Financial Reporting Controls - Senior Manager

You must have valid Irish, UK, or EU work rights to be considered for this role

Location: Cherrywood, Dublin 18 with hybrid working

Aviva’s Finance team are now seeking a Senior Manager to join the Financial Reporting Controls Function (FRCF) within our Aviva Life & Pensions Ireland (ALPI) business. We’re looking for a qualified accountant with internal/external audit experience in a regulated environment (ideally insurance or financial services), or a qualified actuary with financial reporting and internal audit experience in insurance. You will need advanced influencing and communication skills to be effective in this position as you will be liaising with a variety of senior stakeholders, the board, and the CFO to ensure the team’s financial reporting control approach is delivering. This position is different to internal audit in the sense that you’ll be ensuring quality as statements and returns are in process. This is an exciting time to join Aviva and this team, with new and ongoing change projects now in motion you will play a vital role in ensuring our team achieve our goals, with visible exposure local senior stakeholders and to Group.

More about the position:

FRCF provides assurance in relation to effectiveness of the control environment over Aviva’s external financial reporting. The role reports to the Head of Finance Operations, Controls and MI and will also be closely aligned with the wider FRCF within Aviva. You will be:

• responsible for the delivery of FRCF activity for the ALPI business, performing this assurance activity to support both the local and Group reporting processes, and ensuring that the methodology is appropriately applied for this market.

• communicating with key stakeholders and relevant process and control owners, working closely with them to ensure maintenance of a strong and effective control environment.

• building relationships across the business to give you visibility and understanding of the end-to-end reporting process.

• driving a program of change to ensure that our FRCF activity is closely aligned to wider business developments, such as IFRS17 adoption.

• identifying other opportunities such as process automation or consistency of data usage across the business to further enhance the control environment.

You will have significant opportunity for exposure to senior stakeholders including the ALPI CFO both in the local business and in the Aviva Group centre UK. The role and the wider Aviva Ireland Life business are based in our Cherrywood office in Dublin. You will benefit from our smart working policy, which means a blend of office and home working.

What are some of the key activities in this role?  

• You will be responsible for delivery of FRCF assurance activity and required to work as part of the ALPI Finance & Actuarial team supporting the delivery of this activity.

• You will be responsible for agreeing with local, group & project stakeholders the assurance activity required to be performed throughout the year, including timing and prioritisation of this activity.

• Delivery of key FRCF governance activities, including provision of papers for local and Group forums and input into Board and Audit Committee reporting.

• Working closely with subject matter experts (SMEs) and specialists across the wider Risk & Controls team on delivery of certain aspects of FRCF, for example IT and Actuarial SME’s

• Proactively managing your relationship with key stakeholders, including market FRCF leads and process owners, internal audit and external audit stakeholders

Skills & experience we're looking for:

• Qualified Accountant (or Qualified Actuary with financial reporting and internal audit experience would be considered)

• Recent audit experience (external audit or internal audit) is a must, in a regulated environment.

• Experience and knowledge of life or general insurance under IFRS and Solvency II is desirable, or audit experience in a financial services or a regulated environment also considered

• Risk and controls delivery experience, including SOX and internal risk and controls management.

• Knowledge and experience of financial reporting controls

• Excellent communication skills (verbal and written), with the ability to communicate complex issues in an easily understood manner.

• Ability to manage and drive change in a complex environment.

• Relationship management skills to achieve objectives through others and maintain effective stakeholder relationships across both the businesses/markets and external suppliers.

• Effective influencing skills with people at all levels internally and externally