Chartered Accountant – Real Estate Accounting

Job Description:

End-to-End Real Estate Accounting

- Own the full accounting cycle for real estate SPVs, including bookkeeping, accruals, prepayments, reconciliations and month-end, quarter-end and year-end close.

- Account for property acquisitions, disposals, capital expenditure, depreciation, impairment and fair value movements.

- Manage rental income, service charges, lease accounting (IFRS 16 / ASC 842), tenant receivables and deposits.

- Account for investor capital contributions, distributions, intercompany funding and the related equity and cash movements.

- Prepare property-level and entity-level P&L, balance sheets, cash flow statements and management reports.

Multi-Jurisdiction SPV Accounting & Compliance

- Maintain accounts for SPVs in the US, UK, Malaysia and other jurisdictions under the applicable frameworks (US GAAP, UK GAAP / FRS 102, MFRS / IFRS) and support group consolidation.

- Handle intercompany transactions, eliminations, transfer pricing documentation and multi-currency reporting.

- Prepare statutory financial statements and coordinate annual audits with external auditors.

- Support tax compliance with local advisors, including VAT, GST, SST, corporate tax and withholding tax filings.

- Maintain a compliance calendar for every entity and ensure all regulatory and filing deadlines are met.

Finance Automation & Systems

- Identify manual accounting processes and automate them using ERP features, workflow tools, Excel/Google Sheets automation, scripts or low-code platforms.

- Build standardised templates, reconciliations and reporting packs that work consistently across all entities.

- Work across major accounting platforms (e.g., Xero, QuickBooks, NetSuite, Zoho Books, SAP, Sage, Yardi, MRI) and keep the chart of accounts and data consistent between them.

- Support system implementations, migrations and integrations between accounting and banking platforms.

- Strengthen internal controls, documentation and SOPs so that every process is auditable and easy to hand over.

Stakeholder Management

- Work with stakeholders across India, the UK, the US, Malaysia and other geographies, managing time zones and priorities effectively.

- Partner with the real estate investment team, property managers, administrators, banks, auditors and tax advisors.

- Provide the Finance Director and senior leadership with timely financial insight, variance analysis and reporting.

- Respond to investor, auditor and regulator queries promptly and accurately.

Job Specification:

- Qualified Chartered Accountant (ICAI, ICAEW, ACCA or equivalent).

- 4–8 years of post-qualification experience, including at least 3 years in real estate accounting.

- Proven experience accounting for SPVs or multi-entity structures across more than one jurisdiction, ideally including the US, UK or Malaysia.

- Hands-on experience across at least two major accounting platforms.

- Strong working knowledge of IFRS, US GAAP and UK GAAP, including lease and property accounting.

- A track record of automating at least one recurring accounting or reporting process.

Desirable:

- Experience with real estate accounting systems.

- Experience in a real estate fund, property investment, fintech or Big 4 / mid-tier audit environment.

- Familiarity with automation tools (e.g., Power Query, Google Apps Script, Python, n8n, Zapier) and working with APIs.

- Familiarity with reporting and BI tools (e.g., Power BI, Looker Studio, Metabase).

- Understanding of Islamic finance or Shariah-compliant real estate investment structures.

Key Skills

- Real Estate Accounting: property and lease accounting, capex, fair value, rental income, investor capital and distributions.

- Multi-Entity Reporting: SPV accounting, intercompany, consolidation, multi-currency, statutory accounts and audits.

- Systems & Automation: major accounting platforms, advanced Excel/Google Sheets, automated reconciliations and reporting.

- Compliance: local GAAP and tax requirements across the US, UK, Malaysia and other jurisdictions.

Skills & Attributes:

- High attention to detail and strong ownership of accuracy, controls and deadlines.

- A builder’s mindset: you instinctively ask “how can this be automated?” and enjoy turning manual processes into scalable systems.

- Clear written and spoken communication, able to explain financial matters to non-finance stakeholders.

- Self-driven and organised, able to manage multiple entities and priorities with minimal supervision.

- Comfortable working across cultures and time zones, with flexibility for occasional overlap with UK and US hours.

- Passion for ethical finance and alignment with Wahed’s mission of building a riba-free financial ecosystem.