Bookkeeping & Attorney Trust Accounting Consultant

A professional-services business in Johannesburg serving the legal sector is looking for a Bookkeeping & Attorney Trust Accounting Consultant to provide bookkeeping, attorney trust accounting, accounting and audit support to its clients, while keeping everything compliant with the Legal Practice Council’s accounting rules.

The role is mostly bookkeeping and trust accounting, with a genuine technical side: you’ll also support the accounting software those clients run — testing releases, troubleshooting, running client training and handling the harder support queries. It suits someone equally comfortable in a trust reconciliation and in a SQL query.

Bookkeeping and accounting

• Record and process accounting transactions accurately and on time
• Prepare and balance client month-end accounts, and maintain accurate financial records to accounting standards and Legal Practice Council requirements
• Review transactions and identify discrepancies, following up with clients for outstanding information
• Complete bookkeeping assignments within agreed turnaround times, escalating risks that could affect service delivery

Attorney trust accounting

• Maintain and reconcile attorney trust accounts in line with the Legal Practice Council accounting rules
• Prepare and review monthly trust reconciliations, and investigate trust balancing differences
• Ensure trust creditors, trust investments and trust cash are accurately accounted for
• Identify trust accounting risks and recommend corrective action

Audit, investigations and product support

• Support clients through audit engagements, preparing documentation and answering audit queries
• Conduct complex bookkeeping investigations, using SQL and Microsoft Access to troubleshoot system and accounting problems
• Test software versions before client releases, run functional and regression testing, and log defects through to resolution
• Deliver client training on new releases and provide post-training support
• Provide advanced product support to the internal support team, resolving the complex queries they escalate

What you’ll need

• A tertiary qualification in Information Technology, a BCom in Accounting, or a Diploma in Accounting
• At least 3 years in accounting or bookkeeping support, or in IT support for accounting software
• Hands-on bookkeeping or accounting support experience, and working knowledge of attorney trust accounting
• SQL scripting
• Exposure to software testing and deployment
• Knowledge of accounting principles, legal accounting processes and Legal Practice Council requirements
• Strong problem-solving, analytical thinking and client communication

Nice to have

• Basic programming experience
• Experience delivering client training
• Networking fundamentals and hardware infrastructure knowledge

Johannesburg. In office. Permanent.