Financial Reporting Senior Specialist

Northwestern Mutual•Milwaukee, WI

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

Performs financial accounting functions and related control activities for assigned accounts and processes to ensure conformance with statutory accounting standards. Establishes specifications and guidelines for Actuarial valuation and financial reporting systems to meet regulatory and operational reporting requirements.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in accounting, mathematics, or related major strongly preferred. Equivalent amount of relevant work experience and education may also be considered.
Minimum of 3 years of experience in an accounting related position.
Knowledge of NAIC reporting requirements, statutory accounting standards, and audit principals.
Strong analytical ability and problem-solving skills.
Strong written and oral communication skills.
Knowledge of client computing tools, such as Excel.
Analytical Thinking: Organizes and compares various aspects of a situation to comprehend and identify key or underlying complex issues through the use of quantitative data and analysis; leverages strong business acumen, problem solving, and interpersonal skills to think critically about situations from multiple perspectives and consistently seeks ways to improve processes.
Attention to Detail: Focuses on specific details to spot and correct errors in advance of them being found and surpass quality expectations. Performs work with thorough proofreading for presentation, content, accuracy, and overall quality.
Data Collection & Analysis: Gathers, stores, accesses, and uses information collected via quantitative (e.g., surveys or usage data) or qualitative methods (e.g., interviews, focus groups, document analysis). Analyzes data to uncover patters and insights to inform business decisions.
Financial Accounting Principles: Understands and applies knowledge of financial accounting principles, processes, and systems to drive accuracy, efficiency, and optimization of financial activities. Develops and adheres to controls that support financial integrity in accordance with internal control framework, mandated laws and regulations.
Financial Reporting: Prepares and presents financial statements accurately and reports that summarize the financial performance and position of NM's products and services, adhering to accounting principles and regulatory requirements. This includes analyzing financial data, reconciling accounts, and effectively communicating financial information to internal and external stakeholders to facilitate decision-making and ensure transparency and compliance.
Learning Agility & Critical Thinking: Pursues learning and obtains knowledge continuously in relevant fields, methods, or technologies in current and future practices; continuously utilizes critical thinking to identify opportunities, execute solutions, and measure impact to constantly improve existing practices and processes based on feedback, lessons learned, and market trends.
Storytelling through Data: Communicates insights and opportunities from a dataset, using narratives, visualizations, and analysis.

Nice To Haves

Knowledge of insurance or investment industries, including NM product lines and company operations in general preferred.
Experience with general ledger and financial reporting applications preferred.
Strong systems background in both mainframe and PC systems preferred.

Responsibilities

Performs financial accounting functions for assigned accounts and processes to ensure conformance with statutory accounting standards.
Responsible for the accurate and timely preparation of journal entries and account reconciliations for reserves, as well as the Actuarial department’s portion of the dividends, policy benefits, premiums, and expenses.
Performs accurate, timely and value-added core financial statement and analytical reporting.
Responsible for the design and analysis of business information used for calculating reserves, tax reporting, annual statement reporting, actuarial studies, and other management reports.
Works with Engineering Solutions, Controllers, and Actuarial Department personnel to produce the required information.
Keeps abreast of new product developments, NAIC requirements, and internal processing and reporting changes of other departments.
Researches and analyzes reserve issues and notifies top management of unusual trends.
Works with internal auditors and is a key contributor of information for annual external financial audits.
Contributes to ongoing sustainability efforts related to accounting control documentation to ensure compliance with the NAIC Model Audit Rule.
Ensures the transactions are being recorded accurately within the valuation system to provide data for lapse and mortality studies.
Works with Engineering Solutions on proper recording of lapses, deaths and issues for new products.