WHAT DOES A FINANCIAL REPORTING DO?
Updated: Jun 13, 2025 - The Financial Reporting Professional handles the preparation and analysis of accurate financial statements in compliance with accounting standards and regulatory requirements. This role ensures timely reporting by coordinating with internal departments and external auditors to meet fiscal deadlines. The position also enhances organizational decision-making through detailed variance analysis, financial forecasting, and performance metrics reporting.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Financial Reporting
1. Financial Reporting Analyst Responsibilities and Key Tasks
- Financial Support: Support the Product CFO in servicing the WM Investment Solutions business
- Stakeholder Engagement: Interact with investment solutions business leads and subject matter experts to provide product KPIs and recurring/ad-hoc analyses
- Financial Reporting: Provide comprehensive reporting and analysis coverage - analyze revenues, expenses, assets, sales, and other financial metrics, including the delivery of comprehensive quarterly due diligence materials to senior management
- Statement Oversight: Oversee financial statement production and analysis
- Data Analytics: Leverage financial data platforms to develop enhanced analytics and produce automated visualizations/dashboards
- Insight Communication: Summarize results to give easily understandable explanations for complex problems (both on a standard and ad-hoc basis)
- Forecasting: Build and run models for forecasting/budgeting, and meet with business partners to review numbers periodically and discuss initiatives
- Stress Testing: Run business models for the quarterly and annual stress testing and discuss results with senior management
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partnership with various groups across the firm as it relates to projects, financial close, and controls (Financial Control Group, Operations, Corporate Financial Planning and Analysis, Strategy, and Data Analytics)
- Close Monitoring: Monitor close activity through BD1-5 and ensure results are in line with business expectations
2. Financial Reporting Accountant Duties and Roles
- Account Preparation: Prepare monthly, quarterly, and annual accounts and estimates packages, regulatory and tax returns, and filings of applicable entities
- Financial Management: Financial, capital, and liquidity management, administration, and dealing with ad hoc developments of applicable entities
- Audit Coordination: Year-end and other audits of applicable entities
- Query Handling: Ad hoc queries from the reports for management and other departments
- Regulatory Deliverables: ICAAP, wind down, MI packs, and any associated deliverables
- Policy Maintenance: Maintain Accounting policies, including researching and documenting the impact of new accounting pronouncements
- Entity Structuring: Set up and rationalisation of legal entities
- Statistical Reporting: Statistical reporting (including ONS and Bundesbank reporting)
- Liaison Management: Submit and liaise with internal and external parties
- Project Support: Support the implementation of projects
3. Senior Financial Reporting Accountant Key Accountabilities
- Financial Statement Preparation: Assist in the preparation of consolidated financial statements and disclosures for inclusion in 10-Q and 10-K filed with the SEC
- Accounting Research: Assist in accounting research, including topics, but not limited to, ASC 606, ASC 718, ASC 810, ASC 820, ASC 815, and ASC 350
- Regulatory Awareness: Staying current on recent developments or changes in accounting guidance and financial reporting rules and regulations
- Compensation Reporting: Assist in the preparation of share-based compensation schedules
- Affiliate Reporting: Separate company reporting for other affiliates
- Journal Management: Prepare journal entries, trial balance, and reconcile the general ledger
- Period-End Closing: Complete month, quarter, and year-end closings following the closing schedule
- Subsidiary Account Management: Maintains and balances subsidiary accounts by verifying, allocating, posting, reconciling transactions, and resolving discrepancies
- Regulatory Reporting: Prepare monthly regulatory reports for other affiliates
- Audit Coordination: Liaise with internal and external auditors and regulatory examiners
- Project Support: Work on ad-hoc projects
4. Senior Financial Reporting Analyst Job Summary
- Regulatory Analysis: Analyze new and existing accounting guidance and federal regulations to ensure that Navy Federal complies with established standards
- Policy Interpretation: Interpret emerging accounting policies and make recommendations for changes to remain in compliance
- Report Preparation: Prepare ad hoc and required industry and regulatory reports, including audit inquiries, in compliance with internal and external regulations
- Presentation Development: Prepare/collaborate on presentations, reports, white papers, etc.
- Compliance Assurance: Ensure compliance with internal and external documentation and disclosure requirements
- Audit Support: Serve as a subject matter expert with internal and external auditors (e.g., NCUA, CFPB, and contracted third parties) to address and resolve audit questions and findings
- Accounting Guidance: Provide expert guidance for the application and implementation of new controls/processes and the analysis of highly complex transactions to determine proper accounting treatment
- Discrepancy Resolution: Investigate and resolve discrepancies by actively collaborating and communicating across business lines
- Problem Solving: Serve as a resource for the resolution of complex and/or unique problems
- Relationship Management: Build and maintain relationships with team members, management, key stakeholders, and/or external contacts (vendors, etc.)
- System Implementation: Participate in the development and implementation of systems of large scope and scale
5. Financial Accountant Essential Functions
- Journal Entry Preparation: Prepare month-end/quarter-end journal entries related to certain accounting areas
- Operating Analysis: Prepare operating result analysis, such as ASP by product
- Intercompany Reconciliation: Review the intercompany reconciliation of the subsidiary company
- Management Reporting: Prepare monthly financial reporting packages for internal management review
- Account Analysis: Prepare monthly account analysis for certain balance sheet accounts and Profit and Loss accounts
- Flux Analysis: Prepare a financial statement flux analysis template and consolidate detailed explanations for management review
- Consolidated Reporting: Prepare subsidiary monthly financial reports, elimination entries, and consolidated financial reports
- SEC Reporting Support: Assist in preparing various footnote schedules for quarterly 10-Q and annual 10-K reports filed with the SEC
- Audit Support: Provide requisite schedules/reports for quarterly reviews/annual audits with external auditors and press releases relating to quarterly and annual earnings
- Audit Coordination: Assist in quarterly review and annual audit with external and internal auditors
- Process Improvement: Assist in the development and implementation of processes and procedures to enhance team contribution
6. Financial and Reporting Manager Roles and Responsibilities
- Financial Reporting: Prepare, review, and distribute weekly, monthly, and quarterly Consolidated financial reports
- Currency Translation: Multi-currency translations for international operations
- GAAP Compliance: Understand the differences between international reporting standards and US reporting standards to determine applicable US GAAP adjustments monthly
- Management Reporting: Disseminate and prepare Consolidated financial management reports
- Financial Statement Preparation: Internal and external monthly consolidated financial statements, annual audits, annual budgets, and financial forecasts
- Board Reporting: Assist with the preparation of quarterly Board of Directors presentations
- KPI Development: Develop and maintain various KPI’s to help provide management with leading indicators
- Budget Coordination: Lead role in coordinating the Consolidated budget process, including working with all cost and profit center managers to coordinate the individual budgets through the consolidated budget
- Forecast Modeling: Assist with the preparation of the Consolidated forecast model
- System Maintenance: Maintain Consolidated budget and reforecast information in the financial consolidation system, currently OneStream
- Variance Analysis: Track Departmental entity-level expenses and revenues vs. budget and reforecast and analyze fluctuations
- Efficiency Evaluation: Evaluate profit and cost efficiencies in various areas of the organization
7. Senior Financial Reporting Manager General Responsibilities
- Financial Statement Preparation: Prepare and analyse accurate financial statements and disclosures based on actual results
- Regulatory Reporting: Consolidate, analyze and report financials in compliance with reporting regulations
- Balance Sheet Analysis: Focusing on balance sheet analytics, balance sheet deep dives, KPIs, risk and ageing monitoring
- Year-End Analysis: Leading quarterly and year-end analyses necessary for the BH consolidated financial statement and reporting requirements (i.e., working capital)
- Reporting Package Preparation: Preparing the BH quarterly financial reporting package
- Close Support: Supporting the preparation of Key account reviews, Balance Sheet, pre-close and close reviews and liaising with the Product Companies' Controllers and teams to obtain information relevant for the financial close and related analysis
- Working Capital Collaboration: Partnering with Financial Planning and Analysis on working capital-related processes to contribute to continuous improvement in the rigor, analytics and processes related to the close
- Technical Communication: Partnering with Technical Controllership to communicate the business-appropriate application
- Cross-Functional Liaison: Liaising with Corporate, Financial Planning and Analysis and Product Companies Controllers on ad hoc initiatives such as balance sheet simplification, chart of accounts, supplemental data automation (DR/CR), etc.
- Process Improvement: Driving continuous improvement in the processes related to the financial close process
- Analytical Leadership: Leverage analytical, leadership, and creative skills to identify and implement these improvements
8. Senior Financial Reporting Accountant Role Purpose
- SEC Reporting: Prepare the Company’s SEC filings, including Forms 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, and the annual Proxy statement
- Earnings Release Support: Assist with the preparation of the Company’s quarterly earnings release and deliverables to the Audit Committee
- Audit Support: Develop and review required schedules to support the quarterly reviews and the annual audit with the Company’s external auditors
- Financial Calculations: Assemble the quarterly cash flow statement, equity rollforward, and earnings per share calculations
- Stock Compensation Accounting: Determine the appropriate measurement and recognition of all stock-based compensation awards
- Equity Accounting: Review the monthly and quarterly journal entries and account reconciliations for equity, warrants, and investments
- Process Development: Assist in the development of key accounting processes
- Technical Documentation: Prepare technical accounting white papers to support conclusions reached on significant accounting transactions and issues
- SOX Compliance: Perform Sarbanes-Oxley key controls on time when implemented
- Process Improvement: Design processes to make all procedures more efficient and accurate, including identifying areas to better leverage the accounting systems to increase automation
- System Implementation: Perform procedures to assist with the implementation of new systems and technology
- Internal Control Development: Assist in the development and implementation of Sarbanes-Oxley compliant internal controls
- Departmental Support: Provide backup support for other positions within the department
- Project Assistance: Support the Assistant Controller in special projects
9. Senior Financial Reporting Analyst Overview
- Financial Statement Management: Maintain and prepare financial statements for business entities in compliance with US GAAP
- Internal Controls Development: Assist in the formulation of internal controls and policies to comply with US GAAP and established best practices
- Disclosure Preparation: Prepare and review financial statement disclosures, including preparation and analysis of cash flow statements, as well as preparation of flux analysis
- Full Cycle Accounting: Perform full cycle accounting, including preparation of general ledger journal entries, accounting schedules for both internal and external financial reporting, and final accounts reconciliation and analysis following GAAP
- System Evaluation: Evaluate existing financial information systems to identify areas of improvement in processing efficiencies and the quality of information provided
- Data Accuracy: Responsible for ensuring data is accurately maintained in the accounting system, including opening and closing monthly financial periods and chart of accounts maintenance
- Close Process Management: Assists in managing the quarterly close process, including the preparation of the close calendar and monitoring status
- Reporting Accuracy: Ensure all financial information is complete and accurate for timely internal and external financial reporting, including monthly, quarterly, and annual deliverables
- Accounting Research: Independently research and document accounting issues and see them through to resolution
- Technical Accounting: Conduct research, document and implement conclusions regarding technical accounting treatment for non-routine transactions and new accounting pronouncements
- Policy Drafting: Draft accounting policies and memos