WHAT DOES A FINANCIAL REPORTING ANALYST DO?
Published: Apr 3, 2025 - The Financial Reporting Analyst participates in the entry and analysis of portfolio data, including projects, unit types, and pricing, ensuring compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley standards. This role requires a solid understanding of accounting principles, enabling the preparation of financial statements and the execution of audit activities. The analyst collaborates with project managers, business analysts, and software teams to develop and enhance core insurance software, contributing to both local and regional projects.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Financial Reporting Analyst
1. Financial Reporting Analyst Duties
- Control Development: Ensure the development of key controls in the systems.
- Departmental Liaison: Liaise with multiple departments of the covered countries (including Financial Control, Risk Departments, etc.) to coordinate reporting and resolve issues.
- Finance Support: Provide support to country Finance teams on an ad-hoc basis (e.g., audits, regulatory inquiries).
- Policy Compliance: Check and ensure that procedures and policies are applied to adequately cover rules and regulations.
- Process Migration: Participate in future process migrations from new countries.
- Team Oversight: Check the work of other team members and support their development.
- Specification Drafting: Prepare system requirement specifications for new report templates.
- Data Analysis: Prepare data gap analyses, investigate data sources.
- Quality Improvement: Analyze data quality, investigate data quality improvement possibilities.
- Logic Preparation: Prepare a report mapping logic and rules set up in new system implementation projects.
- Test Case Production: Produce user acceptance test cases.
- System Standardization: Ensure a standard way of implementation of the global systems in various countries.
2. Financial Reporting Analyst Details
- Journal Entries: Prepare month-end or quarter-end journal entries related to certain accounting areas.
- Results Analysis: Prepare operating result analysis such as ASP by product.
- Inter-company Review: Review the inter-company reconciliation of the subsidiary company.
- Financial Reporting: Prepare monthly financial reporting packages for internal management review.
- Account Analysis: Prepare monthly account analysis for certain balance sheet accounts and P&L accounts.
- Flux Analysis: Prepare a financial statement flux analysis template and consolidate detailed explanations for management review.
- Subsidiary Reporting: Prepare subsidiary monthly financial reports, elimination entries, and consolidated financial reports.
- Footnote Scheduling: Assist in preparing various footnotes schedules for quarterly 10-Q and annual 10-K reports filed with the SEC.
- Audit Support: Provide requisite schedules for quarterly and annual audits with external auditors and for press releases relating to quarterly and annual earnings.
- Audit Assistance: Assist in quarterly review and annual audit with external and internal auditors.
- Process Development: Assist in the development and implementation of processes and procedures to enhance team contribution.
3. Financial Reporting Analyst Responsibilities
- Strategic Support: Support the achievement of ACG’s short and long-term Mission, Vision, and Strategic objectives.
- Accounting Implementation: Implement the accounting infrastructure, processes, and financial reporting.
- Financial Reporting: Prepare and file complete and accurate monthly, quarterly, and annual audited financial statements as well as regulatory filings on time.
- Financial Analysis: Synthesize, monitor, analyze, and summarize financial results, allowing Senior Management and the Leadership Team to make informed and relevant business decisions.
- IIFRS Application: Understand and apply IIFRS, reconciling all differences for GAAP purposes.
- Process Enhancement: Investigate and recommend enhancements to support efficiencies in reporting processes.
- Financial Statement Preparation: Prepare and file financial statements.
- Discrepancy Resolution: Resolve discrepancies while advising cross-functional areas on process improvements to limit future discrepancies.
- Reporting Analysis: Run various reports and analyze information to record journal entries and ensure all financial information is captured accurately.
- Account Reconciliation: Perform detailed account reconciliations to ensure information is complete and all accounts balance.
- Data Review: Complete review, including reasonableness check of data for obvious discrepancies.
- Statutory Reporting: Prepare and file timely and accurate quarterly and audited annual statutory financial statements with note disclosures for various entities within ACG.
4. Financial Reporting Analyst Job Summary
- SEC Filing Support: Prepare work papers supporting filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
- SEC Review: Review work papers prepared by others supporting filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
- SEC Compliance Assistance: Assist in ensuring SEC filings are complete, accurate, and in compliance with applicable standards.
- Management Reporting Assistance: Assist in the preparation, analysis, and review of internal management reports (including monthly financial reports to the Company’s Board of Directors).
- Policy Documentation: Assist in ensuring that policies and procedures regarding financial reporting are well-documented, maintained, and operating as designed.
- XBRL Leadership: Primary lead on or assist in the preparation and review of XBRL taxonomy for the Company’s Form 10-Q and 10-K.
- Acquisition Accounting Support: Assist the Manager of Financial Reporting with coordinating professional services with third-party experts related to acquisition accounting.
- Benefit Plan Reporting: Assist in the preparation of financial statements related to select employee benefit plans.
- Accounting Research: Perform accounting research and document results in position papers to be shared with management, internal auditors, external auditors, and regulators.
- Auditor Interaction: Coordinate and interact with internal and external auditors.
- System Improvement Identification: Identify system implementation efficiency improvement possibilities.
- Process Development: Ongoing review and development of processes to increase efficiency in the long term.
5. Financial Reporting Analyst Accountabilities
- Business Analysis: Perform enterprise-wide and division-specific analyses related to costs, revenue, sales, etc.
- Data Modeling: Gather and organize data from various sources and develop models that assist with decision-making.
- TCO Analysis: Develop total cost of ownership models to analyze and recommend sourced solutions.
- Financial Forecasting: Perform financial and economic analysis and develop profitability and cash flow forecasts.
- Stakeholder Presentation: Present the analysis to various stakeholders clearly and concisely.
- Management Presentations: Develop presentations that influence and support senior management decision-making.
- Performance Metrics: Establish key performance metrics and work with the company's business units to analyze drivers and improvements.
- Executive Collaboration: Work directly with executive team members and the fund admin.
- P&L Reporting: Prepare, run, and maintain reports on P&L, outlook, and KPI.
- Budget Consolidation: Aid in the consolidation of budgets.
- Trend Analysis: Report and analyze revenue and cost trends.
- Analytical Support: Provide analytical support to management and other internal staff.
- Process Optimization: Propose process improvements for increased efficiencies.
6. Financial Reporting Analyst Functions
- Financial Performance Analysis: Perform financial analysis of current and projected company performance.
- Financial Reporting: Prepare monthly, quarterly, and periodic reporting on financial results.
- Budgeting Support: Assist in the budgeting process, including analysis of actual results with commentary.
- KPI Monitoring: Monitor and establish KPIs to predict variances in the budget.
- Project Collaboration: Collaborate across the company to establish project expectations, budgets, and progress.
- Systems Familiarity: Become familiar with various transaction cycles (i.e., sales, treasury) and related systems.
- Process Review: Review current and new processes to determine the tasks needed and the timeframe to complete tasks.
- Creative Problem Solving: Propose creative solutions to reporting, accounting, and process challenges.
- Accounting Assistance: Assist with accounting functions, including sales reconciliations and revenue recognition.
- Closing Journals: Prepare month-end closing journals and management accounts.
- Balance Sheet Reconciliation: Prepare monthly balance sheet reconciliations, and quarterly and yearly reporting to the head office.
- Audit Support: Assist in annual audit, review of accounting and reporting processes.
- Finance Team Support: Provide support to the Finance team in various initiatives, including participating in the IFRS 17 project.
7. Financial Reporting Analyst Job Description
- SEC Filing Preparation: Prepare Forms 10-K and 10-Q.
- Financial Statement Preparation: Prepare entity-level financial statements, including IFRS statements.
- Reporting Control Maintenance: Maintain a controlled environment around internal and external financial reporting.
- Subsidiary Consolidation: Perform monthly consolidation of subsidiaries.
- Internal Reporting: Perform monthly internal financial reporting.
- Related Party Maintenance: Maintain related party procedures and updates.
- Auditor Liaison: Liaise with auditors for quarterly reviews and year-end audit.
- Accounting Standards Review: Review new and existing accounting pronouncements.
- KPI Reporting: Prepare quarterly and annual KPI reports (Total, Branch, Team, individuals).
- Sales Analysis: Work on delivering the Sales Analysis including Performance of Branches, teams, and individuals, as well as Sources Split and progress.
- Risk Escalation: Escalate risks and issues related to the project.
- Reporting Analyst Backup: Act as a backup or temporary reporting analyst to gain experience with other reporting tasks.
8. Financial Reporting Analyst Overview
- Portfolio Analysis: Engage in portfolio analysis, including project and pricing compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley.
- Accounting Expertise: Apply accounting, internal controls, and auditing concepts to client scenarios.
- Financial Bookkeeping: Manage bookkeeping for various client financial statements.
- Audit Management: Conduct accounting and auditing tasks for engagements.
- Communication Skills: Craft communications for various stakeholders.
- Requirement Analysis: Analyze new requirements and provide technical solutions.
- Software Teamwork: Collaborate on insurance software development and maintenance.
- Data Reporting: Analyze data and generate reports.
- Backend Development: Enhance the backend of core insurance software.
- Project Collaboration: Work closely with multidisciplinary project teams.
- Regional Projects: Participate in regional and local group projects.