Accountant

Duration: 12 month fixed term contract or secondment

Location: Can be located either within the Bristol or Potters Bar office

Canada Life UK looks after the retirement, investment and protection needs of individuals, families and companies. We help to build better futures for our customers, our intermediaries and our employees by operating as a modern, agile and welcoming organisation.

Part of our parent company Great-West Lifeco, Canada Life UK has operated in the United Kingdom since 1903. We have hundreds of respected and supported employees committed to doing the right thing for our customers and colleagues.

Canada Life UK is transforming to create a more customer-focused business by providing our customers with expertise on financial and tax planning, offering home finance and annuities propositions, and providing collective fund solutions to third party customers.

Job Purpose
As a qualified accountant at Canada Life you will be responsible for the financial reporting of the Home Finance business line, as well as managing the completion of the monthly and quarterly reports and reconciliation requirements of the UK division to senior management and executive level management.

Key Accountabilities
1) Play a key role in the production of monthly and quarterly MI packs for senior management and the board.
Specific accountabilities, depending on discipline may include:
• Analytical Review and analysis of month end and quarter end results. Produce reports on a monthly basis, analysing data and investigating variances.
• Lead the month end and quarter end posting and reconciliation processes in accordance with ICOFR.
• Support the team with ad hoc technical queries.
• Deal with any queries from internal and external auditors.
• Identify and implement process changes to improve the time and quality of reporting as well as the team deliverables.

2) Produce regular reports, regulatory returns and reconciliations. Examples may include the below depending on your specialism
• Produce and support the production of Statutory Accounts and FCA returns for Stonehaven
• Co-ordinate month-end close for the selected lines of business with Actuarial, Investment and Tax teams
• Preparation of the annual earnings plan for the UK division as a whole
• Product month-end reports from SAP and other finance data repository/ systems eg Hyperion

3) Prepare reports and deliver in person explanation of monthly results for selected Lines of Business to the following customers;
- Line of Business management
- Heads of Finance, Actuarial & Corporate Division
- UK Division management
- Canadian parent company

4) Co-ordinate the monthly close timetable, ensuring corporate deadlines can be met with suitable time for local management review of results. monitoring and ensuring progress across functions (including as examples; Finance, Actuarial, Investments and Tax).

5) Prepare quarterly management accounting reports for External Auditors, Boards and Parent company

6) Support the reconciliations between local and regulatory reporting. Review and obtain sign off for the reconciliation. Ensure that all validation errors within the regulatory reporting systems are cleared prior to submission.

7) Ensure that appropriate controls over regulatory reporting exist and that these are operating effectively. Identify and implement process changes to improve quality as well as processing times to ensure that the regulatory reporting deadlines can be met.

8) Keep up to date with changes to regulatory reporting requirements from the PRA, EIOPA, FSA, CBI and other regulators that could potentially impact reporting.

Desired Knowledge / Experience / Skills
Technical Expertise
• Strong commercial awareness and understanding of the needs of the business. Will be able to apply technical accounting techniques and understand business/commercial implications
• Understand complex data and information with the ability to interpret and recommend commercially astute courses of action; constructively challenging and helping develop others' thinking and understanding.
• Proven ability to lead projects, to deliver on-time, in-full.
• Willing and capable of making decisions independently in order to progress issues, and able to exercise sound judgement and commercial sense to understand the importance of different issues and assess when matters need to be escalated.
Communication
• Strong communication skills, demonstrating a clear and articulate standard of written and verbal communication in a complex environment, tailored for all levels of management.
• Strong ability to adapt messages to the audience in a format that is easily understood by non-technical colleagues
• Strong influencing skills
Relationship Building
• The ability to develop and maintain strong relationships across the finance function, acting with integrity and role modelling the company values at all times.
• Strong interpersonal/networking skills, with the ability to maintain a variety of relationships with multiple stakeholders,
• Ability to flex their style and delivery, in the moment, depending on the individual and/or audience.
Taking Initiative
• Sound problem solving skills and attention to detail with demonstrable ability in spotting issues, interdependencies and challenges to ensure work is produced to an accurate, commercial and informed standard.
• Self-motivated, well-organised, pragmatic and able to perform tasks independently.
Developing Self and Others
• An interested and inquisitive individual who is committed to their own ongoing professional and personal development

Qualifications:
ACCA or CIMA

What you'll like about working here
As a Canada Life UK colleague, you'll receive a competitive salary and comprehensive reward package including income protection, private medical insurance and life assurance, along with a generous pension and bonus scheme. You'll also receive the support you need with your personal and professional development.

Diversity and inclusion
Canada Life is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. Our role as an employer of choice is to provide the right environment for talented people to do their best work, by respecting, understanding and valuing individual differences