Associate, F&A

Location: New York

Over the last 20 years, Ares’ success has been driven by our people and our culture. Today, our team is guided by our core values – Collaborative, Responsible, Entrepreneurial, Self-Aware, Trustworthy – and our purpose to be a catalyst for shared prosperity and a better future. Through our recruitment, career development and employee-focused programming, we are committed to fostering a welcoming and inclusive work environment where high-performance talent of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives can build careers within this exciting and growing industry.

Job Description Ares Management is seeking an Associate to join the Registered Secondaries Accounting team. The Associate will support the day-to-day accounting, financial reporting, net asset value (NAV) processes and operational control environment for registered investment companies investing in private equity secondaries and related structures. The individual will work closely with the fund administrator and internal accounting, operations, valuation, legal, compliance, tax and investor-relations teams to deliver accurate and timely fund reporting.

Primary functions and essential responsibilities

Responsibilities include:

• Support the monthly NAV process, including preparation and review of fund administrator packages, cash and position reconciliations, and follow-up on identified breaks.
• Assist with monthly and quarterly closes, including journal entries, account reconciliations, supporting schedules and close work papers.
• Track and reconcile cash activity, investment activity, capital calls, distributions, fees and expenses for private equity secondary investments and related fund structures.
• Process and monitor fund cash activity, including invoices, wire requests and payments to underlying investments, vendors and other third parties, in accordance with established controls.
• Analyze financial statements, capital account statements and transaction notices received from underlying fund managers and support the recording of investment activity.
• Assist in reviewing fund general ledgers, trial balances, administrator records and custody records and resolve reconciling items timely.
• Prepare and review registered fund regulatory reporting, including Form N-PORT, Form N-2, Form N-CSR, Form N-CSRS as applicable, and support other SEC and compliance reporting requirements.
• Assist with fund expense budgeting, accruals and variance analysis.
• Prepare recurring and ad hoc reporting for portfolio management, investor relations, legal, compliance, tax and other internal stakeholders.
• Coordinate with the fund administrator, auditors and internal teams to support reporting deadlines and audit requests.
• Participate in process improvement, automation and scalability initiatives; assist with other special projects as needed.

Qualifications

Education:

Bachelor’s degree in accounting or finance

Experience

Required:

• 2-4 years of experience in fund accounting, investment accounting, private equity accounting, registered funds or public accounting.
• Experience supporting private equity or other alternative investment products preferred.
• Familiarity with US GAAP investment company accounting and registered fund reporting is a plus.
• Experience with Advent Geneva, eFront, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, One Stream or similar systems is a plus.

General Requirements:
• Strong attention to detail, organizational skills and ownership of assigned deliverables.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively across internal and external teams.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, written and verbal communication skills.
• Proficiency…