Senior Financial Accountant
Dublin, IE
Canada Life Assurance Europe plc (‘CLE’) is a dynamic insurance company with over 700 people across our offices in Germany and Ireland. We have been operating in Germany since 2000 and have established a fast-growing presence in one of the world’s largest and most established markets. We specialise in providing innovative unit-linked pension, savings, and protection solutions and have become a trusted partner for life insurance products distributed through independent brokers. It is our priority to support our customers at every stage of life with the best products and service, tailored to their needs - and we’re doing it all in a culture that promotes equality and inclusion for all of our current and future employees.
Role Overview
Based in Dublin, reporting to the Financial Operations Manager, the Financial Accountant is a permanent role and will be part of a team of 5.
The main purpose of the role is the maintenance of a strong control environment pertaining to the policyholder data and to drive process improvements and efficiencies. Collaboration with other business areas to resolve issues is a key component of the job.
What you will help us to achieve
You will be primarily responsible for, but not limited to, the following:
• Managing the controls supporting the policyholder systems to ensure a strong control environment for our 530k+ customers. This includes the monthly balance sheet reconciliation and journal process and resolution of issues in a timely manner.
• The collaboration with other business areas to ensure the maintenance of controls and to assist in the resolving of issues and queries as they arise.
• Quarterly and annual reporting including inputs into the IFRS17, Statutory and Regulatory processes, Liquidity, Operational Risk and Internal Controls reporting.
• The coordination of the ICOFR (Internal Controls over Financial Reporting) process and preparing ICOFR status update reports.
• Finance system access reviews and to act as SAR (Security Access Request) coordinator.
• The implementation of process improvements (ideally using automation tools) to improve efficiencies within the team.
• Ensuring compliance with applicable government regulations, professional standards and organizational policies, including ICOFR, and ensure procedures are kept up to date.
• Supporting the maintenance of SAP and other Finance systems and involvement in ad-hoc/project work (e.g. S4 Hana general ledger upgrade) as required within the Finance team.
Key Organisational Relationships
The key organisational relationships for the Financial Accountant include the following:
• Business operational functions such as Finance, Actuarial, Administration, Risk and Internal Audit.
• Senior management.
What you will need to be successful in the role
• A qualified accountant with +5 years PQE (e.g. ACCA, ACA).
• Hands on experience with day-to-day operational accounting, ideally in the Financial Services sector (in particular, the Life Assurance sector would be desirable but not essential).
• Knowledge of financial systems, metrics and measures desirable.
• Excellent technical skills to facilitate automation and running of processes and reporting of same (e.g. Power BI, AI (Alteryx and Blackline).
• Excellent analytical, interpretation and problem-solving skills.
• The successful candidate will have a high level of self-motivation.
• Excellent communication, teamwork and interpersonal skills required as cross workstream role.
• Flexibility, resilience and adaptability to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
• A knowledge of German would be advantageous but not essential.
Key Competencies
Technical Competencies
Business/Technical Knowledge
The company reserves the right to draw up a shortlist as part of the selection process. Where Agency assistance is required the Canada Life Recruitment Team will engage directly with suppliers. Unsolicited CVs / profiles supplied to Canada Life by Recruitment Agencies will not be accepted for this role.
Canada Life Group Services is proud to be an Equal Opportunities employer. We have created an environment of inclusion and growth to help people achieve their potential, to ensure they can bring their whole selves to work and to feel valued. We celebrate diversity of thought and perspective and want all of our employees to feel valued, respected and supported. We have built a culture that promotes equality and inclusion for all of our current and future employees and strive to ensure that our behaviours, processes and practices are aligned to this culture.
If you require any accommodations during the recruitment process please contact lifecareers@irishlife.ie and we will be delighted to ensure you are fully supported to be your best.
CLGS supports Equal Opportunity and is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.