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KPMG is looking to consolidate its leading position within the Insurance marketplace by appointing talented and enthusiastic auditors into newly-created manager roles. Our insurance audit department is expected to grow significantly in the next 3 to 5 years based on recent audit tender results. In addition, the forthcoming new requirements from the IASB will generate a significant amount of change in the insurance industry. As a trusted partner within the industry, KPMG will be supporting insurance companies throughout this accounting change across a range of disciplines including financial reporting, actuarial, IT and management consulting disciplines.

Successful applicants will have the opportunity to be working on some of the largest opportunities in the marketplace and will be exposed to excellent career development within a fast-growing, multi-disciplinary team. Working alongside directors and partners, you will be in a senior client facing role, forging strong relationships with top tier insurance clients.


The Role:


As an Audit Manager, you’ll be involved in all aspects of leading and delivering audit engagements, from planning through to completion on a broad spectrum of Insurance clients. The role will include executive level client interaction and exposure to multiple clients on an annual basis, as well as daily tasks such as:

- Leading a field work team including supervising and coaching more junior members of staff to help them reach their full potential Reporting to audit Partners and Directors on all salient points arising from audits
- Acting as the initial point of contact throughout the year for your clients; managing timetables, anticipating costs, raise fees and agree dates for cash collection. Planning and execution of audit fieldwork and statutory reporting across a portfolio of clients Project management of all aspects of audit including agreeing audit timelines, team briefings, and supervision and delivery of audit work
- Budgeting and monitoring the financial performance of projects, focusing on optimising profitability Identifying, researching and helping to resolve complex audit issues Preparing client deliverables, building relationships with the client staff and acting as an ambassador for the firm
- You may also have the opportunity to work on specific audit related projects across the audit function
- Being a performance manager to trainee accountants

The Person:


Qualifications & Skills:


- Must possess professional qualification; ACA, ACCA or CPA (or international equivalent)
- Must demonstrate gravitas and impact to earn trust and respect amongst senior leadership and the team
- Established strong leadership skills and proven ability to provide clear directions and constructive feedback

Knowledge & Experience:


- Significant financial statement audit experience, ideally within professional services
- Extensive external audit experience with financial services clients, ideally in the Insurance sector
- Demonstrated practical knowledge of FRS, IFRS and topical matters relevant to insurance audits
- Experience in IFRS 17, US GAAP, Solvency II and CASS rules preferable, though not essential
- Proven ability to identify and pursue business opportunities whilst maintaining a solution mind-set
- Knowledge of developments within the financial sector and proven ability to proactively build strategic partnerships and influence senior leaders Drive and resilience to deliver in a pressured environment
- Commitment to building the reputation of KPMG through the quality of work, knowledge and experience relevant to the industry

At KPMG, our values define who we are and the way we do business. As a leading professional services firm, we know that our strength and capability come from our people – their different perspectives, experiences and backgrounds. From our inclusive leadership strategy to our diversity and inclusion targets – we’re making bold changes to who we are and what we do. Be part of it.

The Team

Our Corporate Treasury Services team is focused on serving the world's leading Corporate Treasuries with their most complex business challenges, and is currently experiencing an exceptional rate of growth. The team offer deep treasury expertise in financial products and markets, risk management, systems, governance, valuation and accounting, and work closely with other high impact functions within KPMG such as Audit, Risk Consulting and Management Consulting to provide a wide range of treasury advisory and audit services, including:

- Undertaking reviews and implementations of Treasury strategies, policies, target operating models, cash management processes, and technology and systems
- Risk management assessments including foreign exchange, interest rate, credit and commodities
- Providing specialist support to external audit teams, including derivative valuations, hedge accounting, and financial instrument classifications
- Internal audits on treasury functions ranging from FTSE100 to Housing Associations and Charities, including benchmarking
- Technical support on accounting and regulatory change projects such as IFRS 9 Financial Instruments, new UK GAAP, EMIR and Basel III


Role and Responsibilities

- Assist with delivering Treasury advisory and audit projects ranging from strategy reviews, target operating models, and audit support, including providing input to larger, multi-disciplinary teams
- Assist senior management in providing clients with advice on technical treasury and accounting issues
- Assist in the preparation of presentations, thought leadership collateral and marketing material
- Support the business development of KPMG’s IFRS 9 client proposition/offering, and assisting in the responses to IFRS 9 client proposals, with a primary focus on Corporates

There will also be opportunities to be involved in other accounting areas, as well as regulatory areas, e.g. EMIR, Basel.


Qualifications and Skills

- Must possess professional qualification - ACA, ACCA or CPA. Individuals on track to be exam and time qualified this year may also be considered
- Sound technical knowledge of IAS 39 and IFRS 9 standards, and their practical application
- Strong analytical skills and ability to complete client deliverables/solutions
- Very good project management skills, demonstrated by a record of project delivery
- Excellent communication skills, including delivering presentations and communicating well with clients in writing and verbally, as well as advising and building relationships with senior client personnel
- Enthusiasm and energy to contribute to the team and help it grow


Experience and Background

- Prior work experience in a Corporate Treasury function with good technical knowledge of financial instruments, risk management, treasury strategies, systems, governance and controls
- Strong knowledge of accounting for financial instruments under IFRS, UK GAAP or US GAAP
- Experience with evaluating technical issues, analysing facts, consulting and delivering solutions to clients
- Understanding of accounting developments and key current issues facing clients
- Proven ability to identify and pursue business opportunities whilst maintaining a solution mindset, as well as drive and resilience to deliver in a pressured environment
- Proven track record in working with teams to bring high quality deliverables to a range of stakeholders

The Accounting Consultation team provides in-depth technical accounting knowledge to the audited entities in KPMG’s Banking Audit practice. The team brings technical knowledge with practical insights and experience in the banking sector to advise our audit teams on their most complex and judgmental technical accounting and reporting issues. We have one position available in our Birmingham office.

The team creates added value through:
-Seamless integration into investment and retail banking audit teams to assist and deliver on the most technical accounting aspects of their audits.

- Translating subject matter expertise on complex accounting areas such as IFRS 9, hedge accounting and structured transactions into comprehensible and practical solutions.

- Be at the forefront of, and drive best practice in, financial instruments reporting across the KPMG audit practice.
- Provide high quality and practical training and education for external and internal audiences.
- Maintain close links with KPMG UK’s national and global technical departments

Role and Responsibilities

- Advise on a wide range of accounting and reporting areas, with a focus on financial instruments for our retail and investment banking clients.

- Integrate into audit teams to deliver responsive support based on strong project management skills.

- Direct interaction with clients on our biggest clients and/or areas that attract significant accounting risk.

- Inspection of financial statements of Public Interest Entity clients prior to issuance

- Develop internal and external training on accounting and financial reporting matters

- Respond to ad-hoc accounting queries from audit teams

- Manage and mentor team members.
- There will also be opportunities to get involved in some advisory engagements and projects led by other KPMG teams where accounting SME support is required, e.g. IBOR replacement, Brexit, Finance transformation and transaction services.

- Responsible for delegating, coaching and leading a team of assistant managers who specialise in technical accounting alongside other managers and under guidance of Partners/Directors to support our most complex banking audit clients.

- Direct interaction with Banking audit Partners/Directors and regular interaction with senior members of Banking audited entities' accounting policy and finance functions, delivering insights in GAAP compliant solutions to the audited entities most complex technical challenges.

- Responsible for delivering technical accounting solutions to maintain industry leading audit quality to a range of complex audited entities including global investment banks, mid-tier building societies and smaller private banks. Solutions will be provided post internal consultation within the team.

Qualifications and Skills

- Work experience in an accounting firm or finance function focusing on financial instruments related technical accounting relevant to financial institutions.
- Experience of evaluating complex technical issues, requiring analysis of facts and circumstances and consideration of alternatives culminating in provision of sound practical GAAP compliant accounting solutions.

- Audit experience

- Knowledge of finance processes, particularly accounting processes or financial reporting.

- Professional qualification: ACA, ACCA or CPA.
- Strong technical knowledge of accounting standards related to financial instruments or relevant to Financial Services clients (IAS 32 and 39, IFRS 3, 7, 9, 10, 13, 15 and 16, and FRS 102 sections 11 and 12) and crucially their practical application within the banking industry- Excellent written and communication skills; including delivering presentations and an ability to communicate well with clients in writing and verbally.

- Strong project management skills, demonstrated by a record of accounting project delivery;
- Ability to motivate a team and lead by example.


Opening date: 28th September 2020
Closing date: 26th October 2020
Competitive salary plus negotiable benefits

We are seeking an experienced person to work within the Project Management Centre of Excellence in the Audit Practice to provide Project Management support to audit and assurance engagements that support the delivery of effective and high quality work.

The Project Manager role is to provide high quality project management services to improve the day-to-day running of engagements being delivered by KPMG. It will be your job to establish, run and evolve the engagement teams’ core capabilities that focus around excellence in project delivery and assurance.

From a delivery excellence perspective the Project Manager, working with a PMO will be responsible for providing the tools and capabilities to support the delivery of the engagement, as well as providing project support and analysing data to support management decision making and communication.

The PM role will also provide ad-hoc quality assurance and health-checks to ensure work is being carried out in accordance with agreed objectives, and undertake various levels of reporting to ensure the various workstreams demonstrate achievement of the stated objectives.

Additionally, the Project Manager will have line management responsibility for any assigned administrative staff. This will include imparting knowledge, skills and experience to support career development/coaching of team members and support provision of best practice. In undertaking these duties, the Project Manager will support change and adoption of new ways of working.

Role and Responsibilities

The role needs to be able to respond to changing priorities and be able to respond to changes in business needs in a dynamic environment.

Key Responsibilities include:

• Developing strong, trusting and credible working relationships with senior staff on engagements, and other key business stakeholders where applicable
• Overseeing resourcing requirements and on-boarding staff for engagements
• Working with Engagement Leaders and Audit Managers, co-ordinate activities on the planning of audits to ensure KPMG planning requirements and deadlines are achieved
• Setting project timelines and tracking the team’s progress against those goals
• Working with Audit Managers, optimise the use of resources including KGS offshore and improve efficiency in audit delivery
• Hold Audit Managers/Senior Managers to account for the delivery of their audits
• Ensuring effective audit governance through the regular reporting of audit progress, achievement of milestones, changes to agreed delivery plan and delivery risks/issues
• Ensuring KPMG’s commercial processes are being effectively managed (WIP, Lock-up, and Additional Scope)
• Providing Project Management coaching support within the team, to build capability
• Identification and tracking of interdependencies between key pieces of work being delivered on the engagement.
• Development and delivery of required executive reporting at various levels.
• Implementation of relevant systems and tools to support the delivery of work for the engagement.
• Providing and organising quality assurance reviews and health checks to ensure work is being undertaken to a sufficiently high standard.
• Working with Finance to oversee management of fees and billing.
• Supporting tools used by the engagement team to manage client data and data requests.
• Line management responsibilities for administrative staff within the team including: objective setting, performance management, guidance and support, specific coaching.
• Organising initiatives to keep team engagement high throughout the project.

Essential requirements:

• Ability to work positively with the wide range of individuals and stakeholders involved in audit planning and delivery.
• Capable of developing and maintaining effective working relationships with members of Transformation and Managed Services team, Senior Managers, Directors, Partners, project teams and 3rd party service providers.
• Demonstrates strong leadership and management skills to be capable of managing the PMO.
• Demonstrates credibility within the programme and project delivery environment and ability to influence others.
• Clear knowledge of techniques for planning, monitoring, data analysis, reporting etc., including risk management.
• Good knowledge and demonstrable use of project and programme management methodology and techniques
• Good understanding of the audit quality objectives
• Good understanding of risk based resource allocation
• Proven coaching skills
• Able to create effective business plans and business cases.
• Experience of budgeting and resource allocation procedures.
• A self-starter, with high initiative, driven and enthusiastic with a ‘can-do’ attitude and a strong sense of ownership to get the job done in a practical and pragmatic fashion without upsetting others.
• Fluent written and oral English communications skills and strong interpersonal skills that can be executed credibly to inspire confidence in you and the delivery of the project.
• Capable and innovative problem solver with a pragmatic and tenacious attitude to seek out resolutions.
• Experience of working in a Professional Services environment would be advantageous.
• Experience of having line managed a number of project professionals would be an advantage.
• Demonstrable PMO expertise with experience of having set-up and evolved PMO capabilities are desirable as well as the ability to maintain a high quality BAU service.
• Degree level in a business related subject or equivalent

Desirable

• Experience of various project and programme management approaches
• Recognised professional accreditation in Project Management
• Experience in using Microsoft Project

This role is open to locations nationwide.

Work as a key member of the growing Accounting Advisory Services team.The team provides specialist accounting advice to clients across a range ofareas. Projects focus on the application of technical accounting – inparticular accounting policy conversions and GAAP analysis, preparation offinancial statements or carve out accounts, merger and acquisition activity,implementation support for new standards, group restructurings, and training –often working as part of cross-functional teams including Transaction Services,Corporate Finance, Audit and Tax.

We are seeking additional qualified accountants to continue to extend the depthand breadth of accounting based services, in the areas listed above and beyond.

Responsibilities:


Management of client accounting related engagements, leading small teams. In some instances, leading AAS input into larger, multi-disciplinary teams. Providing accounting support including reports and presentations to client issues relating to IFRS, US GAAP and UK GAAP (FRS101/FRS 102/UK Companies Act 2006). Assessing the impact of recently adopted and new accounting standards (primarily IFRS 9, IFRS 10, IFRS 11, IFRS 15 and IFRS 16). Supporting transaction teams with IFRS 3 analysis and model reviews with relevant accounting frameworks. Providing accounting support to identify implications of business reorganisation plans. Assessing the accounting impact of any change in the operation of an organisation. Ad hoc accounting support including development and delivery of training and reports based on relevant client needs. People management and performance development. Building and maintaining strong relationships with both clients and KPMG individuals. Contributing to practice and risk management, including thought leadership and business development activities.

Qualifications and Skills required:


Qualified accountant (Chartered Accountant or international equivalent) Technical accounting experience with IFRS UK GAAP and Companies Law knowledge Experience with recent developments in accounting, including IFRSs 9, 15 and 16 within a corporate accounting advisory role Experience of developing and presenting accounting training courses Experience of managing teams and project management Experience working as an Accounting Advisory Manager in a Top 10 Audit firm working within large corporate sectors Business development experience including generating sales with new clients and developing internal networks Analytical ability and attention to detail Problem solving attitude and proven ability to apply accounting concepts to unusual one-off situations Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal