Senior Accountant - Payments Accounting

Senior Accountant – PBB Payment Accounting Month Close The Role The Senior Accountant is responsible for the accurate, timely, and controlled execution of accounting activities within the Payment Accounting Month Close team supporting Payments by Booking (PbB). The role owns a defined accounting scope across payment-related processes and legal entities, ensuring that financial information is complete, accurate, auditable, and compliant with US GAAP, applicable regulations, and internal reporting requirements.

The role combines hands-on month-end close execution with analytical review, control ownership, issue resolution, and continuous improvement. It requires close collaboration with Payments Operations, Finance, Product, Engineering, Treasury, Tax, Legal Entity Controllers, and other stakeholders across the organization.

About Us: At Booking.com, data drives our decisions. Technology is at our core. And innovation is everywhere. But our company is more than datasets, lines of code or A/B tests. We’re the thrill of the first night in a new place. The excitement of the next morning. The friends you encounter. The journeys you take. The sights you see. And the memories you make. Through our products, partners and people, we make it easier for everyone to experience the world.

Key responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end month-end close activities for an assigned PbB accounting scope, including close planning, execution, review, issue tracking, and timely completion in line with reporting calendars.
• Perform monthly account reconciliations and prepare, review, and post journal entries, including accruals, prepayments, reclassifications, intercompany transactions, settlements, and other payment-accounting adjustments.
• Maintain complete and accurate general ledger balances and ensure that payment-related transactions are correctly recorded, supported, and reconciled to sub-ledgers, operational data, payment platforms, and other relevant source systems.
• Take ownership of complex payment accounting balances, including transactional liabilities, partner and customer-related balances, receivables, revenue, accruals, prepayments, cash and settlement accounts, and intercompany positions.
• Investigate reconciling items, aged balances, unexpected movements, and data variances; identify root causes and drive resolution with the relevant business, operational, and technical stakeholders.
• Prepare detailed supporting analyses, balance sheet reconciliations, flux explanations, and close documentation that provide a clear audit trail from source data through to the general ledger and financial statements.
• Perform monthly profit and loss and balance sheet reviews for the assigned scope and legal entities, highlighting material or unusual movements and ensuring appropriate follow-up actions.
• Analyze, compile, and validate financial information for management reporting, including balance sheet, profit and loss, cash flow, liability, and other financial or regulatory reporting requirements.
• Execute and evidence assigned SOx and other key financial controls, ensuring that control activities are completed on time, are properly documented, and address identified deficiencies.
• Support internal and external audits, statutory reporting, tax-related requests, and other compliance activities by providing accurate schedules, reconciliations, explanations, and supporting documentation.
• Act as a subject matter expert for payment accounting and month-close topics within the assigned area, translating operational and technical process details into accounting requirements and actionable recommendations.
• Partner with process owners and cross-functional stakeholders to assess the accounting impact of new payment flows, system changes, product developments, and process improvements.
• Identify opportunities to improve data quality, reconciliation coverage, standardization, automation, control effectiveness, and close-cycle efficiency; support implementation of sustainable solutions.
• Ensure strong working knowledge of relevant systems, accounting processes, data flows, and dependencies across multiple countries, legal entities, and stakeholder groups.
• Contribute to a culture of ownership, transparency, continuous improvement, and high-quality financial reporting within the PbB Payment Accounting team.

Level of education

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field.
• Professional qualification or certification such as CIMA, ACCA, CPA, or equivalent is preferred.

Required Qualifications And Experience

• Minimum of 6 years of relevant accounting experience, preferably in a complex, international, or technology-enabled environment.
• Strong experience with month-end, quarter-end, and year-end close processes, including journal entries, reconciliations, accruals, balance sheet substantiation, and variance analysis.
• Good knowledge of US GAAP and the ability to apply accounting principles to complex payment, liability,intercompany, and revenue-related transactions.
• Experience executing SOx or other internal control activities and preparing high-quality control evidence.
• Experience supporting internal and external audits, statutory reporting, tax requests, or regulatory reporting processes.
• Comfortable working with large and complex datasets, investigating exceptions, and drawing clear conclusions from financial and operational information.
• Ability to understand technical designs, system logic, data flows, and process documentation and apply that knowledge to accounting conclusions and controls.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and organizational skills, with the ability to manage competing close deadlines and prioritize effectively.
• Solution-oriented, self-motivated, and results-driven, with a proactive and inquisitive approach to identifying and resolving issues.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, including the ability to bridge technical details, accounting requirements, and business perspectives.
• Demonstrated ownership, sound judgment, and the ability to work independently while contributing effectively in a collaborative team environment.
• Strong proficiency in financial systems and reporting tools; experience with SAP S/4HANA, Blackline and Snowflake is preferred.
• Fluent in written and spoken English.

What success looks like

• The assigned PbB accounting scope is closed accurately, completely, and on time every reporting period.
• Reconciliations, journal entries, analyses, and control evidence are clear, well-supported, and audit-ready.
• Payment-related variances and aged or unexplained balances are identified early and resolved with sustainable root-cause actions.
• Stakeholders receive timely, reliable insights into financial performance, liabilities, risks, and open close items.
• Processes and controls become more standardized, scalable, efficient, and resilient over time.

Benefits & Perks - Global Impact, Personal Relevance: Booking.com’s Total Rewards Philosophy is not only about compensation but also about benefits. We offer a competitive compensation and benefits package, as well unique-to-Booking.com benefits which include:

• Annual paid time off and generous paid leave scheme including: parent, grandparent, bereavement, and care leave
• Hybrid working including flexible working arrangements, and up to 20 days per year working from abroad (home country)
• Industry leading product discounts - up to 1400 per year - for yourself, including automatic Genius Level 3 status and Booking.com wallet credit

Inclusion at Booking.com: Inclusion has been a core part of our company culture since day one. This ongoing journey starts with our very own employees, who represent over 140 nationalities and a wide range of ethnic and social backgrounds, genders and sexual orientations.

Take it from our Chief People Officer, Paulo Pisano: “At Booking.com, the diversity of our people doesn’t just build an outstanding workplace, it also creates a better and more inclusive travel experience for everyone. Inclusion is at the heart of everything we do. It’s a place where you can make your mark and have a real impact in travel and tech.”

We ensure that colleagues with disabilities are provided the adjustments and tools they need to participate in the job application and interview process, to perform crucial job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.

Application process:

• Let’s go places together: How we Hire
• Detailed instructions on post-application requirements including any required application materials, deadlines, portfolios, coding challenges, or other assessments as defined by BU or department. Please note we are prioritising local candidates for this role. Relocations will not be provided.

Booking.com is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. We strive to move well beyond traditional equal opportunity and work to create an environment that allows everyone to thrive.

Pre-Employment Screening If your application is successful, your personal data may be used for a pre-employment screening check by a third party as permitted by applicable law. Depending on the vacancy and applicable law, a pre-employment screening may include employment history, education and other information (such as media information) that may be necessary for determining your qualifications and suitability for the position.