Senior Accountant (Payments Accounting)

• 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
• 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
• 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

• Health insurance
• Free access to Headspace for you and your loved ones
• Global Employee Assistance Program
• Meditation and Breastfeeding rooms at the office
• Booking Cares - 2 days per year to volunteer and learn
• Life insurance
• Disability insurance
• Pension plan
• Annual paid time off
• Parental leave - 22 weeks
• Grandparent leave - 10 days
• Care leave - 10 days
• Bereavement leave - up to 4 weeks
• Anniversary leave
• Working from Home Furniture and Ergonomic Support
• Working from Abroad - up to 20 days per year
• Discounts & Wallet credits to spend on our products
• Upgrade to Booking.com Genius Level 3
• Friends & Family Booking.com discount vouchers
• Free access to online learning platforms
• Development and mentorship programs to support career growth
• Access to trainings and workshops
• Team development opportunities
• Local discount programs
• Game rooms in offices
• On-site meals, coffee and snacks including vegan options- Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field
• Professional qualification or certification such as CIMA, ACCA, CPA, or equivalent is preferred
• Strong proficiency in financial systems and reporting tools; experience with SAP S/4HANA, Blackline and Snowflake is preferred
• Solution-oriented, self-motivated, and results-driven, with a proactive and inquisitive approach to identifying and resolving issues
• Minimum of 6 years of relevant accounting experience, preferably in a complex, international, or technology-enabled environment
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and organizational skills, with the ability to manage competing close deadlines and prioritize effectively
• Good knowledge of US GAAP and the ability to apply accounting principles to complex payment, liability,intercompany, and revenue-related transactions
• Fluent in written and spoken English
• Demonstrated ownership, sound judgment, and the ability to work independently while contributing effectively in a collaborative team environment
• Comfortable working with large and complex datasets, investigating exceptions, and drawing clear conclusions from financial and operational information
• Experience supporting internal and external audits, statutory reporting, tax requests, or regulatory reporting processes
• Strong experience with month-end, quarter-end, and year-end close processes, including journal entries, reconciliations, accruals, balance sheet substantiation, and variance analysis
• Ability to understand technical designs, system logic, data flows, and process documentation and apply that knowledge to accounting conclusions and controls
• Experience executing SOx or other internal control activities and preparing high-quality control evidence
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, including the ability to bridge technical details, accounting requirements, and business perspectives