Finance Analyst

Daniel J. Edelman•Chicago, IL

About The Position

The Financial Analyst will sit within the North American Controllership function and report to the Finance Manager. The Analyst will have primary responsibility for the accounting, reconciliation and forecasting of U.S. workforce-related costs, including salaries, professional freelance and temporary clerical costs, taxable fringe benefits and employee perquisites. The role will also support employee welfare budgeting and play a significant role in redesigning the end-to-end freelance management process. This is a visible role requiring regular partnership across front- and back-office functions, including Payroll, Resource Management, Human Resources & Employee Relations, and various market and practice leaders. The successful candidate will be expected to combine detailed accounting execution with analytical judgment, proactively investigate exceptions and communicate both findings and recommended solutions.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in accounting or finance
2+ years of relevant experience
High degree of confidentiality and ability to manage sensitive data responsibly
Strong proficiency in Microsoft Excel and automation tools including ChatGPT and Copilot
Demonstrated analytical ability and understanding of financial statements, budgeting, and forecasting concepts
Ability to organize and analyze detailed financial data, identify inconsistencies, and clearly communicate findings with explanations and/or proposed solutions in a clean and timely manner

Nice To Haves

Excellent written, oral, and interpersonal communication skills
Strong attention to detail and ability to manage recurring deadlines while responding to ad hoc requests
Consistently demonstrates curiosity, willingness to learn and sound judgment
Comfortable working with large datasets and developing repeatable analytical processes
Familiarity with Workday and Adaptive products a plus
CPA candidates a plus

Responsibilities

Own the reconciliation process of salaries and freelance costs as part of month end close by timely, completely and accurately comparing Payroll wage reports and general ledger (GL) balances to forecasted costs within Adaptive and subsequently investigating and resolving all exceptions as appropriate.
Prepare journal entries for month end close including expense accruals and reclassification entries.
Coordinate with Payroll and HR to resolve identified discrepancies.
Update forecast for hires, terminations, promotions, compensation changes, and other workforce activity.
Maintain supporting schedules used to forecast for salaries and other employee expenses.
Partner with the Controller and Employee Relations in review of the severance accrual.
Prepare monthly forecast-to-actuals variance commentary.
Manage the freelance tracking process, evaluating spend by practice, analyzing trends and identifying ongoing opportunities for cost savings.
Collaborate with Resource Management and Finance to document existing freelance processes, identify opportunities for improvement, and develop an efficient process for tracking, managing, and reporting freelance activity.
Review requests to engage freelance.
Enter and reconcile purchase orders for agency freelancers.
Monitor freelance spend against forecast and approved budgets.
Maintain accurate freelance tracking and supporting schedules, including start dates, end dates, rates, expected costs, and organizational alignment.
Partner with Resource Management and Finance to reconcile the active freelance population and validate ongoing business need.
Coordinate the budgeting and tracking of non-salary compensation and miscellaneous taxable fringe benefits including reimbursed office parking, statutorily required stipends and cash equivalent compensation (gift cards).
Review the ledger population for completeness and classification, investigate forecast to actual variances, quarterly compilation of data required by Payroll for processing, and periodic updating of policies and procedures.
Support in the budgeting of employer payroll taxes and pension plan contributions.
Support the Finance Manager with maintaining employee welfare budget trackers for market, practice and other business leaders as needed.
Make periodic updates to trackers to reflect actual spend per the GL.
Maintain project codes and provide transaction-level approvals within Workday as needed.
Assist leaders in understanding available budgets, actual spending, forecast outlook, and budget purpose.
Research and explain forecast to actuals variances.
Coordinate with budget owners to identify accruals and prepare needed monthly entries.
Support the Finance Manager and Controller in other areas of budgeting, forecasting, accounting and ad hoc investigations from time to time, as needed.