Accounting Controller

BNP Paribas is a top-ranking bank in Europe with an international profile. It operates in 65 countries and has almost 190,000 employees. BNP Paribas organizes its businesses into three main fields of activity: Commercial, Personal Banking & Services (CPBS), Investment & Protection Services (IPS) and Corporate Institutional Banking (CIB). The Group helps all of its clients (retail, associations, businesses, SMEs, large corporate and institutional) to implement their projects by providing them with services in financing, investment, savings and protection.  

Various bodies rank BNP Paribas, high in terms of attractiveness and being a “good place to work”. The Group has once again been named a “Top Employer Europe” for 2022. It was singled out in particular for its diversity, inclusion, career development possibilities and well-being. 

About Business line/Function:

The Finance & Strategy function (F&S) ensures, for the BNP Paribas Group, the production and publication of accounting and financial management statements necessary for the management of the Group, financial and tax optimization along with the external growth strategy. It also plays an alert role vis-à-vis of the General Management. 

F&S count +1800 employees specialized in Accounting, Reporting, Performance Steering, Tax, Control, Regulatory and Project to mention few of them.  F&S is organized around 3 mutualized regional platform (America, Europe and Asia/Pacific), 1 Shared Finance Service center located in India, Central F&S teams located in Paris and decentralized Finance, Tax and Development departments located in each BNPP country presence. 

The Oxygen Finance & Strategy Platform is the Regional EMEA Mutualized platform and Group platform delivering services that covers the whole financial dimension: Accounting production activities, reporting, control, transformation projects, IT and GDO. Our platform serves EMEA Countries and CFO´s, Group Head Office and also worldwide entities when it refers to projects (Transformations & IT). The Oxygen Finance & Strategy Platform is located in a dual location Madrid and Lisbon. Position Purpose:

Contribute to implement and maintain a strong control environment in Standards & Controls (S&C) Team. 

Accounting Function: 

At the level of Finance; 

In all regions / entities under CIB supervision or in any other entities delegated by Central S&C team, in order to guarantee the high quality of the financial data reported to the Head Office and to local Authorities; 

To support the Accounting Controls teams in the regions. 

Expert Process Function: 

Contribute to implement and perform a 2LoD Control over the processes under your scope (e.g Liquidity, Capital/RWA, Performance Management, Credit Risk, etc.), maintaining a strong control environment in Standards & Controls (S&C) Team. 

At the level of Finance in all regions / entities under CIB supervision or in any other entities delegated by Central S&C team, in order to guarantee the high quality of the financial data reported to the Head Office and to local Authorities; 

To support the Accounting Controls teams in the regions. 

To participate in senior management meetings, delivering results and supporting commentary. 

To regularly review and coordinate the work and outputs produced ensuring that suitability is matched to the needs of the recipient, discussing needs and offering solutions where appropriate.  

Responsibilities:

Key responsibilities of the role 

Acquire a strong knowledge of the accounting control set up quality in the regions/entities placed under your scope. 

Detailed responsibilities 

Build a strong, trust, honest and efficient two-way communication and partnership with the region/entities/process stakeholders under your coverage. 

Accounting Control Plan: 

Ensure that the Group Accounting Control Plan is properly rolled out and monitored in the regions/entities placed under your coverage. 

Perform on-site audits (travels to be expected) of the controls set-up in the regions/entities under your coverage. 

Estimate and measure the deficiencies identified in the accounting controls set up under your coverage and prepare associated reports to Senior Management and governance bodies. 

Ensure that Regional Finance teams comply with their control obligations, and that they have fully implemented the Group Accounting Control Plan and all procedures prescribed by the Oxygen Platform. 

FACT: 

To obtain and analyse FACT certificates from the different entities/regions. 

To have a good knowledge of the problems faced by the entities/regions. 

To contribute in the preparation of the related reports. 

Recommendations: 

Monitor recommendations issued by General Inspection / Internal Audit, Regulators and External Auditors in the regions. 

Operational Risk Incidents: 

Follow up operational risk incidents involving Finance and their impact on the control framework. Monitor remediation plans and timeline. 

Finance Internal Control Committees: 

Hold regular (at least quarterly) Internal Control Committee (FORCC) meetings with the regions/entities of the scope to review the accounting control issues. 

Contribute to the Accounting and Financial Risk Committee (AFRiC) for the allocated regions and transversal topics. 

Hold ad-hoc meetings with Regional Finance when needed. 

Expert Process Function: 

Level 2 Control: ensure that the controls defined in the Generic Control Plans or other Control Plans are implemented by the corresponding teams (local/regional/central). 

Ensure the consistency and completeness of the data through the review of Data Quality controls. 

Communicate the controls' results to the relevant stakeholders (Group Finance, Regions and Streams). 

Present to the Regions and the Management, the Level 2 Controls' conclusions. 

Follow-up and monitor audit (external, internal or Inspection Generale) missions and open recommendations issued to the processes under your responsibility. 

Review and challenge the controls' conclusions written by the Regions and the KPI's reported in the Regional Control Committees (FORCC). 

Prepare the required synthesis report to gather all Regional controls information. 

Ensure that procedures related to the processes under the scope are documented and updated. 

Keep updated on Group norms and procedures. 

Follow-up issues that could affect any process related to the Generic Control Plan and other Control Plans. 

Attend the necessary committees.  

Collaborate in the creation and provide with support in the presentation of the Division Control Committee and thematic Control Committee.  Technical & Behavioral Competencies:

Strong control background and ability to question and challenge the information received. 

Ability to manage priorities in a context of tight deadlines. 

Strong accounting expertise. 

Strong and concise communication skills both spoken and written. 

Fluent in English and French (both spoken and written).  

Team work (spoken and written). 

Willing to travel abroad. 

Flexible in daily workload. 

Curious by nature, careful to detail, rigorous, reliable, open-minded, well-organized, efficient, methodical and spot-on. 

Weekend working and long days during closing period are compensated according to the Bank policy. 

BNP Paribas Group in Spain is an equal opportunity employer and proud to provide equal employment opportunity to all job seekers. We are actively committed to ensuring that no individual is discriminated against on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. Equity and diversity are at the core of our recruitment policy because we believe that they foster creativity and efficiency, which in turn increase performance and productivity. We strive to reflect the society we live in, while keeping with the image of our clients.