Finance Systems and Finance Projects
The Financial Services sector is SystemsAccountants' largest industry sector by client volume, and over the years we have developed an expert appreciation of the complexity of the extended financial systems architecture of Banks and Insurers. The current wave of regulatory change and ongoing competitive pressures is driving ever greater demands for financial and management information; and as a consequence we have witnessed an increasing demand for Insurance Finance Systems specialists who blend, Finance, Risk and Technology disciplines.
The Financial Services team of SystemsAccountants recruits Finance Systems and Finance projects resource for the Financial Services sector.We have a service line which focuses on the provision of project specialists who combine business function backgrounds in Finance, combined with skills in Project Management, Change Management, Consultancy, and Support. Our clients include 3 out of the top 5 Retail Banks in the UK, and 7 of the top 10 Life Insurers.
We understand the particular needs of this important sector of the economy, and focus specifically on the identification, qualification and provision of these hybrid skill sets; and have a particular focus on the following Project areas:
· ERP, and Finance Systems: SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft, CODA, Sun, Agresso, Microgen
· BI/EPM: BusinessObjects, Cognos, Hyperion, TeraData, Kalido
· Finance Change / Finance Transformation
· Regulatory & Compliance – IFRS II, Basel II, Basel III, Solvency II, and Sarbanes Oxley
· Risk Management– Market Risk, Var, Liquidity Risk, ALM, Operational Risk and Risk Reporting, Risk Aggregation
One of our primary value drivers is to provide clients with specialist resources who can put a 'foot in both camps'. Our network of candidates can understand business issues, enabling them to engage stakeholders with credibility, We work specifically with clients in the following sectors - Retail and Commercial Banking, Investment Banking, Brokerage, Asset Management, Life Insurance, General Insurance, the Lloyds Market, Hedge Funds and Private Equity.
Typical disciplines / roles we specialise in include:
· Finance Systems Manager
· Systems Accountant
· Business Analyst
· Functional consultant
· Project Manager
· Programme Manager
· PMO
· BI Manager
· Change Manager
· Design Authority
Case Studies
Retail/Commercial Banking Client - Global Finance Change Programme:
Global Finance Change programme for one of the largest banks in the UK. Provided over 15 interims to support the global process change and General Ledger programme (FTP), as well as the MI work stream implementing Cognos Planning and TM1.
Fund Manager – Group Reporting and MI Project:
SystemsAccountants provided a Finance Systems manager to take ownership of all of their internal business applications. Subsequently a small permanent support team was brought in to cover internal finance and reporting systems and a number of contractors to deliver a series of optimisation projects.
Hedge Fund – Finance Systems upgrade:
Provision of a Finance Systems team to assist with the global upgrade of their Agresso finance systems architecture to the latest 5.5 version, as well as P2P process re-reengineering and associated BI development. SystemsAccountants recruited 10 Agresso resources over an 18 month period.
Global Insurer - Shared Services Strategy:
Engaged to provide a senior strategy consultant to evaluate the existing Shared Services model of a major General & Life Insurer. Mandated to identify additional processes and scope that the SSC could be extended to cover (e.g. group reporting, actuarial, financial close) and the development of a solution road map to deliver the programme. Subsequently provided an experienced Transition Manager to lead the migration of US F&A, as well as European FP&A services in to the Krakow SSC.
Life Insurer - SAP Finance Transformation:
We were a key partner to the UK division of a Global Insurance Company's SAP finance transformation programme involving the deployment of a common SAP template to underpin standard finance processes & the creation of an offshore F&A shared services model. SystemsAccountants provided a structured team of 35 resources including: SAP functional, business process re-design, integration, testing, data migration, PMO & Comms.
Insurer – Oracle ERP & BI Finance Change Programme:
Provision of a discrete team of permanent and contract consultants to support the implementation of an IFRS compliant chart of accounts, a Cartesis group reporting system and Business Objects MI solution. Also engaged to provide a team of business analysts to migrate the finance systems of a newly acquired subsidiary onto the group Oracle platform. Resource provided mixes finance process skills with awareness of Oracle e-Business functionality allowing the re-definition of processes, solution design and off-shoring of transactional finance processes.
