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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Financial Reporting Accountant

💰 $70,000 - $110,000

AccountingFinanceFinancial ReportingCorporate Reporting

🎯 Role Definition

The Financial Reporting Accountant is responsible for preparing accurate, timely external and internal financial statements and disclosures in accordance with GAAP/IFRS, supporting month-end and quarter-end close processes, driving improvements in reporting controls and automation, and partnering with business leaders and external auditors to ensure compliant, transparent financial reporting. This role requires strong technical accounting knowledge, advanced Excel and ERP/reporting tool proficiency, and excellent communication and deadline management skills.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Staff Accountant with a focus on general ledger and reconciliations
  • Financial Analyst with strong reporting and consolidation exposure
  • Junior/Assistant Accountant supporting month-end close and audit requests

Advancement To:

  • Senior Financial Reporting Accountant
  • Accounting Manager or Reporting Manager
  • Senior Manager, Financial Reporting or Controller

Lateral Moves:

  • Technical Accounting Specialist
  • External Reporting / SEC Reporting Analyst
  • FP&A Manager focused on management reporting and forecasting

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Prepare and deliver complete, GAAP- and/or IFRS-compliant monthly, quarterly, and annual consolidated financial statements, ensuring accuracy and timely submission to stakeholders and external filing requirements.
  • Lead the month-end and quarter-end close activities including preparation and posting of complex and recurring journal entries, ensuring all accounts are reconciled and variances are investigated and explained.
  • Own balance sheet reconciliations for assigned accounts, prepare detailed supporting schedules, and resolve reconciling items to ensure clean close and audit-ready documentation.
  • Perform consolidated entity close and intercompany eliminations, maintaining accurate intercompany accounting, reconciliations, and documentation to support consolidated reporting.
  • Prepare and review disclosure schedules, footnotes, and supporting documentation required for statutory financial statements and external filings; coordinate with tax and legal as needed.
  • Coordinate and support external audits and internal audits: prepare requested schedules, respond to auditor inquiries, implement audit recommendations, and drive remediation of control findings.
  • Maintain and enhance SOX and internal control documentation for financial reporting processes, execute control testing, and support management’s assessment of control effectiveness.
  • Manage and prepare components of SEC filings and XBRL tagging (if applicable), ensuring compliance with regulatory timing, technical requirements, and disclosure best practices.
  • Lead technical accounting research and apply ASC/IFRS guidance to transactions, evaluate new accounting standards, and prepare memos outlining interpretations and impact to financial statements.
  • Partner with FP&A to reconcile management reporting with GAAP financials, provide variance analysis and commentary on drivers of performance for CFO and senior leadership.
  • Drive continuous improvement of the financial close process by standardizing procedures, reducing manual work, implementing automation, and improving timeliness and accuracy.
  • Build, maintain, and optimize financial reporting templates and schedules in Excel and reporting platforms (e.g., Hyperion, OneStream, BlackLine), ensuring consistency and auditability.
  • Prepare monthly/quarterly KPI packages, trend analysis, and executive summaries that translate complex financial data into actionable insights for business leaders.
  • Oversee fixed asset accounting including capitalization, depreciation, impairment analysis, and reconciliations; coordinate asset roll-forward and support audit testing.
  • Support income tax provision (ASC 740) and coordinate with tax to ensure timely delivery of required data and reconciliations for tax compliance and provision calculations.
  • Execute month-end journal entries related to accruals, revenue recognition, prepaid expenses, and deferred revenue in accordance with company policies and accounting standards.
  • Maintain and update chart of accounts, accounting policies, and reporting hierarchies to reflect structural changes and ensure consistent financial reporting across business units.
  • Lead complex account analyses and ad hoc financial investigations, identifying root causes and recommending corrective actions to improve accuracy and control.
  • Deliver consolidated cash flow statements and supporting reconciliations, coordinating with treasury for cash movements and foreign currency translations.
  • Mentor and train junior accountants on reporting processes, accounting policies, reconciliations, and systems, fostering a culture of accuracy and continuous learning.
  • Support system implementations and upgrades (e.g., ERP, consolidation, or reconciliation tools), providing accounting requirements, testing transactions, and validating reporting outputs.
  • Prepare schedules and analyses to support corporate transactions such as business combinations, divestitures, restructurings, and other infrequent or non-routine events.
  • Implement and maintain standardized reporting pack templates and automation using advanced Excel features, Power Query, Power BI, or other BI tools to streamline executive reporting.
  • Ensure compliance with local statutory reporting requirements where applicable and coordinate with local accounting teams to aggregate accurate consolidated results.
  • Communicate effectively with cross-functional teams (legal, tax, treasury, operations) to ensure accounting treatments are understood and properly reflected in financial statements.

Secondary Functions

  • Provide ad-hoc financial analysis, scenario modeling, and decision support for business leaders and cross-functional project teams.
  • Contribute to the design and roadmap of reporting automation initiatives, leveraging ERP enhancements, reconciliation tools (BlackLine), and business intelligence solutions (Power BI, Tableau).
  • Collaborate with IT and data teams to translate reporting requirements into technical specifications for data feeds, mappings, and ETL processes.
  • Participate in project teams for ERP/consolidation implementations, system migrations, and upgrades; assist with testing, training, and go-live support.
  • Assist in developing standardized process documentation, flowcharts, and training materials to strengthen process continuity and onboarding efficiency.
  • Support governance of chart of accounts, master data, and reporting definitions to ensure consistent KPI and financial metric calculation across systems.
  • Help coordinate tax, treasury, and FP&A inputs for integrated planning cycles and special analyses such as reforecasting and scenario planning.
  • Manage information requests from internal audit, external auditors, and regulatory bodies by compiling supporting schedules and explanations.
  • Identify opportunities to centralize or offshore routine accounting tasks and participate in change management to implement new operating models.
  • Regularly review and update accounting policies and procedures to reflect changes in standards, business operations, or regulatory expectations.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Deep knowledge of US GAAP and/or IFRS financial reporting standards and practical application to complex transactions.
  • Consolidation and financial close experience with tools such as Hyperion, OneStream, SAP BPC, or Oracle FCCS.
  • Hands-on experience with account reconciliation platforms like BlackLine or Trintech, and strong month-end close discipline.
  • Advanced Excel skills: pivot tables, INDEX/MATCH, nested formulas, Power Query, VBA macros for automation and data validation.
  • Familiarity with ERP systems such as NetSuite, SAP, Oracle, or Microsoft Dynamics and ability to extract and validate general ledger data.
  • Experience preparing disclosure schedules, footnotes, and supporting documentation for external financial statements and audits.
  • Practical knowledge of SOX/internal control requirements, control design, testing, and remediation processes.
  • Exposure to SEC reporting and XBRL tagging for public companies (if applicable) and general comfort with regulatory filing processes.
  • Strong analytical skills with ability to perform variance analysis, trend identification, and reconciliations across complex account structures.
  • Working knowledge of tax provision processes (ASC 740) and coordination needs between accounting and tax teams.
  • Experience with business intelligence and visualization tools (Power BI, Tableau) and basic SQL for data queries is a plus.
  • Ability to prepare and evaluate complex journal entries, intercompany eliminations, and consolidation adjustments.
  • Familiarity with fixed asset accounting, lease accounting (ASC 842/IFRS 16), and revenue recognition standards (ASC 606/IFRS 15).

Soft Skills

  • Exceptional attention to detail and commitment to producing accurate, audit-ready financial information under tight deadlines.
  • Strong verbal and written communication skills to present technical accounting matters clearly to finance and non-finance stakeholders.
  • Proven ability to work independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
  • Effective time management and prioritization with the ability to manage multiple close deliverables concurrently.
  • Critical thinking and problem-solving mindset with the capacity to identify root causes and propose process improvements.
  • Strong stakeholder management and interpersonal skills; comfortable interacting with senior leadership and external auditors.
  • Adaptability to evolving accounting standards, system changes, and shifting business priorities while maintaining reporting integrity.
  • Coaching and mentoring ability to develop junior staff and promote team knowledge sharing and continuous improvement.
  • High level of integrity, ethics, and confidentiality when handling sensitive financial data.
  • Proactive attitude toward automation, standardization, and continuous efficiency gains in the financial reporting process.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field.

Preferred Education:

  • Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Chartered Accountant (CA), or Master’s degree in Accounting/Finance preferred.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Accounting
  • Finance
  • Business Administration
  • Economics

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 3–7 years of progressive accounting experience with at least 2–4 years focused on financial reporting, consolidation, or external reporting.

Preferred: 5+ years of experience in financial reporting for multi-entity organizations or public companies, demonstrable exposure to technical accounting issues (mergers & acquisitions, revenue recognition, leases), and experience with major ERP and consolidation tools (Hyperion, OneStream, BlackLine, SAP, Oracle).

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