Accounting Specialist

Accounting Specialist - Reconciliations and Certifications Oversight

Close and Consolidation Team

Full-Time

Boston, MA or Springfield, MA

The Opportunity

As an Accounting Specialist for Reconciliations and Certifications Oversight, you will wholly manage the process of execution of accounts reconciliations, certifications and collection of management letters of representation process, closely collaborating with internal and external customers to execute on financial reporting controls.

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 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

Demonstrate business acumen to ensure the controls are executed timely, accurately and the issues are raised to leadership attention when necessary. Communicate effectively with various stakeholders, including senior management and external auditors
Manage account reconciliation and certification process, focusing on the following activities:Perform monthly quality assurance testing of a sample of reconciliation to assess compliance to the control, and produce report summarizing results, assessment, and action items for any deficiencies or improvements noted
At the outset, partner with Close and Consolidation leader to re-design quality assurance testing program for a more effective program, and build a QA testing monthly report. The role is expected to continuously improve the program as necessary
Track action items, remediation or improvements, ensuring timely and effective implementation as agreed
Manage monthly and quarterly processes including reconciliation and documentation of uncertified balances, aging, management reporting and signoff for the period
Work with offshore team members and business stakeholders to assign ownership of unassigned and “not-my-account” account strings
Review (expanded) audit of reconciliation and certifications
Review and audit of static account balances – work with business to document static balances and remediation as needed
Approval of new accounts and chart of accounts rationalization
Coordination with business stakeholders, reporting teams and financial systems teams of mapping to chart of accounts



Ownership of suspense accounts reconciliations and balance and activity clearingCoordinate efforts between offshore teams, subsidiaries controllership, investment controllership, investment operations on monthly suspense balances reconciliations and clearing



Assume a supporting function with respect to the late journal entries approval and processing and capturing of the unbooked adjustments summary processProvide support to Head of Close and Consolidation on approval of late entries.
Provide support to Head of Close and Consolidation on documentation and reporting of unbooked



Own account reconciliation and certification tool (Cadency) controlsOversee the execution of certification controls process on an agreed upon regular basis
Own approval of additions and deactivations of users within the tool
Provide support to the Head of Close with Cadency task support, as needed/ appropriate



Work in a fast paced and agile work environment to meet or exceed deadlines
Maximize the value and optimize reports created by the team
Prepare insightful analysis to convey the underlying story to the key constituents timely, in a clear and concise manner
Research and interpret changes in accounting policies, competitive landscape, and emerging trends
Drive continuous improvement and efficiencies within the reporting processes beyond the scope of responsibilities listed

The Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field
6+ years of experience working with audited statements, including disclosures OR 3+ years working experience with audited statutory and GAAP reporting in life insurance companies.

The Ideal Qualifications

Master's degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field
CPA or advanced degree in accounting
Knowledge of advanced insurance and investment statutory accounting principles
Strong demonstrated financial analysis and reporting background
Experience with general ledger reporting cubes and warehouses; and the ability to gather data elements from various sources
Knowledge of business intelligence tools, applications, and/or queries to create and configure new reports, dashboards & decision-making analytics
Skilled in validating and test data & reports to ensure accuracy and quality
Other competencies required include customer focus, change & innovation, strategic thinking, relationship building & influencing
Expert knowledge of Excel and PowerPoint

What to Expect as Part of MassMutual and the Team

Regular meetings with the Management, Close and Consolidation 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.