Senior Financial Accountant, Financial Reporting

Job Title
Senior Financial Accountant, Financial Reporting , Sydney/Singapore (18 months FTC)

Job Description
Background
This role may be based in either Sydney or Singapore
The Senior Financial Accountant, Financial Reporting role sits within our Pacific Life Re (PL Re) Financial Reporting and Tax team, reporting directly to the Manager, Financial Reporting. The role will be based in Australia and will include hybrid working arrangement (up to 4 days a week in office).

The role supports the Financial Reporting team in delivering external reporting requirements across multiple bases of reporting including US GAAP, IFRS, regulatory reporting across various jurisdictions and internal Economic Capital Base.

The role is responsible for the preparation, analysis and delivery of financial reports on multiple accounting frameworks (e.g. US GAAP, IFRS and multiple local regulatory/internal bases as required). The role involves close collaboration with Financial Reporting and Tax, Financial Management and Treasury, Actuarial, Operations and other teams within PL Re and its parent company, Pacific Life (PL).

The role is pivotal in month-end and quarter-end processes, annual statutory financial statement preparation, and ensuring compliance with statutory, regulatory, and technical accounting standards in the insurance industry. The position also encompasses tax compliance, accounting analysis, and audit support.

This role serves as a key contributor to the financial and regulatory reporting and supporting finance-related project activities as required.

Duties
Financial Reporting

• Prepare and review month-end/quarter-end journals under all relevant accounting bases, ensuring process integrity and continuous improvement.
• Prepare and oversee monthly Balance Sheet reconciliations, ensuring the general ledger is accurately maintained and all interfacing systems are correctly posted.
• Consolidate financial results and report accurately to Group Finance.
• Support the preparation of accurate and comprehensive annual statutory financial statements, as well as regulatory and tax returns, in alignment with the December year-end reporting cycle.
• Monitor developments in accounting standards and regulatory requirements, assess their impact on financial reporting and implement necessary changes.
• Oversee tax-related filings in collaboration with tax advisors.
• Provide technical support and advice on accounting treatments.
• Maintain efficient, systematic filing and documentation processes.
• Drive process optimization and technology adoption for greater efficiency.

Audit & Compliance

• Plan and coordinate audit processes to ensure timely regulatory reporting.
• Liaise with internal and external auditors, ensuring compliance with accounting and financial regulations.
• Maintain and implement internal controls to safeguard assets and ensure accurate reporting.

Business Support & projects

• Contribute to Back Office transformation project, Project Unify, supporting process improvement and system integration efforts.
• Manage and participate in ad-hoc projects and cross-functional initiatives.
• Collaborate with other departments to align financial processes with business objectives.
• Mentor and guide junior accounting staff, fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

Qualifications & Experience

• Professional accounting designation (CPA/ACCA or equivalent).
• Minimum of 3 years' post-qualification experience in accounting, financial reporting and analysis.
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving and technical accounting skills.
• Excellent time management skills, with the flexibility and efficiency to collaborate across multiple time zones and global teams.
• Proactive, adaptable individual with strong leadership, and process evaluation abilities, with a holistic view to technology integration and automation
• Strong proficiency in general ledger systems, BI tools, and enterprise finance applications (e.g., SAP AFO, PeopleSoft, Oracle).
• Deep understanding of various accounting frameworks, including IFRS and US GAAP. Experience working in multi-jurisdictional environments is a plus.
• Experience & good understanding of reinsurance/insurance accounting and knowledge of actuarial concepts is ideal, but not necessary.
• Strong interpersonal/negotiation skills with the ability to build relationships with different functional areas and work effectively within a team environment.
• Proven ability to manage competing priorities in a fast-paced, deadline driven environment.

Working For Pacific Life Re
Every person in our global team is valued for the unique qualities they bring to our business and we seek to build their expertise and support their individual ambitions at every step. Of course, we take our work seriously and we know our team can operate under great pressure. We work hard and thrive on achievement, but we also know how to have fun and relax too. We regularly host a range of team building days to strengthen our team's connection with each other and reflect on their successes.

Providing employees with a healthy work-life balance is very important to our culture. We have a wide range of employee benefits and we host regular social activities and well being initiatives. We are also committed to supporting our employee's involvement in their communities, by actively fundraising, hosting charity events and overseeing volunteering opportunities.

Benefits
Leave

• 20+5 days of annual leave with option to buy more days
• Fertility leave
• Generous enhanced parental leave

Healthcare

• The Company's Group Salary Continuance Insurance (SCI)/Income Protection (IP) provides you with a continued salary, through monthly Benefit payments, in order to protect your standard of living should you be unable to work due to long term illness, injury or partial/total disability

Wellness

• Subsidized gym membership
• Access to Employee Assistance Program
• Time off for volunteering
• Charitable matching of employee donations

As part of our commitment to diversity and inclusion, we will provide reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process to ensure equal access to applicants with disabilities. Please contact us about your needs so that we can discuss these with you to make sure that suitable adjustments are made, where possible.

Pacific Life Re Values
Please click here to view our company values