What does a portfolio administrator do?
A Portfolio Administrator oversees financial analysts to put into practice strategies capable of augmenting the organization's portfolio. They research and choose the portfolio's industries, products, and regions and update the stakeholders and management about these investment decisions. Other duties performed by portfolio administrators include writing reports, creating investment strategies, assessing financial information, and monitoring business trends. These professionals also identify market opportunities and risks and reorganize portfolios as required to meet all the financial goals.
Portfolio administrator responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real portfolio administrator resumes:
- Block trade domestic equities for international mutual fund as well as separately manage accounts.
- Track all corporate actions from ex-date to pay-date to ensure proper booking and train and coach new employees on assign funds.
- Monitor FX exposure of the group to analyze and report deviations from the mean.
- Communicate with PMs to make sure FX trades are executed and all cash remain invested.
- Act as single point of contact during new CDO closings as well as CDO distributions and liquidations.
- Execute client trades by funding and accounting, utilizing SEI, TRACS, and CDO suite software.
- Reconcile daily cash and market values on global, municipal and special insurance portfolios, knowledge of GAAP and statutory accounting.
- Perform necessary stock screening analysis on various equities holdings.
- Monitor client account actions such as interest/expense accruals and security amortization.
- Analyze financial data prior to the dispensation of all operating expense reconciliations.
- Perform account reconciliations and maintain, verify and report account performance and holdings.
- Design and implement procedures to import from Bloomberg into security information master file.
- Provide training and supervision of the trade reconciliation process along with Bloomberg utilization.
- Prepare and analyze quarterly/annual financial statements including supporting schedules in accordance with GAAP.
- Ensure that property level accounting information is properly consolidate with portfolio level general ledgers.
Portfolio administrator skills and personality traits
We calculated that 14% of Portfolio Administrators are proficient in Booking, Securities, and CDO. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Communication skills, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Portfolio Administrators that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Booking, 14%
Reviewed post-closing documentation ensuring accuracy and adherence to booking requirements and correct set up to banking system.
- Securities, 9%
Worked daily with outside investment managers facilitating trade settlements, reporting issues and inter-bank movements of currencies and securities.
- CDO, 7%
Excelled in a team environment that required working in cooperation with other CDO Portfolio Administrators towards common goals.
- Bonds, 6%
Reconciled analysis of municipal bond positions and cash discrepancies.
- Financial Statements, 5%
Analyzed financial statements and pertinent information to determine creditworthiness of assets within each account based on ever-changing credit ratings.
- Reconciliations, 5%
Performed account reconciliations and maintained, verified and reported account performance and holdings.
Common skills that a portfolio administrator uses to do their job include "booking," "securities," and "cdo." You can find details on the most important portfolio administrator responsibilities below.
Analytical skills. The most essential soft skill for a portfolio administrator to carry out their responsibilities is analytical skills. This skill is important for the role because "to assist executives in making decisions, financial managers need to evaluate data and information that affects their organization." Additionally, a portfolio administrator resume shows how their duties depend on analytical skills: "prepared and evaluated financial reports for clients that contained accurate information on capital gains, losses and income data. "
Communication skills. Many portfolio administrator duties rely on communication skills. "financial managers must be able to explain and justify complex financial transactions.," so a portfolio administrator will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways portfolio administrator responsibilities rely on communication skills: "maintain effective working relationship and communications between real estate department and senior management, staff, operating departments and field managers. "
Detail oriented. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of portfolio administrators is detail oriented. This skill is critical to many everyday portfolio administrator duties, as "in preparing and analyzing reports, such as balance sheets and income statements, financial managers must be precise and attentive to their work in order to avoid errors." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "utilize bloomberg platform to research transaction details. "
Math skills. A big part of what portfolio administrators do relies on "math skills." You can see how essential it is to portfolio administrator responsibilities because "financial managers need strong skills in certain branches of mathematics, including algebra." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical portfolio administrator tasks: "compile investment information, such as product risks and fund performance statistics for board meetings. "
Organizational skills. A commonly-found skill in portfolio administrator job descriptions, "organizational skills" is essential to what portfolio administrators do. Portfolio administrator responsibilities rely on this skill because "because financial managers deal with a range of information and documents, they must have structures in place to be effective in their work." You can also see how portfolio administrator duties rely on organizational skills in this resume example: "performed daily organizational administrative functions which included corporate drafts of multi-million dollar contracts, state regulated disclosure, and tracking materials. "
The three companies that hire the most portfolio administrators are:
- Robert Half10 portfolio administrators jobs
- The PNC Financial Services Group10 portfolio administrators jobs
- Morgan Stanley9 portfolio administrators jobs
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Compare different portfolio administrators
Portfolio administrator vs. Asset manager
An asset manager is responsible for advising clients with their investment preferences and financial goals based on their assets' quantity and value. Asset managers regularly meet with their clients regarding their asset management's progress, recommending more investment options and considering the clients' needs. They manage financial portfolios and prepare stock market reports and forecasts as needed. An asset manager must have a broad knowledge of the financial industry and investment processes, identifying profit opportunities for long-term investment objectives.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between portfolio administrators and asset manager. For instance, portfolio administrator responsibilities require skills such as "booking," "securities," "cdo," and "bonds." Whereas a asset manager is skilled in "asset management," "property management," "customer service," and "oversight." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Asset managers tend to make the most money working in the finance industry, where they earn an average salary of $92,074. In contrast, portfolio administrators make the biggest average salary, $96,434, in the finance industry.On average, asset managers reach similar levels of education than portfolio administrators. Asset managers are 3.5% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.7% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Portfolio administrator vs. Audit manager
An audit manager is responsible for the complete audit process of finances in an organization. They work for banks and report directly to the audit committee. Based on findings gathered, a financial institution can gain vision into their variance and overall performance. They are also responsible for scheduling audits, initiating departmental audits, consolidation, and analysis of audit reports, and reviewing accounting procedures. Moreover, part of their tasks is to create audit finding presentations to be presented to the audit committee. It requires a high amount of accountability to be an effective audit manager.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that portfolio administrator responsibilities requires skills like "booking," "cdo," "bonds," and "financial statements." But an audit manager might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "cpa," "internal audit," "audit reports," and "audit engagements."
On average, audit managers earn a higher salary than portfolio administrators. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, audit managers earn the most pay in the manufacturing industry with an average salary of $122,875. Whereas portfolio administrators have higher pay in the finance industry, with an average salary of $96,434.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Audit managers tend to reach higher levels of education than portfolio administrators. In fact, they're 7.8% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.7% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Portfolio administrator vs. Tax manager
A Tax Manager is responsible for managing tax reporting and compliance within an organization. They provide innovative tax planning and prepare state and federal tax returns for companies.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, portfolio administrators are more likely to have skills like "booking," "cdo," "bonds," and "corporate bonds." But a tax manager is more likely to have skills like "cpa," "tax planning," "tax compliance," and "taxation."
Tax managers earn the highest salary when working in the finance industry, where they receive an average salary of $96,231. Comparatively, portfolio administrators have the highest earning potential in the finance industry, with an average salary of $96,434.Most tax managers achieve a higher degree level compared to portfolio administrators. For example, they're 13.8% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 2.9% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Portfolio administrator vs. Accounts receivable manager
An accounts receivable manager is responsible for overseeing the financial matters in a business or company, focusing on the generated sales and income. Moreover, they are also responsible for maintaining an accurate and efficient collection of payments, conducting research and analysis, and supervising the workforce, striving to meet all the goals within the allotted time. As a manager in the department, it is also vital to lead fellow skilled professionals and implement the policies and regulations of the company or organization.
Types of portfolio administrator
Updated January 8, 2025
