Head of Technical Accounting

A day in the life:

Lead technical accounting assessments and structuring for new transactions, products, significant contracts, and other business initiatives, ensuring effective control processes are in place to address associated risks.

Ensure finance systems and processes are properly set up to support the operationalisation and implementation of new activities such as products, partnerships, and transactions.

Take ownership and lead the delivery of the annual report, managing external parties and internal stakeholder inputs, and drive future automation of this process.

Prepare management judgement papers on accounting matters for the Bank Audit Committee and on occasion attend these meetings to present papers.

Take ownership of accounting policy development, horizon scanning and implementation including managing the accounting manual and other relevant finance policies.

Stay up-to-date with the latest industry developments in financial and corporate reporting by attending workshops and roundtables, representing Zopa’s interests.

Provide expert guidance and advice on the application of accounting policies across the business.

Lead the approach to ESG and sustainability reporting, keeping pace with evolving disclosure requirements.

Manage and oversee the work of the Technical Accounting team, including coordinating tasks and supervising the Technical Accounting Specialist — and develop a forward view of this function.

Lead external auditor engagements on all technical accounting matters.

Be a key participant and contributor to the Senior Managers Group within Finance, influencing and building relationships across the wider Finance function.

About you:

You are a qualified accountant with extensive post qualification experience.

Experience of working in the Financial Services sector (preferably retail banking or consumer finance), or have trained with a top accountancy firm with financial services experience within a technical accounting role.

You are comfortable managing multiple priorities in a fast-moving environment.

You work independently, assume responsibility and make your own judgements. You’ll be ready to take ownership of complex new areas and solve problems with minimal guidance.

You are a team player with collaborative and influencing skills. You’ll be able to partner with internal and external stakeholders and have strong communication skills.

Able to demonstrate a questioning mindset and be able to drive operational changes to systems and processes as we scale.

You are curious about AI and how you can deploy this in your everyday work.

Finally, you’ll be energetic, motivated, and have a passion for excellence and innovation in pursuit of success!

Bonus points for:

You’ll have strong technical knowledge of IFRS 9 (expected credit losses, EIR, hedge accounting), IAS 39 (hedge accounting), IAS 38 (Intangible assets), IAS 36 (Impairment of assets), IFRS 2 (Share based payments), IFRS 3 (Business Combination).

You’ll have an understanding of the regulatory reporting requirements for banks.

Ideally, an understanding of UK taxes and an appetite to learn more.