Senior Expense Analyst (Actuals) - 12 Month FTC

General Job Description & Person Specification Senior Expense Analyst (Actuals) Division: Finance – Financial Performance Reports To: Expense Manager (Actuals) Key Relationships: Executive Management, Finance Leadership Team, Platform Management Committees, Finance (incl. Financial Performance team), Chief Underwriting Office, Underwriting Teams, Group Actuarial and Strategic Finance, Support Functions, and other Business Users. Job Summary Support & actively contribute to the accurate and timely delivery of the expense actual process – with specific focus on delivering period end reporting and analysis requirements across the Beazley group of companies. Controls and governance principles need to be embedded across the process ensuring robust numbers are reported with commentary to support, but also that balance sheet reconciliations & controls are attested to. To conduct oneself in line with core & partnership competencies noted below Key Responsibilities • Understand the key drivers (systems & processes) behind the different views of reported expense results • Collaborate with the Expense Planning Team to ensure consistent alignment of methodologies and reporting formats • Lead the delivery of the expense actuals process, ultimately under the remit of the Expense Actuals Manager, in accordance with pre-approved timetables • Communicate month end expense timetable deliverables to business and track actual delivery against expectation (escalate issues and ensure remediated) • Oversee the monthly close of expense processes within Finance sub-systems • Ensure accurate completeness of all month end ledger entries (includes prepayments, accruals, fixed assets) • Lead variance analysis for Direct Cost Reports ensuring meaningful insightful commentary provided to end users • Ensure a complete and accurate view of Direct Costs is available to the business in accordance with committed deadlines • Prepare full drafts of expense reports for Executive Committees and Boards for presentation and review with Expense Management Team • Oversee completion of Expense Team owned Balance Sheet reconciliations in accordance with Group defined requirements • Ensure delivery of expense MI to support Reporting Team requirements including provision of suitable commentary where required • Ensure process documentation for expense actuals processes is accurately maintained (amendments to be updated in a timely manner) • Participate in external audit reviews through interaction with Audit Teams focussed on expense related activity • Continuously striving to develop expense capabilities for process efficiency, reporting effectiveness & robustness of control framework • Manage and mentor Expense Analysts including defining objectives and priorities, reviewing work, providing feedback and identifying development opportunities Core competencies Requirements Core competencies in addition to those noted as specific requirements for the role and which are considered to be pertinent to the Expense team are as follows: • Financial planning and analysis expertise: Expert knowledge of expense actuals; budgeting; and forecasting processes, including the ability to drive continuous improvement in these areas. • Strategic thinking and business acumen: Deep understanding of revenue drivers, sales optimization, margin management, and metrics cascades to provide insightful, performance inflecting decision support to business leaders. • Communication and storytelling: Excellent storytelling, communication and presentation skills to effectively convey financial insights, analysis and recommendations to decision makers. • Advanced technology literacy/proficiency: Ability to exploit digital technologies to drive better outcomes for finance and the business. • Problem-solving: Ability to challenge assumptions, identify root causes and develop effective solutions. • Relationship building and collaboration: Proven ability to build strong relationships with business unit leaders and stakeholders. Ability to collaborate with FP&A and technology teams to design intuitive reports, analyses and dashboards • Continuous improvement: Ability to define success criteria and establish measurable metrics for monitoring tool utilization and quality. Ability to work effectively on a team that uses agile principles to continuously iterate the delivery and development of financial tools and solutions. • Professionalism: Consistently demonstrates integrity, is highly credible, respectful and trustworthy and represents the expense team in a professional manner. Builds and maintains successful working relationships and is seen to go the extra mile. • Learning and development: Identifies strengths and weaknesses and seeks to improve performance. Recognises and takes responsibility for mistakes and learns from them. Continually seeks self- development opportunities. Regularly engages in self-assessment and gives/receives feedback to enhance personal awareness. • Adaptability: Effectively manages changing priorities in a dynamic environment. Seeks training opportunities to understand new working methods. Proves resilient in uncertain and difficult situations and adapts approach/plans/style as required. • Responsibility and Accountability: Assumes full responsibility for the consequences of own behaviour and decisions. Delivers on commitments to clients demonstrating reliability and dependability. Admits mistakes and takes responsibility for correcting them. General It Is Important That Within All Your Interactions Both Internally And Externally You Adhere Beazley’s Core Values - Being Bold, Striving For Better, And Doing The Right Thing. We Also Expect Beazley Employees To • Comply with Beazley procedures, policies and regulations including the code of conduct Undertake training on Beazley policies and procedures as delivered by your line manager, the People & Sustainability (P&S) or assurance teams (compliance, risk, internal audit) either directly, via e-learning or the learning management system • Display business ethics that uphold the interests of all our customers Ensure all interactions with customers are focused on delivering a fair outcome, including having the right products for their needs • Comply with any specific responsibilities necessary for your role as outlined by your line manager, the P&S or assurance teams (compliance, risk, internal audit) and ensure you keep up to date with developments in these areas. This may include, amongst others, Beazley’s underwriting control standards, Beazley’s claims control standards, other Beazley standards & customer relationship management • Carry out additional responsibilities as individually notified, either through your objectives or through the learning management system. These may include membership of any Beazley committees or working groups Personal Specification We are a flexible and innovative employer offering a friendly, collaborative, diverse and inclusive working environment. We actively encourage and expect applications from all backgrounds. We empower people to choose where to work given the work they need to do. Collaboration in office spaces is important and we mandate 2 days in the office – you decide what works best for you and the role you are in. Beazley will offer the person a competitive salary and discretionary bonus with a strong benefits package including commuting reimbursement, free in-office lunch, excellent parental leave and financial physical and mental wellbeing contributions among others. Essential Criteria ▪ Experienced qualified accountant (ACA/ACCA/CIMA) ▪ Experience of month end reporting cycles within complex organisations ▪ Experience of a deadline driven environment ▪ Strong attention to detail Desirable Criteria ▪ Experience of the financial services or insurance market (preferably Lloyd’s) ▪ Experience of Expense roles within complex insurance organisations and knowledge of accounting policies adopted