General Information
Type of contract
Traineeship
Who can apply?
EU nationals eligible for our traineeship programme
Grant
The trainee grant is €1,170 per month plus an accommodation allowance (see further information section)
Working time
Full time
Place of work
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Closing date
24.05.2022
Your team
You will be part of Financial Reporting Section in the Financial Accounting and Reporting Division of the Directorate Finance. Our Directorate has over 100 members of staff and is responsible for financial accounting and reporting, planning and controlling activities, cost accounting, procurement and supervisory fee-related services.
In your role as a trainee, you will be part of a team of 20 members of staff responsible for the preparation of financial statements and reports of the ECB and the Eurosystem, preparing accounts for the ECB’s financial instruments, and calculating and settling the monetary income of the national central banks (NCBs). Our team also develops and implements standards and policies for financial accounting and reporting as well as monetary income allocation in the ECB and the Eurosystem. Moreover, we advise on accounting and financial reporting matters and respond to internal and external queries concerning the ECB’s and the Eurosystem’s regular financial statements and monetary income. We work closely with other ECB business areas, including the Directorate General Market Operations, the Directorate Risk Management and the Directorate General Monetary Policy, as well as with NCBs.
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 a trainee in Financial Reporting you will:
- contribute to preparing financial statements and reports of the ECB and the Eurosystem;
- prepare accounts for the ECB’s market operations and financial instruments (monetary policy, foreign exchange and investment portfolios), perform the related reconciliation process and follow up with the relevant business areas, in particular with Market Operations;
- collect and analyse the NCBs’ balance sheets and other financial data;
- provide analytical and quantitative support to the Section and address financial reporting queries, extracting relevant data from the ECB’s financial information systems and producing analyses for various stakeholders;
- closely interact, cooperate and share knowledge with other ECB business areas and Eurosystem NCBs on various financial accounting and reporting topics;
- support the administration and development of information systems used for ECB and Eurosystem financial reporting, and contribute to our digitalisation, automation and innovation initiatives.
The position offers you excellent opportunities to gain insights into the way the ECB works, acquire hands-on experience in the area of finance, and put your theoretical knowledge into practice. You will be part of a multicultural team that strives for continuous innovation to make a positive impact on the lives of European citizens.
Qualifications, experience and skills
Essential:
- a bachelor’s degree or higher in accounting, finance, business administration, risk management or another relevant field;
- knowledge of one or more of the following areas: accounting/financial reporting, financial markets, financial instruments, financial statement analysis, financial risk management and information technology for financial applications;
- a good knowledge of the MS Office package, including 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:
- advanced knowledge of MS Excel and other tools for data management and analysis;
- working knowledge of other software applications and data visualisation tools;
- experience in data analysis and the ability to interpret data;
- knowledge of enterprise resource planning systems (such as SAP).
You are curious and eager to learn, and want to further develop your ability to analyse complex information. You are keen to collaborate with others, pursue team goals and learn from other people’s diverse perspectives. You strive to know and anticipate stakeholder needs, and will signal any need for change and propose alternative solutions.
You are motivated to contribute to the ECB’s mission, to serve the citizens of the EU as a member of a public institution and to work with colleagues from all over Europe. You are keen to be part of our team and to use your skills and competencies to achieve the aims of this position.
Further information
Traineeship of six months, with the possibility of an extension up to 12 months in total.
The envisaged starting date is 1 September 2022.
Application and selection process
Further information on how to join us is available on our
website.
The recruitment process for this position will include a pre-recorded video interview in the pre-selection phase and – if you are invited to participate in the subsequent selection phase – an online interview.
If you are not selected for this position but are still considered suitable, you will be placed on a reserve list for 12 months from the closing date for applications, from which you might be considered for similar positions within the ECB.
