IFRS Specialist at Santam Insurance

What will you do?

• Santam Financial Risk Management has a position available for IFRS Specialist, based in Head Office, Bellville and reporting to the Deputy Chief Risk Officer. 
• The overall purpose of this role is to provide specialist accounting technical requirements for the Santam Group (including subsidiaries such as Centriq, SSI and MiWay). This includes working closely with the Corporate Finance division to ensure that all new acquisitions are adequately assessed in terms of the accounting impact that these transactions might have on the company and the group as well as all the subsidiaries and business units of Santam.  A key focus of the role will be to oversee the timely and effective implementation of IFRS 17, a new reporting requirement that will significantly change the financial reporting of all insurance companies across the Santam Group, aligned with the Sanlam Group.
• The role forms part of the Risk Office who ultimately provides support to the Chief Risk Officer.

What will make you successful in this role?

• Design and implementation of  group and interim financial statements based on IFRS 17 requirements
• Implementation of IFRS 17 (Insurance Accounting):
  • Participation in project to determine impact on group
  • Regular communication to project participants
  • Successful implementation and parallel run of new process
  • Design and implementation of a new chart of accounts for the group
• Design and implementation of monthly reporting to management based on IFRS 17 requirements:
  • Providing sufficient support to the group reporting team to answer queries based on new IFRS 17 performance metrics within an acceptable timeframe
  • Providing support to the group reporting team during implementation
• Reporting to Sanlam:
  • Align project requirements for IFRS 17 with the Sanlam group project team
  • Map new chart of accounts used for Santam reporting to the new Sanlam chart of accounts
  • Oversee changes required to HFM application
• Optimisation of systems and processes:
  • Manage required IFRS 17 changes to all systems and process (including JDE/HFM – this will predominantly include the design of a new chart of accounts that will be implemented across the entire group)
• Effectively manage expectations of all stakeholders (mainly project related resources, subsidiaries and business units)
• Provide overall technical support ito corporate finance transactions as well as other IFRS changes

Qualification and Experience

• CA (SA)
• At least 5 years’ experience post articles in a technically demanding role. Specific focus on IFRS 17 experience.
• Experience in implementing significant reporting changes

Knowledge and Skills

• Advanced Excel, Word, PowerPoint
• Hyperion Financial Management or similar consolidation tool
• In depth IFRS knowledge
• Tax knowledge
• Knowledge of the various legislation that impact an insurer (i.e. Insurance Act, Companies Act, JSE listing requirements) 
• An analytical mind set, specifically focused on data analysis
• Be able to apply commercial thinking in executing the various reporting requirements

Core Competencies

• Being resilient - Contributing through others
• Collaborates - Contributing through others
• Cultivates innovation - Contributing through others
• Customer focus - Contributing through others
• Drives results - Contributing through others