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The Legal Services Team sits within KPMG Tax. Its establishment flows naturally from KPMG’s long history of successfully delivering multidisciplinary services to clients. Its vision is to be the legal adviser of choice for KPMG’s clients when it comes to their people, corporate structures, internal arrangements, regulatory requirements and disputes with HMRC.


Core corporate, commercial and employment law teams, and a market leading tax litigation team, are already in place. Over the next few years, these teams will grow and Legal Services will expand into other areas of law that fit within its vision and the needs of KPMG’s clients.



Role and Responsibilities:


• Early Legal Input into Tax Advice – providing our clients with tax advice that has already been reviewed by lawyers
• Implementation of Tax Advice – providing our clients with a simple and cost-effective way of successfully implementing our tax advice
• Review and Rectification of Implementations – reviewing existing structures and helping clients preserve value by rectifying inadequate implementations and operation
• Unwinding Structures – unwinding defunct or unwanted structures
• Mergers & Acquisitions – primarily deal advice on both sides of a transaction including
Corporate law advice, guidance, implementation, regulatory and applicability.


Skills, Qualifications and Experience:


The applicant must be a corporate lawyer with a minimum of 3 years PQE
The applicant must demonstrate a experience in areas of UK law including structuring and reorganisations, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, joint ventures, funds, debt listings and intra-group
financing arrangements, corporate governance, commercial arrangements, share investments and/or the implementation of employee incentive arrangements.
The applicant must have a high level of technical knowledge with regards to UK corporate and contract law.
The applicant must be able to demonstrate his/her experience on transactions
The applicant must have good experience of coordinating the provision of advice and the production of complex and interrelated legal agreements and documentation by advisers in several
jurisdictions.
The successful applicant must have significant experience of working with demanding clients across a wide spectrum of size and activities, and will be expert at service delivery.
The applicant must have strong academic, technical, drafting skills.


Opening date 25/10/19

Closing date 25/11/19


Competitive salary plus negotiable bonus and benefits

Summary of Role Purpose:

Work as a key member of the growing Accounting Advisory Services team. The team provides specialist accounting advice to clients across a range of areas. Projects focus on the application of technical accounting – in particular accounting policy conversions and GAAP analysis, preparation of financial statements or carve out accounts, merger and acquisition activity, implementation support for new standards, group restructurings, and training – often working as part of cross-functional teams including Transaction Services, Corporate Finance, Audit and Tax.

We are seeking additional qualified accountants to continue to extend the depth and breadth of accounting based services, in the areas listed above and beyond.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

- Advising clients on the implementation and application of new accounting standards such as IFRS and UK GAAP accounting advice to external clients on challenging accounting issues
- Help clients consider the accounting implications for new products and structured transactions such as mergers and acquisitions and the implementation of new standard
- Providing specialist financial instruments and transaction accounting support to audit teams and clients
- Working with other teams within KPMG such as deal advisory/ tax to provide technical accounting support on cross-firm client projects (e.g. due diligence).
- Development and delivery of client workshops and accounting training to clients and internal KPMG teams.
- Attending business development meets, spotting opportunities
- Helping grow our business through building and maintaining strong relationships with both clients and KPMG individuals.
- Contributing to practice and risk management, including thought leadership and business development activities.

Skills, Qualification and Experience required

- Must possess professional qualification - ACA, ACCA or CPA. Individuals on track to be exam and time qualified this year may also be considered
- Experience of working within accounting advisory team of a professional services firm Strong technical accounting experience with IFRS 9, 15 and 16 (UK GAAP and Companies Law preferable)
- Experience in practice including technical accounting experience,
- Proven ability to build strong client and colleague relationships
- Demonstrated analytical ability and attention to detail
- The team supports external clients and work alongside other KPMG teams (e.g. tax, deal advisory) to address complex accounting issues requiring expertise of relevant accounting standards.
- Ability to develop strong client relationships, good stake holder management skill, both internally and externally.
- The role is to provide accounting advice to external clients. Engagements vary in magnitude and oversight shall be provided suitable to the needs of an individual engagement.
- Candidates will ideally be qualified Accountants (ACA or equivalent)
- Knowledge of IFRS and financial instruments accounting experience. UK and US GAAP experience is desirable but not essential.

KPMG Legal Services


The Legal Services Team sits within KPMG Tax. Its establishment flows naturally from KPMG’s long history of successfully delivering multidisciplinary services to clients. Its vision is to be the legal adviser of choice for KPMG’s clients when it comes to their people, corporate structures, internal arrangements, regulatory requirements and disputes with HMRC.


Core corporate, commercial and employment law teams, and a market leading tax litigation team, are already in place. Over the next few years, these teams will grow and Legal Services will expand into other areas of law that fit within its vision and the needs of KPMG’s clients.


What KPMG Legal Services is looking for from its lawyers:


• Team players who enjoy working with people from different backgrounds and disciplines
• Approachable people who are keen to develop personally and professionally, and to assist with the development of junior team members
• Lawyers with a passion for the law
• Intellectually curious, open-minded and analytical people, with an eye for detail and pride in their work
• Driven and proactive professionals who deliver a great service to their clients
• Relationship builders who can spot and develop new opportunities both within the KPMG network and externally
• Flexible people who are able to deal with a fluid, changing work environment


Why you might want to join KPMG Legal Services:


• You can see the advantages of professional advice being provided within a multidisciplinary team
• You are ambitious and perceive the wealth of opportunities presented by a start-up legal practice in a leading global professional services firm
• You want the opportunity to develop client relationships and KPMG’s legal services capabilities
• You are excited by the idea of being a founding member of a team that will grow significantly
• You want to broaden your experience and become a more rounded professional
• You want to achieve a sustainable work-life balance


Role and Responsibilities:


Our Reading Legal Services business was established one year ago. The last 12 months have been very successful. We now enter a new phase of growth and require a high calibre Corporate lawyer to join the current team of 6, including our high profile Partner.


• Early Legal Input into Tax Advice – providing our clients with tax advice that has already been reviewed by lawyers
• Implementation of Tax Advice – providing our clients with a simple and cost-effective way of successfully implementing our tax advice
• Review and Rectification of Implementations – reviewing existing structures and helping clients preserve value by rectifying inadequate implementations and operation
• Unwinding Structures – unwinding defunct or unwanted structures
• Mergers & Acquisitions – primarily deal advice on both sides of a transaction including Corporate law advice, guidance, implementation, regulatory and applicability.


Experience Required:


The applicant will be a corporate lawyer with a good range of experience in areas of law such as structuring and reorganisations, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, joint ventures, funds, debt listings and intra-group financing arrangements, corporate governance, commercial arrangements, share investments and/or the implementation of employee incentive arrangements.


The applicant must have a high level of technical knowledge with regards to UK corporate and contract law. Familiarity with partnership, trust, regulatory, banking and/or insolvency law would be helpful. In addition, a successful applicant will have the ability to get up to speed quickly on esoteric areas and be keen to continue developing his/her legal skills and engage in new areas of work.


The applicant must be able to demonstrate his/her experience on transactions (while ensuring that other senior members of the team are kept informed and involved at appropriate times), and to supervise and develop more junior members of the team. Strong project management skills are a must.

The applicant should have good experience of coordinating the provision of advice and the production of complex and interrelated legal agreements and documentation by advisers in several jurisdictions. While consulting appropriately on difficult issues, he/she must be able to deliver robust and appropriate legal advice and exercise sound judgement.


The successful applicant will have significant experience of working with demanding clients across a wide spectrum of size and activities, and will be expert at service delivery. He/she must be able to demonstrate sound client relationship and business development skills, and a keenness to develop these skills further. The successful applicant will be expected to take responsibility for servicing and building part of the existing business of the team. The successful applicant will help promote the team’s work through participating in team and firm events, giving internal and external presentations, and producing expert articles for publication.


Education and qualifications:

It is expected that the successful applicant will be a UK-qualified solicitor with a minimum of 7 years’ PQE experience, which should have been gained in the UK at a reputable firm (but applicants with other suitable experience will also be considered). Strong academic, technical, drafting and personal skills are essential.

The Team

KPMG’s Infrastructure Group in the UK consists of c150 professionals and is widely recognised as one of the world’s leading independent business, financial and regulatory advisers in infrastructure. The group has won many awards, including Financial Advisor of the Year (Infrastructure Journal) for several years. The group has locations in London, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Leeds and Manchester, but is organised on a national basis, operating under a single national cost centre.


We provide in-depth advice on strategic, financial, regulatory and commercial issues driving investments in infrastructure across Transport, Power & Utilities, and Social Infrastructure in the UK and globally. Our work includes market and policy design, economic and regulatory analysis, deal structuring and execution, as well as strategic and transaction advice to enable private and public capital to fund infrastructure. We work closely with other functions within KPMG to advise clients on mergers and acquisitions, valuations, tax, accounting, and due diligence.


The utilities sector is the largest business area for the Infrastructure Group and encompasses work for large clients in the sector, including all of the leading UK energy and water companies as well as some of the largest utilities in Europe and beyond. We provide in-depth strategic and technical advice on corporate finance and corporate financial management, regulatory finance, regulatory policy, business and financial planning, cost assessment and benchmarking as well as other drivers affecting value. Our work combines elements of policy, finance, strategy and economics to assist our clients in structuring investments, securing financing, supporting regulatory regimes and maximising shareholder value. We are widely recognised by many industry stakeholders as market leaders influencing the future of the utilities sector.


Our business is continuously expanding and we are looking for high quality candidates to support our Power & Utilities business with a particular focus on cost assessment, modelling and benchmarking as well as financial analysis. This is to support the development of new service lines, building on the work already undertaken in the Group.

The Role


- Building relationships with clients and developing wider networks with clients and other advisors
- Running coverage of clients, supporting our reputation as a leading advisor in the utilities sector
- Developing market intelligence and sector knowledge
- Maintaining a good understanding of the regulatory frameworks and their financial implications
- Proactive business development to identify new opportunities
- Leading the development of proposals and supporting pitching for new business with ideas
- Managing delivery of several medium to large size engagements on a day to day basis
- Ensuring quality of economic and financial analysis as well as written and verbal advice
- Being responsible for the quality of deliverables produced for clients
- Providing effective management, coaching and mentoring of junior staff on specific engagements
- Managing junior members of the team and as part of the wider business
- Developing the team, inspiring and empowering team members
- Ensuring compliance procedures are adhered to
- Recognising and addressing potential risks
- Any other duties commensurate with the role


The Person


- Have significant experience in the utilities sector, in the industry, as a regulatory, policy maker or as a consultant specialising in these sectors
- Have a detailed knowledge of the current UK regulatory regimes and regulatory mechanics for utilities as well as their application
- Understand operations of the wider utilities sector, its structure, composition, stakeholders and relevant policy debates
- Be highly skilled in quantitative economic analysis, cost assessment in particular, have detailed knowledge and experience of statistics and econometrics, ideally applied in the utilities sectors
- Have a sound knowledge of finances and financial structures of regulated utilities (we will consider candidates with deep expertise in financial analysis even if they do not have econometrics or cost assessment experience, or vice versa)
- Demonstrate strong working knowledge of economic and financial theory and its application
- Provide compelling and well-thought out solutions to complex economic and financial problems, being able to provide persuasive and self-assured responses in a credible manner
- Bring excellent report writing, quantitative analysis (Stata or equivalent), Excel and Powerpoint skills
- Be comfortable and experienced in an external facing role and in presenting to clients
- Be an independent thinker with the ability to identify problems and contribute to the development of solutions, helping us to remain at the cutting edge of innovative thinking in the sector
- Relish the opportunity for interaction and dialogue with companies, investors, regulators and other stakeholders, and with a host of functions across KPMG
- Have experience of managing medium size project teams; be a proven team player who can demonstrate a clear desire to manage teams, who can gain the trust and support of internal colleagues
- Demonstrable credentials of leading the delivery activities on major consulting projects
- Be highly motivated and ambitious, willing to take advantages of the opportunities this position offers
- Language skills and experience in other markets and jurisdictions are a bonus

Qualifications

- At least 3 A levels or equivalent; Undergraduate or higher Graduate Degree in Economics, Finance, Mathematics or similar (candidates with other degrees will be considered depending on their experience)
- All UK staff who have not passed a Financial Services Authority (FSA) approved exam will be required to do so.