g. general risk matters, regulations that affect our work, international business, background checks, etc.), and reviews and approves statements of work
• Delivers industry resource expertise and leverages relationships with firm colleagues to execute on business development opportunities
• Cross sells to existing clients and identifies new prospects
• Explains Firm and Advisory service offerings to a client, prospect, or contact
• Develops relationships with local BDO Alliance firms; participates in BDO Alliance mini-area meetings and forums, presents PCS-FOS service offerings and solutions

Developing Others

• Fosters a culture that embraces change and accountability
• Ensures PCS-FOS team members 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
• Ensures PCS-FOS department is trained on all relevant software, processes and resources
• Acts as career advisor to PCS-FOS management and staff; provides professional growth and career advancement opportunities for PCS-FOS management and staff
• Evaluates the performance of the PCS-FOS department and assists in developing goals and objectives to enhance professional development that align with firm and PCS-FOS objectives
• Monitors and recommends staffing levels for the area of the practice for which they are responsible
• Serves as a resource for the team, having developed an in-depth knowledge and understanding of finance and accounting functions, technology for supporting these functions and how tax planning can differ by industry and business structure

Practice Management/Administration

• Is the visionary leader for their practice area, articulating the goals and how it will impact the business
• Defines the dependent projects that need to be completed to reach practice goals. Provides focus on strategy and implementation, and delegates projects appropriately
• Ensures all engagements are billed and collected in a timely and effective manner, appropriate to the client's situation and the state of the work; monitors the billing activity of PCS-FOS Team
• Aware of how their practice P&L is structured and can interpret common firm metrics (at a practice and an individual level); operates with the bottom line in mind
• In conjunction with other members of practice leadership, creates and maintains strategic plans in alignment with firm and practice goals and objectives
• Accurately scopes new projects for large and complex clients 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
• Monitors the Net Promoter Scores and continually explores ways to improve client service
• Reviews engagement economics for their practice area to ensure continuous improvement, and make necessary adjustments, in order to attain practice KPI's
• Develops plans and forecasts for the area of the practice for which they are responsible (whether an office, industry line, or administrative area)
• Manages the full lifecycle of practice management, from forecasting through collections

Tax Related Duties:

Research

• 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

Strategy Development

• 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
• Depending on specific role, may be required to present complex strategies to clients and prospective clients

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• Guides and supervises all PCS-FOS personnel

Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

Education:

• One of the following is required: Bachelor's degree and ten (10) or more years of experience performing general accounting transactions and functions, required; OR High School Diploma and twelve (12) or more years performing general accounting transactions and functions with some supervisory and consultative or business advisory experience, required
• Bachelor's Degree in Accounting or Finance, preferred
• MBA or Masters in Accountancy, preferred

Experience:

• Six (6) or more years of supervisory experience, required
• Consultative or business advisory experience, required
• Experience working with outsourced and/or delivery center operations, preferred

License/Certifications:

• CPA certification, preferred

Software:

• Proficient in the use of the Microsoft Office Suite, specifically Excel, Word, and PowerPoint, required
• Experience utilizing industry standard accounting software such as Intuit's QuickBooks Online (QBO), Xero, Sage Intacct, and BILL, preferred
• Prior experience utilizing industry recognized accounting research tools, preferred

Language:

• N/A

Other Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Comfortable with ambiguity, knows when to create clarity (or when clarity is possible) versus when to make progress without full definition
• Takes personal accountability for work products and accepts constructive feedback to guide future actions