WHAT DOES A FINANCIAL SYSTEMS ANALYST DO?
Published: Apr 9, 2025 - The Financial Systems Analyst assesses business needs, analyzes processes, and formulates business cases for necessary changes and improvements. This role encompasses creating financial reports using PeopleSoft, conducting system integration testing, and coordinating user acceptance testing for both minor enhancements and major projects. The analyst also supports accounting processes for financial closings, allocations, and batch processing, ensures compliance with established controls, and provides end-user support and training.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Financial Systems Analyst
1. Financial Systems Analyst Duties
- Application Programming: Performs complex activities including coding, configuration, testing, debugging, documenting, maintaining, and modifying complex application programs
- Troubleshooting Support: Involved in troubleshooting issues as they arise and supporting during the month-end activities
- System Interfacing Support: Provides technical/functional support for all TM1 interfacing systems
- Upgrade Assistance: Assists in application upgrades to ensure the latest software functionality and continued vendor support
- Report Development: Develops reports based on the business requirements
- Requirement Analysis: Works closely with FP&A Systems Administration and other Finance and Accounting teams in determining requirements
- Application Design: Translates requirements to design and develop specific finance applications
- Documentation: Prepares and maintains documents for system design, data flow, procedures, and general information
- Server Maintenance: Assists in ensuring TM1 Windows and Linux servers are compliant with memory usage and backup
- Development Support: Assists Manager with ad-hoc development requests
- SQL Development: Develops and maintains SQL/Snowflake query code
2. Financial Systems Analyst Details
- COPA Administration Support: Supports the administration of COPA Operating Concern design, functionality, configuration, integration, and BW reporting
- Data Integrity Assurance: Assures continuous financial/reporting data integrity and assists finance/accounting users to identify and correct financial system errors (SAP FI, COPA, BW)
- Enhancement Testing: Develops and integrates testing of enhancements to leverage SAP functionality on a project basis
- Business Requirement Analysis: Analyzes and develops specifications for business requirements
- Data Management: Gathers, reconciles, and structures data for internal and external project requirements
- SAP Deployment Facilitation: Facilitates continued deployment and upgrades of SAP-ERP solutions
- Cognos Administration: Assists in the administration of Cognos planning, design, functionality, maintenance, job execution, and training
- Reporting System Development: Designs, develops, maintains, and trains on reporting (ECC and BW)
- Accounting Support Backup: Acts as a backup and training resource to Corporate Accounting for Period Close SAP procedures and reconciliation of FI/CO/COPA/BW data
- Audit Support Backup: Serves as a backup and training resource to Corporate Accounting for the support of annual external audit data gathering
- Documentation Preparation: Prepares Information Systems Request documentation
- SAP Training Delivery: Prepares and delivers end-user training for SAP FI, COPA, and BW to the finance group
3. Financial Systems Analyst Responsibilities
- Report Development: Develops and modifies system-generated financial reports using report writing tools and queries within PeopleSoft Finance.
- Period Close Tasks: Performs month-end, period close, quarter close, and year-end close tasks in PeopleSoft to support period-end financials generation.
- Issue Resolution: Detects, troubleshoots, and resolves system issues affecting financial reporting and system performance.
- Process Automation: Leverages VBA, SQL, and other technologies to gain efficiencies in or automate existing processes.
- System Improvement Support: Supports continuous improvement of PeopleSoft and Workday Adaptive Planning applications through automation, system configuration, upgrades, and integration.
- Documentation Preparation: Prepares and maintains documentation on financial application processes and procedures.
- Cross-Training: Cross-trains with the Financial Systems team in areas such as user security and general ledger administration in PeopleSoft.
- Budgeting Support: Supports annual and quarterly budgeting processes in Workday Adaptive Planning.
- Administrative Tasks: Handles administrative duties such as developing data-entry sheets, reports, formulas, and maintaining user security.
- Data Structure Maintenance: Maintains data structures and hierarchies to align with PeopleSoft.
4. Financial Systems Analyst Job Summary
- COA Maintenance: Processes chart of account maintenance requests and maintains the COA in Oracle EBS, including flex values, parent values, cross-validation rules, DFFs, and legal entity information.
- Hierarchy Maintenance: Maintains invoice approval hierarchies.
- User Provisioning: Sets up and provisions users in Oracle EBS Financials, Kofax/MarkView, and SplashBI.
- Access Recertification: Fulfills regular user access recertification in accordance with Select Medical’s policies.
- Financial Reporting: Builds and maintains financial reports in Oracle EBS (FSGs) and SplashBI.
- End-User Support: Supports end-user requests and escalates issues requiring greater expertise or attention.
- System Testing: Performs testing for system upgrades when software changes are implemented by vendors or internal business partners.
- Documentation: Documents system changes, including User Acceptance Training (UAT) results, with proper review and sign-off by management.
- Training Material Maintenance: Assists in maintaining training materials and documentation on Finance Systems processes.
- Process Improvement: Provides input for process improvement efforts and proactively refines tools to ensure efficiency, quality, and scalability.
- Project Support: Supports Finance projects ranging from new application implementations to custom development, integrations, and enhancements.
5. Financial Systems Analyst Accountabilities
- PeopleSoft Development: Carries out development work on PeopleSoft and other platforms for approved project and service requests.
- Collaborative Support: Works with business analysts, developers, DBAs, and testing teams to support configurations, code customizations, and migrations.
- Functionality Prototyping: Participates in technical sessions to prototype new system functionalities.
- Technical Documentation: Translates business requirements into technical design documents, ensuring solutions meet all requirements.
- Workshop Participation: Engages in workshops with project teams to discuss and gain consensus on developed solutions.
- Cognos Reporting: Develops Cognos Planning applications, enhancements, and reports.
- Data Analysis: Conducts specialized data analysis and tracking for unique business events.
- Process Improvement: Designs new processes and maintains or enhances existing systems within the Corporate Controllers department and Finance division.
- Automation Tools: Develops and enhances tools for automation and small solution implementations.
- Stakeholder Engagement: Liaises between various stakeholders to facilitate effective solution development and implementation.
6. Financial Systems Analyst Functions
- EPM System Optimization: Supports the optimization and administration of the EPM system - OneStream, the backbone of management reporting.
- Salesforce Knowledge Development: Develops an extensive knowledge base of existing Salesforce FP&A processes.
- Efficiency Enhancement: Identifies opportunities to drive efficiency and scale in partnership with the FP&A team.
- IT Liaison: Acts as the liaison with IT to manage integration and data needs.
- Data Analysis: Builds strong acumen to analyze the data, proactively working with FP&A team members.
- System Improvement: Identifies areas of improvement, partnering with IT during implementations.
- Business Logic Update: Updates/translates the business logic/rules in the system and reflects changes in the business/financial models such as changes to drivers, calculation logic changes.
- Metadata Management: Updates and manages metadata as the business changes.
- System Task Execution: Executes critical system tasks such as fiscal year rollover and data loads.
- Data Validation: Conducts data validation and mapping validation for monthly, quarterly, and annual financial processes.
- Automation: Delivers small-scale automation for quick wins by leveraging different tools, such as SQL, VBA, Python, etc.
7. Financial Systems Analyst Job Description
- JD Edwards Support: Provides JD Edwards E1 9.2 functional and technical support, troubleshooting production issues for business users and the IT team.
- SME Assistance: Assists subject matter experts with researching and resolving issues.
- Training Development: Designs, develops, manages, and facilitates training programs; coordinates the development of training and testing materials.
- Process Documentation: Defines and maintains detailed process documentation, ensuring consistency, accuracy, and quality.
- Integration Team Collaboration: Works closely with the JD Edwards Integration team to resolve production failures/issues.
- Requirement Collection: Performs all activities associated with the collection of business requirements.
- Project Documentation: Manages documenting project scope, requirements definition, and development of design documents, coordinating with development and operations teams through project completion.
- Change Management: Manages system changes through effective application of system change control processes and coordinates with JDE Developer and CNC teams.
- Customer Support: Manages an effective environment for responding to customer inquiries or problems via telephone, online, and email.
- Team Participation: Actively participates in group status meetings and conference calls, responding promptly to identified issues.
8. Financial Systems Analyst Overview
- Lead Model Builder: Acts as the lead model builder across Zoom’s Anaplan ecosystem, enhancing forecasting efficiency through planning and process automation.
- Cross-functional Collaboration: Partners with FP&A business partners and cross-functional teams to understand and address needs in new and existing models.
- Anaplan Expertise: Leverages Anaplan expertise to drive business process improvement and enhance forecasting efficiency.
- Business Needs Analysis: Gains a deep understanding of business needs to contribute to the prioritization of new projects and enhancements, aligning with the long-term goals of multiple business partners.
- Project Management: Implements and manages multiple cross-functional projects with competing and shifting priorities.
- Data Integration Partnership: Works with BI/IT teams on data integration and automation to enhance system capabilities.
- Training and Presentation: Presents and provides training to business users, fostering a better understanding of financial systems and tools.
- Systems Expert: Serves as the go-to person for the FP&A department in systems and automation, optimizing finance operations.
- Strategic Technology Architecture: Contributes to supporting the efforts towards a strategic architecture of how technology is used to understand, identify, and solve FP&A process opportunities.
- Finance PMO Collaboration: Partners with the Finance PMO on various FP&A projects, ensuring alignment and efficient execution.
9. Financial Systems Analyst Details and Accountabilities
- Business Systems Support: Supports and maintains critical business systems that drive Finance operations.
- IT Coordination: Coordinates and maintains working relationships between Finance and the IT team to resolve application and infrastructure issues.
- Reporting: Prepares periodic (daily, monthly, quarterly, annual) and ad hoc financial and operating reports, report packages, and dashboards for management and supporting business units.
- System Implementation: Implements, maintains, and updates current and new financial systems.
- Data Management: Performs data loading, updates allocation rules, and creates reports.
- Process Improvement: Drives continuous process improvements in reporting through automation, system enhancements, data quality, consolidation, and quality improvements.
- Stakeholder Communication: Communicates with users, Systems Administration, IT, contractors, vendors, and providers for upgrades, enhancements, fixes, and troubleshooting.
- Report Automation: Initiates, leads, and manages the automation of reports and analysis.
- Data Reconciliation: Implements, investigates, and reconciles variances between actual data sets to understand trends, potential risks, and opportunities for improvements.
- System Testing: Tests and validates the structure of financial systems to ensure accuracy and functionality.
10. Financial Systems Analyst Tasks
- Business Analysis: Evaluates business needs, analyzes processes, and creates business cases for changes and process improvements.
- Issue Resolution: Identifies and resolves technical issues with assistance from the IT Department.
- Report Creation: Creates reports using PeopleSoft for financial and cost data analysis.
- Systems Testing: Performs systems integration testing and coordinates user acceptance testing for both minor enhancements and large projects.
- Business Support: Provides general business support and responds to procedural questions.
- Stakeholder Representation: Represents Accounting/Finance areas in acquisitions and other entity changes directed by management.
- Accounting Support: Supports accounting processes for financial close, allocations, and batch processing in compliance with appropriate controls.
- End-User Support: Provides end-user systems support and training.
- Requirements Gathering: Participates in internal customer meetings to gather and document requirements and challenges.
- Quality Testing: Provides quality testing for reporting across all areas of the business and adjusts testing based on changing business needs or processes.