[trc12]

I graduated in 2010 and am coming up on my second year of being a private equity staff accountant at a custodian. From what I am told this isn’t the same as being a fund accountant at State Street where it is essentially data entry. I am given two funds, and the work is almost entirely done in excel. The work itself isn’t entirely back office as I am in constant comunication with the client and other players in the fund.

Here is an exerpt from my resume:

-Manage accounting workbook for direct funds and fund of funds

-Record journal entries in general ledger, and prepare quarterly trial balance

-Maintain quarterly workbook reports for: investments, distributions, expenses, unrealized gain/loss, and partners’ capital

-Maintain effective communication between the general partner, the limited partners, and the fund’s underlying investments

-Analyze capital call and distribution letters

-Prepare: statement of assets, liabilities, and partners’ capital, statement of operations, schedule of investments, statement of partner’s capital, and statement of cash flows

-Assist independent auditors in year-end audit.

Additionally I have passed the CPA exam while working this job, and obtained the necessary 150 units to fufill the educational requirement.

The main purpose of this post is to ask if anyone has some career advice for me. I am more than ready to leave my current company. I feel like there isn’t a lot of precedence for the career path of a Private Equity Accountant. So far I have thought of switching to public accounting and becoming an accountant at PE firm as options.

[onmywhey]

Okay, thanks for the clarification. Seems like you got a nice gig going on for you!

It makes sense that you refer to private equity as well… equity that is private. When I hear private equity I think private equity fund like LBO and fund of funds.

Based upon what the OP describes, seems like fund accounting as I know it, but not exactly sure. The fact that I grouped him with traditional “fund accounting” may not bode well for what OP is looking for.

[Kassidy]

This is an exciting opportunity for an individual that has recently qualified as an accountant and has a strong handle of the management accounting side of a business ideally in private equity that is looking for a broad role working closely with the FD of the business.

This role covers both core finance, management accounting and also the on going management of the outsourced fund administrators.

We are looking for qualified accountant already in a small PE fund or a private equity administrator looking for the first role on the PE side where the opportunity to understand how the middle and back office work in a PE fund will be available

https://www.homeworkanytimehelp.com/

[Kassidy]

This is an exciting opportunity for an individual that has recently qualified as an accountant and has a strong handle of the management accounting side of a business ideally in private equity that is looking for a broad role working closely with the FD of the business.

This role covers both core finance, management accounting and also the on going management of the outsourced fund administrators.

We are looking for qualified accountant already in a small PE fund or a private equity administrator looking for the first role on the PE side where the opportunity to understand how the middle and back office work in a PE fund will be available

https://www.homeworkanytimehelp.com/

[trc12]

Thank you all for you advice. To further clarify what I mean by Private Equity Accounting, I am given Private Equity funds with different structures. Mostly fund of funds and direct funds. Essentially we manually do all the accounting that is necessary for the performance of the fund to be released in financial statements. When I say manually, I mean that all my work is done in an excel workbook, and not in a processing system in which all transactions automatically flow to the financial statements. My day to day activitiy is booking the funds activity based off the funds bank statement. Additionally, I have to calculate capital calls and distributions. This activity must flow to many different schedules that will eventually be used to make the financial statements. I'm not entirely sure if this is what most fund accountants do or not.

Thanks

[trc12]

Thank you all for you advice. To further clarify what I mean by Private Equity Accounting, I am given Private Equity funds with different structures. Mostly fund of funds and direct funds. Essentially we manually do all the accounting that is necessary for the performance of the fund to be released in financial statements. When I say manually, I mean that all my work is done in an excel workbook, and not in a processing system in which all transactions automatically flow to the financial statements. My day to day activitiy is booking the funds activity based off the funds bank statement. Additionally, I have to calculate capital calls and distributions. This activity must flow to many different schedules that will eventually be used to make the financial statements. I'm not entirely sure if this is what most fund accountants do or not.

Thanks

[Author]

Replies