Accounting Corporate Close Process Manager

Accounting Corporate Close Process Manager

Close and Consolidation Team

Full-time

Boston, MA or Springfield, MA

The Opportunity

As Manager of the Corporate Close process, you will have impact through your oversight of the financial statement close process on a monthly and quarterly basis for a large complex Life Insurance organization with a number of subsidiaries on two bases of accounting: US GAAP and Statutory. You will be responsible for producing communication to management with insightful commentary on the quality of results as those emerge throughout the close providing a first glance into those and enabling strategic decision-making process. You will also have the ability to lead various initiatives related work focusing on increasing efficiency and adding value, while continuing to develop your project management skills.

This is an opportunity for an experienced accounting professional who thrives in a highly dynamic and agile environment to collaborate across teams seeking solid execution and improving outcomes.

This is an Individual Contributor role and will not be a people manager.

The Team

The Close and Consolidation team is a high-profile team in the Controller’s organization comprised of talented accounting professionals who possess diverse ranges of experiences and backgrounds. Overall responsibility for our team is the month end and quarterly close consolidation process and oversight of general ledger. Our team has a high business acumen and is driven to provide timely and accurate financial information to our customers. We pride ourselves on working with agility and being a reliable source of information in the organization. We strive to continuously improve and achieve results by actively listening, seeking, understanding and creating solutions as a unified team. The team continues to grow due to the growing number of projects and initiatives that we are part of. 

The Impact:

Overall responsibility for administration and oversight of the financial statements close process for MassMutual; including executing on related controls. You will demonstrate accountability, agility, a dedication to be inclusive, strong business acumen, and will show courage, even in the most difficult situations. Effective communication skills will be key to successful relationship-building and articulating the reasoning and bases for your recommendations and conclusions. You will demonstrate an inquisitive approach, asking probing questions to identify issues with specificity.

• Manage tasks related to corporate financial statement close process including:
  • Facilitating and administering the corporate close process, while maintaining effective controls
  • Owning daily corporate close meetings and understanding process interdependencies
  • Assuming responsibility for late journal entry tracking process, including evaluating financial statements impact of those entries
  • Conducting corporate close debrief meetings subsequent to each cycle to identify opportunities for process optimizations/ improvements post-mortem
  • Clearly articulate the status of financial close process to leadership on a regular cadence including highlighting any upstream and downstream dependencies and impact of those to the overall close process timeline
  • Manage enterprise close task management tool process.
• Assist in production of financial results summary (US GAAP, Statutory and Management Reporting) as those emerge throughout the close cycle.
• Effectively communicate results as those emerge to management in enabling timely strategic decision making.
• Assist in design and operationalize the process of producing US GAAP basis income statement estimation to share with management throughout the corporate close cycle quarterly.
• Identify and monitor any control deficiencies related to corporate close process, including designing and overseeing timely and effective remediation procedures.
• Own the process of quarterly administration of management letter of representation collection and review process.
• Provide management and oversight of offshore resources.
• Contribute to our successful transition to new technology solutions to automate and improve our processes.
• Successfully manage multiple priorities, communicate and collaborate effectively with various stakeholders across organization, including members of leadership team, and deliver on your commitments.
• Designs and improves the analysis on trends and results, use strong business acumen and communication skills collaborating with peers and other departments to draft commentary which enables readers to quickly understand the consolidated financial results on GAAP and Statutory basis and drivers.
• Effectively collaborates with Treasury, Investment Accounting, Insurance Accounting, Corporate Tax, Strategic Business Partner, Reporting and Corporate Actuarial teams and builds key relationships to maintain expertise in insurance accounting and related financial impacts.
• Exhibit strong leadership presence and communications skills in presenting results to various levels of management. This will require thought leadership and entail developing sound accounting practices, efficient processes, and robust control documentation to effectively deliver timely and insightful results.
• Adds value to the enterprise through close collaboration and partnership with other MassMutual business units and corporate functions to ensure the accurate, timely and efficient execution of the corporate financial statement close process.
• Develops, documents, and assures adherence to an internal control framework that ensures accurate and timely financial reporting. Makes recommendations to continuously improve the overall control environment. Monitors the control execution of financial statement close process. Ensures policies and procedures are adhered to.
• Drives accountability by collaborating with accounting policy and other areas within the Controllers Organization on the evaluation of new GAAP and statutory accounting guidance impacts to the Company’s financial close and consolidation processes.
• Provides sound financial advice to business units or other departments, anticipating the financial statement impact of changes in the business environment and making recommendations to ensure appropriate processes are implemented and maintained.
• Understands how data flows through the financial systems to the accounting function, planning appropriately for changes and prioritizing and implementing enhancements.
• Plays a key role in creating a collaborative and inclusive culture by working closely with outsourced vendors and other areas within the Controllers Organization to build trust through increasing understanding of and respecting differences.
• Uses professional insight to identify, initiate and/or lead initiatives and continuous improvement activities that increase efficiency and add value. Leads problem solving to improve quality, reduce close cycle times, improve team collaboration and improve customer satisfaction.
• Effectively collaborates with internal and external auditors and provides complete and accurate source document information, including control execution documentation and support.
• Demonstrates technical and leadership competencies and passion for continuous improvement.

The Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree
• 8+ years of relevant experience in public accounting or large sophisticated corporate environment (at least 4+ years providing life reinsurance or life insurance accounting, general ledger processing, reporting or month end close related matters)
• 4+ years knowledge and experience of STAT and US GAAP accounting

The Ideal Qualifications

• Masters or MBA or equivalent
• CPA
• NAIC statutory accounting
• Experience in best-in-class control execution/documentation
• Experience in using accounting data and information to analyze and articulate financial results
• Ability to perform independent accounting research and serve as a key resource for resolution of unique or complex business problems
• Experience in effectively coaching and developing core level accountants and external consultants
• Strong multi-tasking skills, ability to adapt to change and manage competing priorities
• Ability to handle complex long-term focused projects and take ownership to drive them through completion
• Experience working in a Finance transformational setting; driving continuous improvements and efficiencies beyond own scope of responsibility
• Lead the collaboration efforts between Close and Consolidation team and other internal or external stakeholders to achieve results and improve satisfaction
• Experience working in a Lean Six Sigma environment with strong root cause problem solving experience
• Intellectual curiosity to continue learning and adding breadth and depth to understanding

What to Expect as Part of MassMutual and the Team

• Regular meetings with the Corporate Finance Team
• Focused one-on-one meetings with your manager.
• Access to mentorship opportunities
• Networking opportunities including access to Asian, Hispanic/Latinx, African American, women, LGBTQ, Veteran and disability-focused Business Resource Groups
• Access to learning content on Degreed and other informational platforms.
• Your ethics and integrity will be valued by a company with a strong and stable ethical business with industry leading pay and benefits.

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MassMutual is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer Minority/Female/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity/Individual with Disability/Protected Veteran. We welcome all persons to apply. Note: Veterans are welcome to apply, regardless of their discharge status.

If you need an accommodation to complete the application process, please contact us and share the specifics of the assistance you need.