Balance Sheet Substantiation

Job Description

Job Profile Bangalore

Functional Job Title: : Balance Sheet Substantiation - Assistant Manager

Reports to : Balance Sheet Substantiation -Manager/Senior Manager

Department/ Division : Controllers/Finance

Background:

Driven by the State Street Beacon initiative, functionalization of corporate functions and re-alignment of the Finance operating model, State Street has established Global Accounting Operations (GAO) in 2017. GAO is a process-driven function responsible for all record-to-report (R2R) processes within Controllers including:

- Integrated close and intercompany
- Revenue accounting
- Expense accounting
- Specialized product accounting
- Cash and deposit governance
- Accounts payable
- Project accounting
- Balance sheet substantiation and system to system reconciliations
- Transfer pricing
- Client profitability
- Management allocations
- Financial Systems Support

Each global process above is managed by a Global Process Owner (GPO) who owns all aspects of BAU production work, process re-engineering, and automation.

Organizationally GAO combines all groups performing these activities globally - approximately 500 employees as of 1Q19.

Majority of GAO capacity (circa 80%) is concentrated in 2 Global and 2 Regional GAO Hubs where activities are organized by process:

- Global GAO Hub in Bangalore, India (captive)
- EMEA Regional GAO Hub in Krakow, Poland (captive)
- APAC Regional GAO Hub in Hangzhou, China (captive)

Remaining 20% of activities reside within Regional Service Delivery Teams supporting NAM, EMEA and APAC regions. These teams are organized by business unit and material legal entity and act as an interface between Global and Regional Hubs and non-GAO stakeholders - Controllers, FP&A, Treasury, and Tax etc.

Goal of the position:

- Partners with Line Manager to drive process and controls improvements and process automation
- Ability to partner with internal and onshore teams and ensure successful delivery of Balance Sheet Substantiation projects/initiatives

Key Responsibilities

Business as Usual (BAU) Activities

- Accountable for all operational reconciliation and substantiation processes performed in the Balance Sheet Substantiation Team (growing scope as more processes are transitioned from high cost locations to the hub)
- Full ownership of timeliness and quality of the output, no backfall on donor entities or onshore Service Delivery Teams
- Ensure that accounting processes and procedures are followed and completed to support and reinforce key business objectives
- Ensure all Reconciliations are prepared in line with the requirements of the Balance Sheer Reconciliation Policy
- Ensure proper reconciliation controls are in place and are adhered to at all times and also monitor control effectiveness
- Identify potential risks and remediation of process deficiencies.
- Assist in the development of of additional controls and identification of preventative measures
- Assisting in Requirements gathering, Gap Analysis and Facilitate testing, record deviations, close gaps and ensure seemless BAU transitions
- Work closely with IT, Vendor and project team to improve the reconciliation process
- Creating procedures and keeping current procedures up to dateper BSS Policy
- Meeting SLA requirements and maintaining high Balanced Scorecard ratings
- Escalate any issues to line manager and avoid any unfavourable impact on process delivery.
- Adhere to and complete all requirements of the GAO Control Hub
- Escalate any issues to line manager and avoid any unfavourable impact on process delivery.

Process Re-Engineering, Automation and Change Management

- Partnering with GPO, FRIBS and Technology to drive process re-engineering, automation and change management
- Continuous process improvement leveraging GAO ideation and issue tracking frameworks
- Partnering with transition management team and donor entities to ensure effective and efficient transition of activities into the Hub
- Implementation support of the GAO process re-engineering and automation (accounting technology roll-out, new entities set up, restructures, converstions)
- Partner with various teams and ensure successful delivery of the projects/initiatives of Balance Sheet Substantiation Team

Job Requirements:

Education and Experience:

- Bachelor/Master Degree in Finance or MBA
- 6-8 years of progressive Business analyst in Balance Sheet Reconciliation and Substantiation, Accounting Operations, Controllers, Business Controls, Finance & Risk Assurance
- Experience of supporting and maintaining strong control environment
- Experience of working with offshore support model
- Strong understanding of Oracle - Sub Ledger Accounting
- Practical experience and knowledge of the US GAAP and IFRS accounting standards.
- Technical experience in System design/Interfaces and data flow into ERP system is a plus

Skills required:

- Proficiency in Microsoft Office suite (Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Word, Visio), advance levels of Excel (pivot tables, formulas, excel workbook maintenance best practices)
- Possess good levels of understanding of current technological platforms introduced by Oracle, viz : workday, ARCS, Oracle Cloud platforms, forms/reports , other development tools etc.
- Knowledge of Hyperion Essbase, Oracle Financials
- Knowledge of Spotfire, Tableau, Cognos data analytics and visualization (or similar) a plus
- Conceptual understanding of company-wide financial architecture (GL, sub-GL technology, specialized tools) applicable to the above process groups of processes
- Independent decision-making capabilities, demonstrated thought leadership
- Pride of ownership with the ability to deliver high quality results timely
- Self-motivated, self-assured, and self-managed
- Strong attention to details
- Problem solving skill
- Highly organized with ability to multi-task and work under high pressure deadlines
- Must be able to work in a fast-paced environment

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