Head of Accounting & Tax

India Delivery, Client Accounting and Group Finance

Role purpose

The Head of Accounting & Tax is the end-to-end owner of NextGen Group's India-based accounting, bookkeeping and tax delivery function. The position is accountable for ensuring that every job allocated to India is properly planned, assigned, completed, reviewed and delivered on time, to the required quality standard and within budget.

Working through the Bookkeeping and Accounting & Tax Team Leaders, the role will build a disciplined and scalable delivery operation with strong workpapers, reliable quality controls, accurate timesheets, visible capacity planning and proactive escalation. The position also oversees finance operations for NextGen Group entities, including monthly financial reporting, balance-sheet integrity, accounts receivable, accounts payable and revenue assurance.

Key accountabilities

1. End-to-end service delivery and workflow control

• Own delivery across the Bookkeeping and Accounting & Tax teams, with clear accountability for scope, budget, quality and due date.

• Ensure every active job has an assigned preparer, reviewer, due date, priority, budget and documented scope before work begins.

• Allocate and rebalance jobs across teams based on capacity, capability, deadlines and complexity.

• Run daily and weekly workflow reviews covering new jobs, overdue work, blocked jobs, client queries, internal queries and upcoming deadlines.

• Identify delivery risks early, resolve issues within the India team wherever possible and escalate material matters with options and recommended action.

• Coordinate with Australian team members to ensure smooth handovers, complete instructions and timely responses to review points.

2. Quality assurance, workpapers and technical standards

• Establish and enforce standard workpapers, checklists, file structures, naming conventions and review sign-offs for each service line.

• Maintain a documented maker-checker-review framework appropriate to the complexity and risk of each job.

• Perform or oversee final quality reviews of higher-risk, complex or material assignments before release to the Australian team or client.

• Monitor first-pass quality, rework, recurring errors and review points; complete root-cause analysis and implement corrective training or process changes.

• Ensure financial statements, reconciliations, tax workpapers and supporting evidence are complete, accurate, traceable and review-ready.

• Support Australian accounting and tax compliance work within approved procedures and under the supervision and control required for Australian registered tax-agent services.

3. Team leadership, performance and capacity

• Lead and hold accountable the Team Leaders for Bookkeeping and Accounting & Tax, including team targets, delivery discipline and staff development.

• Set clear daily, weekly and monthly expectations for workload, productivity, utilisation, quality and turnaround time.

• Review staff timesheets, missing time, excessive time, unproductive time and budget overruns; ensure corrections and coaching occur promptly.

• Maintain forward capacity plans covering workload forecasts, leave, peak periods, recruitment needs and cross-training requirements.

• Conduct performance reviews and support recruitment, induction, probation, promotion, succession and performance-improvement decisions.

• Create a culture of ownership in which Team Leaders communicate risks early, solve problems and close the loop on assigned actions.

4. NextGen Group finance and management reporting

• Oversee timely month-end close for all assigned NextGen Group entities, including entity-level and consolidated profit and loss statements and balance sheets.

• Ensure all material balance-sheet accounts are reconciled and supported, including bank, debtors, creditors, payroll, taxes, loans, intercompany balances and fixed assets.

• Prepare accurate monthly management packs with budget comparisons, cash-flow observations, key variances, risks and recommended actions.

• Manage group accounts receivable and accounts payable controls, including billing, collections, supplier payments, ageing reviews and escalation of exceptions.

• Maintain clean intercompany accounting and ensure balances agree across entities before management reporting is finalised.

• Provide dependable financial information to the Managing Director / CEO and business heads to support operational decisions.

5. Client accounting, bookkeeping and finance operations

• Oversee recurring client bookkeeping, bank and balance-sheet reconciliations, payroll processing support, accounts receivable, accounts payable and management reporting.

• Ensure recurring work is completed according to the agreed calendar, service scope and client-specific procedures.

• Monitor incomplete records, client dependencies and information requests so that delays are followed up and clearly documented.

• Review client reporting packs for accuracy, commercial relevance and consistency before release.

• Manage operational escalations and work with Australian client managers to resolve service concerns promptly.

6. Revenue assurance, WIP and cost control

• Maintain controls to ensure all completed and recurring work is captured, billed or included within an approved service scope.

• Review WIP, unbilled work, recurring billing schedules, write-offs, budget overruns and out-of-scope activity to prevent revenue leakage.

• Require scope variations and additional work to be identified and approved before material unbudgeted work proceeds.

• Reconcile operational activity, timesheets and billing data to identify missing jobs, unrecorded effort or under-billing.

• Provide regular exception reporting on overdue debtors, unbilled WIP, recurring fee gaps and loss-making engagements.

7. Process improvement, systems and automation

• Partner with Team Leaders to document, standardise and continuously improve workflows, SOPs, templates, review checklists and handover protocols.

• Reduce manual effort, duplicated work, avoidable rework and turnaround time through better process design and appropriate automation.

• Ensure effective use of Xero, Xero Practice Manager, MYOB, QuickBooks Online, workflow systems, document-management tools and reporting dashboards.

• Define meaningful operational dashboards covering delivery, capacity, quality, time, WIP, billing and exceptions.

• Lead implementation of approved process and system changes and verify that expected benefits are achieved.

8. Risk, confidentiality and compliance

• Maintain confidentiality, privacy, secure handling of client information and compliance with NextGen Group data-security requirements.

• Ensure access controls, maker-checker approvals and segregation of duties are appropriate for payments, payroll, journals and sensitive records.

• Maintain complete evidence of preparation, review, approval and escalation within the relevant job and document-management systems.

• Escalate material errors, missed deadlines, suspected fraud, privacy incidents, conflicts, client complaints and compliance risks immediately.

• Ensure work remains within delegated authority; tax advice, representations and lodgements requiring a registered tax agent must be authorised and supervised accordingly.

Authority and decision rights

Subject to approved budgets, policies and delegated authorities, the Head of Accounting & Tax is expected to:

• Allocate and reallocate jobs and team capacity across the India delivery function.

• Set operational deadlines, review checkpoints and service standards.

• Require correction or rework where quality or evidence standards have not been met.

• Approve operational SOPs, templates and workflow changes within the function.

• Directly manage Team Leader performance and recommend recruitment, promotion, remuneration and performance actions.

• Pause or escalate work where scope, quality, capacity, pricing, data security or compliance risk is not adequately controlled.

• Communicate with Australian leaders and approved clients on delivery matters within delegated authority.

Key performance indicators

The following measures establish the expected standard of performance. Final targets should be confirmed through the annual operating plan and role scorecard.

Requirements

Qualifications and experience

• CA, CPA, ACCA, Indian Chartered Accountant or equivalent professional accounting qualification.

• Approximately 10-15 years of relevant accounting, finance, tax or outsourced-services experience, including at least five years leading managers or sizeable delivery teams.

• Demonstrated experience supporting Australian accounting firms or Australian businesses, including strong understanding of Australian bookkeeping, GST/BAS, payroll, financial reporting and tax-workpaper processes.

• Hands-on capability in group reporting, balance-sheet reconciliations, management accounts, accounts receivable, accounts payable, WIP and revenue assurance.

• Experience in an accounting practice, outsourcing/BPO environment or multi-client professional-services operation is strongly preferred.

• Advanced proficiency in Xero and Microsoft Excel; experience with Xero Practice Manager, MYOB, QuickBooks Online and workflow or document-management platforms is highly desirable.

• Experience improving processes, implementing controls and using automation to improve productivity and quality.

Leadership competencies

Important role conditions

• The role is accountable for outcomes delivered through the team, not only for personal review or technical work.