Payroll Accountant - 6-8 Months Fixed Term Contract

Rothschild & Co is a leading global financial services group with seven generations of family control and a history of over 200 years at the centre of the world's financial markets. Our expertise, intellectual capital and global network enable us to provide a distinct perspective that makes a meaningful difference to our clients, communities and planet. We have 4,600 talented specialists on the ground in over 40 countries around the world, enabling us to deliver a unique global perspective across four market-leading business divisions – Global Advisory, Wealth Management, Asset Management and Five Arrows. As a family-controlled business built on relationships, we place a huge emphasis on our people and finding the right colleagues to take our business forward. Rothschild & Co is committed to an inclusive and supportive environment where different perspectives are valued.

Role Overview

Rothschild & Co, a prominent Financial Services firm, is seeking an experienced Payroll Accountant based in London. The role covers payroll accounting for NM Rothschild & Sons in the UK, and requires collaboration with a number of different stakeholders including the UK payroll and benefits teams and the various Finance teams, in particular within the UK. The successful candidate will be responsible for proactively identifying opportunities to streamline processes, strengthen controls, and improve efficiency.

Key Responsibilities

• Prepare, review, and post payroll related journals, ensuring accurate allocation to profit and loss, balance sheet, and accrual accounts.
• Own key HR/payroll balance sheet reconciliations and substantiation, including salary clearing and HR holding accounts, investigating and resolving reconciling items in a timely manner.
• Review monthly payroll outputs from an accounting perspective, analysing material variances against prior periods and expectations.
• Manage payroll related accruals, including legal and professional fees, Global Mobility costs, flexible benefits, and year end requirements, ensuring accurate recognition across reporting periods.
• Administer and process intercompany payroll transactions and recharges, coordinating payment requests and ensuring accurate cross entity postings.
• Support the reconciliation between payroll processed compensation (e.g. paid bonuses and allowances) and centrally held compensation accruals, ensuring clear audit trails and timely clearance.
• Ensure accurate accounting for payroll related leaver costs, adjustments, and corrections, including alignment with variable and deferred compensation accounting where applicable.
• Deliver accurate and timely month end close for HR and payroll cost areas, including journals, accruals, and reclassifications.
• Manage end-to-end processing of HR/payroll third-party invoices and intercompany recharges, ensuring accurate coding, approvals, period cutoff, and cross entity settlement.
• Provide detailed inputs to support forecasting and budget processes, alongside HR cost analysis and run rate and variance commentary.
• Maintain strong governance and audit readiness, providing payroll related financial data, explanations, and supporting schedules, and responding promptly to audit and stakeholder queries.
• Coordinate the quarterly allocations process across the UK HR team, ensuring timely submission, accurate cost allocation, and clear supporting documentation.

Person Specification

• Qualified accountant with at least 6 to 10 years’ experience in a financial services environment.
• Strong technical accounting knowledge, especially in payroll accounting.
• Experience of working with SAP and other relevant financial systems.
• Excellent communication skills, with proven ability to liaise across multiple teams and entities.
• Demonstrated ability to handle sensitive and confidential information with discretion and professionalism.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office suite, including, in particular, advanced Excel skills to support detailed reconciliations, analysis, and reporting.
• Detail-oriented with strong reconciliation and analytical skills.
• Ability to manage multiple tasks and deadlines throughout the monthly, quarterly, and annual cycles.
• Ideally previous exposure to HR forecasting and budgeting processes.
• Continuous improvement mindset, with experience identifying inefficiencies, streamlining month end processes, and improving controls through standardisation and automation where appropriate.

One reason for the long-term success of our business is the importance we place on being principled. It is this belief that drives both the way we work with our clients and the way we hire, manage and develop our people – and we look for the same qualities from them in return. Our teams reflect the diverse needs of our clients, businesses and the markets we operate in around the world. We value, and seek to maintain, an eclectic mix of skills and backgrounds – encouraging everyone to come together to share their perspectives for the good of each other, the business and our clients.