Accounting Analyst (ESCB/IO)

Finance and Sourcing
Finance
5062

General Information

Type of contract Short-term contract, which may be extended to up to 36 months subject to individual performance and organisational needs

Contract end date 30.04.2025

Who can apply? EU nationals working for national central banks of the ESCB, international governmental organisations or other employers performing central banking or banking supervision tasks within the framework of the Eurosystem

Salary E/F (bracket 1 - step 1) full time monthly net salary: €5,914 plus benefits, for further information see what we offer.

Role specialisation Financial Sector Accounting

Working time Full time

Place of work Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Closing date 17.03.2022

Your team

You will be part of the Accounting Section in the Financial Accounting and Reporting Division of the Directorate Finance. The Directorate has approximately 100 staff providing Financial Reporting, Accounting, Procurement, Budget and Controlling services within the ECB. 

In the Accounting Section we process incoming and outgoing invoices, deal with VAT and other tax matters, maintain the bank’s fixed asset accounts, levy fees to supervised credit institutions and perform other financial accounting tasks. We are working on constant improvement measures in all these areas moving away from manual paper-based processing towards automation and digitalisation.
In your role as Accounting Analyst, you will be deployed in one of the following two teams:
  • the Accounts Payable Team, which focuses on processing invoices from suppliers and other administrative payments to be made by the ECB;
  • the Accounts Receivable Team, which focuses on levying fees to supervised credit institutions, raising reimbursement requests to NCBs in the context of ESCB cost sharing initiatives and processing payments.
Although you will be allocated to one of the teams for a period, we emphasise the importance of transversal knowledge and skills that will enable you to work across the teams when required. Moreover, we expect you to be interested in continuously improving your skills and in good collaboration with your team members and our stakeholders.

The ECB is an inclusive employer and we strive to reflect the diversity of the population we serve. We encourage you to apply irrespective of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, race, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or other characteristics.

Your role

As an Accounting Analyst you will run day-to-day accounting operations relevant to accounts payable, accounts receivable, fixed assets and year-end procedures and support management and colleagues by performing financial accounting operations such as:
  • processing accounting transactions and analysing complex accounting scenarios in the procure-to-pay and accounts receivable business cycle;
  • conducting analyses and proposing business process improvements for processes such as procure-to-pay, e-invoicing or digitalisation of accounting transactions and procedures; 
  • conducting payment-related operations;
  • providing accounting support to external stakeholders and ECB business areas;
  • reconciling accounting data and performing periodic accounting controls;
  • recording incoming payments and monitoring overdue customer accounts;
  • maintaining accounting master data;
  • supporting the analysis and presentation of accounting data for decision-making purposes;
  • training newcomers and supporting colleagues.

The position offers to you excellent opportunities to use ECB SAP components relevant for financial accounting and contribute to the system’s smooth operation and enhancement (including testing activities) from a financial accounting perspective. 

You will be part of a multicultural team that strives for continuous innovation to make a positive impact on our organisation and indirectly on the lives of European citizens.

Qualifications, experience and skills

Essential: 
  • a bachelor’s degree or equivalent in accounting, finance, business administration or another relevant field (click here for details on degree equivalences) or a relevant chartered accountant or certified public accountant qualification, e.g. ACA (ICAEW), ACCA or CPA;
  • in addition, a minimum of three years of relevant professional experience in financial accounting (e.g. accounts receivable, accounts payable, fixed assets, general ledger, VAT and other taxes);
  • relevant experience with SAP or a similar enterprise resource planning system, predominantly in accounts receivable, accounts payable, general ledger or fixed assets;
  • knowledge of accounting operations and processes related to the maintenance of accounts payable, administrative payments or accounts receivable, monitoring of customer accounts and debt collection, as well as related internal control procedures, would be an asset;
  • a good knowledge of the MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint;
  • an advanced (C1) command of English and an intermediate (B1) command of at least one other official language of the EU, according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

Desired: 
  • an intermediate level (B1) of German language; 
  • advanced Excel skills.

You engage collaboratively with others. You pursue team goals and learn willingly from other people’s diverse perspectives. You signal any need for change by explaining it and proposing alternative solutions. You analyse complex information effectively and can evaluate different views to arrive at solutions. You know and anticipate stakeholder needs.

You are motivated to be part of our team and to develop and use your skills and competencies to achieve the objectives of this position.

Further information

The contract offered will be short-term ESCB/IO, the appointment being for 36 months as of the exact starting date of the selected person.

For additional information on this specific vacancy, you can speak to the hiring manager, Heiko Nordhausen, on +49 (0)69 1344 6295 or reach him via heiko.nordhausen@ecb.europa.eu

Application and selection process

The recruitment process for this position will be conducted remotely. It will include a written exercise and interviews. 

If you are not selected for this position but are still considered suitable, you will be placed on a reserve list (see step 4 of how we hire), from which you might be considered for similar positions within the ECB.

Find out how to apply for a position at the European Central Bank. Read more about joining us.