Job Opportunity
Director – Portfolio Accounting
Morgan Stanley | West Conshohocken, PA
Job Summary
Operations and portfolio management support activities for private equity fund of funds vehicles and separately managed accounts, as well as other private equity funds managed by the firm. Bachelor’s Degree, or equivalent, in Accounting, Finance, or related business field. 5+ years of investment accounting experience.
Details
Morgan Stanley is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, investment management and wealth management services. The firm’s employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments and individuals from more than 1,200 offices in 43 countries.
As a market leader, the talent and passion of our people is critical to our success. Together, we share a common set of values rooted in integrity, excellence and strong team ethic. Morgan Stanley can provide a superior foundation for building a professional career – a place for people to learn, achieve and grow. A philosophy that balances personal lifestyles, perspectives and needs is an important part of our culture.
Department Profile
Operations is one of the largest divisions in the firm and has diverse responsibilities, including correctly settling and recording millions of transactions per day, identifying and mitigating all operational risks, developing strong client relationships and partnering with technology to realize the full potential of IT and e-solutions. Throughout, the Operations department continually seeks ways to improve while actively supporting the development of new businesses, structures and markets.
Morgan Stanley Investment Management (IM) is the Firms’ asset management division and offers investment expertise across Public and Private Markets managing a total AUM of $482Bn+ as on December 2017. The group demonstrates a strong global presence in 20 countries, 37 offices, 1946 employees and 608 investment professionals. Investment Management Operations supports the asset management business and performs core operational functions with its innovative capabilities and delivers first-class operations to support the changing business needs and enhance the client experience to its fullest.
This position will work specifically with the Alternative Investment Services (AIS) team in support of the Alternative Investment Partners (AIP) Investment Management Team. The AIP Team is responsible for portfolio management and client service for Morgan Stanley’s alternative investments fund of funds strategies. The AIP Team currently manages 250+ investment vehicles that utilize a variety of alternative investment strategies and vehicle structures. Total net assets under management exceed $43 billion. The individual in this position will be responsible for operations and portfolio management support activities for the AIP private equity fund of fund vehicles and separately managed accounts, as well as other private equity funds managed by Morgan Stanley Investment Management.
Responsibilities in this position will result in detailed knowledge of accounting and operations for the AIP portfolios, including investments in private equity funds, real estate funds, secondary investments, and co-investments as well as derivative investments, such as options and forward currency contracts. This position will also involve developing and maintaining external relationships with AIP business stakeholders and third party service providers to ensure proper support for the investment vehicles. This position will be located in the West Conshohocken, PA office.
Responsibilities:
* Actively monitor critical investment and investor activity for multiple portfolios and custodian banks, ensuring proper settlement of transactions; develop significant level of expertise of the holdings, terms and transactions of multiple portfolios to provide intuitive and proactive oversight of these portfolios
* Oversee third party service providers in posting activity to the portfolios general ledger and maintain portfolio activity in AIP’s parallel portfolio accounting system, Investran
* Reconcile transactions, valuations, management fees, carried interest calculations, P&L components, and other activity between Investran and the third party service providers records on a monthly / quarterly basis to ensure accuracy
* Verify accuracy of investor capital account balances, NAV allocations, and capital activity on a monthly / quarterly basis
* Understand and interpret underlying fund investment financial statements for the purpose of preparing and/or calculating their respective fair valuation amounts, which includes documentation based on various sources of investment information and detailed reviews of financial statements and quarterly reports for regular internal fair valuation committee meeting approval
* Work on complex structures that contain multiple vehicles such as leveraged corporate blockers and AIV’s. Develop an understanding of these structures and ensure adequate controls are in place
* Prepare various different carried interest calculations for complex structures and also different waterfall types such as specific investment exclusion. Understand carried interest based on terms as defined in Limited Partnership Agreements
* Generate cash projections, fund capacity calculations and investor capital calls / distribution calculations for the AIP portfolios
* Provide support for AIP product, regulatory, and other audits; assist with review of offering documents for new AIP products and support other areas of product development, as needed
* Work effectively with third party service providers and internal parties to ensure a high level of service for the AIP products; raise service issues in an appropriate manner and follow up issues to resolution; create or enhance processes to improve the efficiency of the AIP Team
* Perform quarterly compliance reporting and highlight instances in which there may be potential non-compliance with the AIP products’ governing documents
* Sign off on net asset value and performance-based information for AIP on a monthly / quarterly basis
Qualifications:
* Bachelor’s Degree, or equivalent, in Accounting, Finance, or related business field
* Minimum of 5 years of investment accounting experience
* Prior experience in private equity / real estate or private equity / real estate fund of funds investment accounting is required. Knowledge of hedge fund accounting and/or derivatives, or experience with Investran, is a plus
* Strong organizational and analytical skills and the ability to effectively summarize findings, both verbally and in writing, in a clear and concise manner
* Detail-oriented and highly motivated
* Ability to work effectively with minimal supervision
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- Min Education: BA/BS
- Min Experience: 5 years