Head of Accounting and Consolidation (Dentons Business Services EMEA)

Dentons Business Services EMEA is the operational backbone of Dentons across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. As part of the world’s largest global law firm, our business services teams support legal professionals and business teams across multiple jurisdictions, helping them deliver high-quality service to clients.

At Dentons Business Services EMEA, we are committed to excellence in supporting legal professionals with cutting-edge solutions. Our dynamic and diverse team collaborates seamlessly to provide a wide range of services, including finance, IT, human resources, marketing, and more. We pride ourselves on fostering a culture of continuous improvement and adaptability.

Role overview

We are looking for a Head of Accounting and Consolidation to lead our accounting and consolidation function within the Europe finance team.

This role is responsible for overseeing group consolidation processes, ensuring accurate and timely financial reporting, maintaining compliance with the applicable accounting standards, and driving continuous improvement across accounting, reporting and consolidation activities.

The successful candidate will manage and develop the consolidation and accounting team, work closely with local finance managers across Europe, cooperate with external auditors, and support senior finance leadership with high-quality financial information and analysis.

This is a visible role within a complex, multinational environment and offers the opportunity to influence finance processes, reporting quality and ways of working across the Region.

Key Responsibilities

Accounting and consolidation leadership

• Lead, manage and develop the accounting and consolidation team
• Oversee the group consolidation process and preparation of consolidated financial statements within agreed deadlines
• Supervise the submission of consolidation and reporting packages from group entities
• Ensure the accuracy, completeness and consistency of financial data across reporting entities
• Review and control reporting delivered by various offices and entities
• Manage intercompany reconciliations and consolidation adjustments, as required
• Support the preparation of statutory and management reporting

Compliance and financial reporting

• Ensure compliance with the accounting standards adopted by the group, currently UK GAAP
• Maintain and update consolidation guidelines, reporting instructions and accounting policies
• Monitor changes in relevant accounting standards and assess their impact on reporting processes
• Act as a key contact for external auditors and support the audit process
• Ensure timely resolution of audit queries and findings
• Support internal controls and governance across accounting and consolidation processes

Stakeholder management

• Cooperate closely with local finance managers across Europe
• Provide guidance and support to finance teams on reporting tools, consolidation requirements, guidelines and annual reporting changes
• Communicate effectively with senior finance leadership, auditors and other stakeholders
• Coordinate with regional and global finance teams in a matrix environment

Process improvement and systems

• Identify and implement improvements in consolidation, accounting and reporting processes
• Drive standardisation, efficiency and automation within the finance function
• Support the optimisation of financial systems and reporting tools
• Use technical accounting knowledge to improve the quality and reliability of financial reporting
• Contribute to team knowledge-sharing and development

Requirements

• University degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics or a related field
• Minimum 8-10 years of relevant experience in accounting, audit, financial reporting or consolidation
• Previous experience in a Big Four firm or similar professional services environment is strongly preferred
• Proven experience with group consolidation processes and consolidated financial statements
• Experience working with external financial auditors
• Experience managing or supervising a finance, accounting or consolidation team
• Professional accounting qualification, such as ACCA, CIMA, CPA, CA or equivalent, is preferred
• Experience in a multinational, matrix or complex organisational environment
• Strong knowledge of consolidation principles and financial reporting standards
• Knowledge of UK GAAP is preferred; knowledge of IFRS or other local GAAP is an advantage
• Advanced Excel skills
• Proficiency in MS Office tools
• Experience with consolidation tools; experience with Wolters Kluwer Tagetik consolidation module is an advantage
• Experience with ERP systems and financial reporting tools is an advantage
• Strong leadership and people management skills
• Fluent written and spoken English; another European language is an advantage

Benefits

• A leadership role in a complex, global professional services environment
• Opportunity to shape and improve accounting, consolidation and reporting processes across Europe
• Close cooperation with finance leaders and local finance teams across multiple jurisdictions
• Collaborative and global working environment
• Opportunity to work with modern finance systems and reporting tools
• Professional development in one of the world’s largest global law firms
• Competitive compensation and benefits package

About Dentons

Dentons is the world’s largest global law firm, delivering quality and value to clients around the world. Dentons is a polycentric firm with offices in more than 80 countries and more than 160 locations. The Firm is committed to collaboration, inclusion and innovation, supported by strong business services teams that help our lawyers and clients succeed.