Legal Entity Controller Senior Analyst - Legal Entity Controller

Who we are

The Goldman Sachs Group is a bank holding company and a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm. Goldman Sachs provides a wide range of services worldwide to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and high net worth individuals. Founded in 1869, the firm is headquartered in New York with offices in major financial centres around the world. We are committed to growing our distinctive Culture and upholding our core values which always place our client's interests first. These values are reflected in our Business Principles, which emphasise integrity, commitment to excellence, innovation and teamwork.

Legal Entity Controller – Your Impact

As a Legal Entity Controller you will take complete ownership of the financial reporting and monitoring for a range of our legal entities.  You will develop an in-depth understanding of these entities, including their business strategies, products and associated technical accounting and disclosure requirements. 

We’re looking for a bright, driven professional to join our Controllers team in Frankfurt, who is keen to use and develop their technical accounting skills to provide high quality reporting and analysis of our entities’ assets and profitability in a challenging and varied environment.   

Controllers – Our Impact

Controllers are a diverse team of specialists charged with ensuring the firm meets the financial control and reporting obligations of a global, regulated and public financial institution. Whether Legal Entity Controllers are ensuring the integrity of our entities’ financial information, facilitating the firm’s consolidation, or offering analytical and regulatory support, our work will contribute directly to the firm’s success. 

As contact with virtually every part of the firm is essential to Controllers, professionals in the department have the opportunity to experience Goldman Sachs businesses, products and sophisticated information technology systems on a daily basis. If you are keen to develop an in-depth understanding of financial services, Controllers is a great place to further your career.   

The division is ideal for collaborative individuals who enjoy working in a strong team focused culture, and are motivated by opportunities for challenging stretch assignments.  You will receive continuous training, both formal and informal, to ensure your ongoing professional development and have exposure to - and support from - senior members of our team from the outset. 

Responsibilities

• Support the month end close process for the legal entity’s financial reporting.
• Preparation of management accounts for the legal entities we are responsible for.
• Support the preparation of statutory financial statements in German GAAP including liaison with auditors.
• Support the preparation of standalone entity financial information and disclosures in accordance with U.S. GAAP and IFRS.
• Liase extensively with other areas of the firm such as Product Controllers, Funding Controllers, Corporate Treasury, Legal, Tax, Risk on various ad-hoc inquiries including new product requests, strategic changes to existing workflows, and transfer pricing initiatives.
• Understanding the business and keeping up-to-speed with business developments and being able to communicate this effectively to team members.
• Proactively seeking to identify improvements to manual processes including adoption of AI tools.
• Involvement in a broad range of department–wide projects and initiatives as well as cross-departmental initiatives.
• Involvement in ad hoc tasks / responsibilities across the team.

Skills and experience

• Academic degree in finance or business administration.
• Business fluency in English, German language skills preferred but not a requirement.
• A strong interest in accounting and desire to learn new skills.
• Attention to detail and time management are essential skills for this role. In addition, the candidate should have the flexibility required to work in a dynamic environment under tight deadlines.
• Strong computing skills – comfortable with large data sets.
• Strong communication – ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, to a broad range of people across the Firm at various levels of seniority.
• Self-motivated and proactive - Ability to run with issues, get involved and be hands-on, and provide constant high-quality feedback.
• Ability to maintain mutual support within a high energy, high profile team.

Competencies

• Functional Expertise - Keeps up-to-date with emerging business, economic, and market trends.
• Technical Skills - Demonstrates strong technical skills required for the role, pays attention to detail, takes initiative to broaden his/her knowledge and demonstrates appropriate financial/analytical skills.
• Drive and Motivation - Successfully handles multiple tasks, takes initiative to improve his/her own performance, works intensely towards extremely challenging goals and persists in the face of obstacles or setbacks.
• Client and Business Focus - Effectively handles difficult requests, builds trusting, long-term relationships with clients, helps the client to identify/define needs and manages client/business expectations.
• Teamwork – Gives evidence of being a strong team player, collaborates with others within and across teams, encourages other team members to participate and contribute and acknowledges others' contributions.
• Communication Skills - Communicates what is relevant and important in a clear and concise manner and shares information/new ideas with others.
• Judgement and Problem solving - Thinks ahead, anticipates questions, plans for contingencies, finds alternative solutions and identifies clear objectives.  Sees the big picture and effectively analyses complex issues.
• Creativity/Innovation - Looks for new ways to improve current processes and develop creative solutions that are grounded in reality and have practical value.
• Influencing Outcomes - Presents sound, persuasive rationale for ideas or opinions.  Takes a position on issues and influences others' opinions and presents persuasive recommendations.