Financial Reporting & Accounting Professional

Job Purpose:

The Financial controller/GCC can run the financial department for the region Nordics/UK which consist out of UK, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. The Financial controller is responsible for a wide range of financial activities and for timely and accurate financial administration. Focusing on analyzing data, supporting, and preparing various reports, responsible for the month closings and active participation int the daily operational financial tasks. 

Job responsibilities:

Financial Governance Accounting and Reporting
- Management of the local financial accounts and respective documentation in line with Sonova accounting and reporting policies (FRAP), IFRS, local statutory and tax requirements

- On time and on quality weekly, monthly, semi-annual, and annual financial reporting in line with the Group’s standards.

- Financial reporting to external bodies where relevant including to tax authorities, statutory filings, financial regulators, etc.

- Adequate monthly accrual and provisioning of all costs in line with group standards

- Documented monthly reconciliation process for all key balances (including IC positions, bank balances, etc.) and pro-active follow-up and resolution of any differences

- Pro-active interaction with Corporate Controlling on any technical accounting or financial reporting issues

Opex and expense control
- Ongoing control and approval of local operating expenses in line with budgets and estimates as well as relevant corporate guidelines (specifically T&E and transactions outside the ordinary course of business).

- Financial support and analysis for vendor selection and procurement

Balance sheet and working capital management.
- General control and management of balance sheet items

Capital expenditure control.
- Management and financial assessment of capex requests

Financial systems and transaction management.
-Responsibility for the finance relevant aspects, set-up and controls within the local ERP system.

- Drive efficient and cost-effective accounting and transaction processing with a view to achieve a high level of automation by using the relevant tools available within the Sonova group

Tax
- Solid understanding of local tax environment (import duties, CIT, VAT/GST, WHT and other relevant taxes) as well as tax effects in the context of intragroup transactions and tax compliance requirements in general

- Application, reporting and payment of the correct duties and VAT for all relevant transactions. Annual review and plausibility assessment of rates and reconciliation of filed returns with local statutory accounts and profit and loss statements.

- Responsibility for ensuring local systems, transactions and documents are established and retained in line with statutory requirements to ensure compliance with the relevant tax regulations and that taxes are filed in a timely and complete manner.

- Liaise with the corporate tax department in tax matters and specifically in planned extraordinary business transactions or changes to the way business is done

- Review expected statutory profitability on a sub-annual basis to identify deviations from target, rationales thereof, suggest measures in regard to transfer pricing and secure compliance with arm’s length principle according to process guidance from Group Tax

Treasury
- Management of local bank relationships in coordination with Group Treasury

- Maintenance of up-to-date documentation such as signature lists, eBanking permissions, etc. for all interactions with banks and other financial intermediaries

- Establish local bank signing authorities for all bank transactions to be subject to approval by adequately senior staff and that the 4-eye principle is always observed

- Ensure adequate safeguards and staff training is undertaken locally to prevent fraud

- Management of local cash balances in coordination with Group Treasury

- Monitoring of non-reporting currency purchases, sales and other balance sheet items and pro-active interaction with Group Treasury to hedge such exposures

- Pro-active management of funding requirements in coordination with Group Treasury

Insurance
- Know and understand the domestic insurance market to decide which insurances are locally needed according to good local standard.

- Ensure compliance with rules and regulations of the Sonova insurance policy and work closely together with the Group’s insurance broker  
and Internal/external audit interaction.

- Management of the year end audit for the local GC including all interaction with the external auditors and coordination of any issues with Corporate Controlling.

- Coordination of Corporate Internal Audits at the GC level, including scheduling support, preparation of documents and facilitation of procedures.

- Resolution of issues identified by Internal Audit within the responsibility of the GCC in line with agreed timelines, including full documentation of any remediation steps taken.

- Quarterly consolidation and reporting of the internal audit remediation progress for the local GC to corporate.

Business support
- Trusted financial business partner, actively supporting day-to-day decision making, strategy and direction

- Driving better decisions through higher transparency, financial analysis, and pro-active issue management

- Ongoing review of profitability and optimization based on overall economic environment (e.g. FX impact on pricing, credit policies and receivables management in high inflation countries, etc)

Planning, budgeting, and forecasting
- Leading, managing and coordinating the local planning process including target setting, budgets, and monthly forecasts in line with guidance from Business/Functions and Corporate Controlling, including OPEX budget at local level.

Management reporting
- Ensure full transparency of GC performance both within local management team and functional and group-level business controlling by regular reporting and in-depth analysis on key performance measures.

- Track the financial performance of local GC vs budget and prior year and pro-actively raise any issues within the relevant stakeholders

Analysis and decision support
- Ad-hoc financial analysis and decision support on specific issues including tenders and contractual bids.

Business accounting
- Maintains a profit and cost centers set-up in line with group standards and structures.

- Ensures that the local allocations of costs to individual functional areas and profit centers are correct and correspond to the actual responsibilities reflecting the underlying performance.

- Ensures integrity of the calculation of KPI’s used locally in line with group standards.

Financial solutions
- Any financial solutions offered in the context of the local business need to be pre-discussed and agreed by the relevant functional specialist at corporate

Governance                                                           
- Identification, implementation, documentation and regular review of key controls within the local GC.

- Remediation of identified internal control deficiencies.

Compliance Champion
- Support the local implementation, roll-out and regular staff training and ongoing monitoring of the Sonova corporate compliance policies and processes

- Act as a go-to-person and advisor for local staff to address compliance questions, or pass-through such questions to Group Compliance staff

- Jointly with the WSC Manager act as gate-keeper for Compliance matters and if necessary independently escalate significant matters to Group Compliance

- Together with the WSC Manager, conduct or support investigations of alleged local Compliance violations in line with guidance from Group Compliance

Primary interface - External:
•    Audit planning, coordinating with/btw audit/tax companies relating to year end/interim audit.
•    Ensure legal and regulatory compliance regarding all financial functions.
•    Oversee the company’s legal affairs; ensure compliance with federal, state, and local legal requirements by researching existing and new legislation. 
•    Serve as internal legal advisor; consult with outside advisors as needed.

Primary interface - Internal:

• Information sharing, assistance with regards to month and (ad hoc) reporting.
• Coordinating the financial function within the 5 companies and the various departments.

Qualifications and Experience:
•    Business graduate in Financial Accounting and Controlling or similar and/or
•    Certified / qualified accountant and on-the-job working experience.
•    Fluent in business English.
•    Proficient user of MS-Office, i.e. Excel.
•    Working experience with ERP-Systems, e.g. JDE
•    Ability to establish and maintain positive working relationships with others both internally and externally.
•    Business analytical and problem-solving skills. 
•    Attention to detail. 
•    Working experience in multinational companies.