Financial Reporting Manager

The Financial Reporting Manager is the professional who prepares or reviews financial statements and financial information for external parties. They coordinate the contributions needed to produce these documents, document the checks performed and prepare for exchanges with auditors. Their work focuses on the consistency of figures, notes and supporting documentation within the accounting framework applicable to the company.

The role may cover statutory financial statements, group financial information and certain external publications. The notes are a deliverable in their own right: they must be consistent with the statements and explainable from the working files. Closing and consolidation may also fall within the role's responsibilities, with the degree of involvement to be specified during recruitment.

Reporting lines and autonomy vary according to the finance organisation. The manager may lead the production of group reporting or contribute to publications under the responsibility of a specialist department. The title alone therefore does not establish who decides on complex accounting treatments, who reviews the documents or who authorises their release. The company must explicitly assign these responsibilities, without assuming that the role carries delegated authority to sign the accounts.

Financial Reporting Manager, accounting and FP&A: who does what?

• The Financial Reporting Manager prepares and reviews financial documents for external parties, together with the necessary notes and supporting documentation.
• Accounting remains a separate responsibility whose scope must be defined in the job description. Reviewing financial statements does not mean that the person responsible for them also handles all bookkeeping.
• FP&A focuses on planning, forecasts, performance and internal decisions. Its work may inform exchanges with financial reporting without being the same as producing information for external parties.

Management control should not become the main responsibility by default either. Finally, checks carried out to improve the reliability of publications do not cover all financial internal controls and do not replace the independent assurance provided by internal audit.

Hiring this profile primarily aims to secure financial information that can be explained and checked. A statement that appears consistent remains difficult to substantiate if the notes do not match the figures or the supporting files do not allow the work performed to be traced. The company needs a manager who can connect the final document to the underlying data and accounting treatments.

The timetable is a second concern. Production depends on several contributors whose information must arrive in time for review. The manager must organise deadlines, identify missing items and flag difficulties before they prevent the documents from being finalised. Strong accounting expertise is not enough if the candidate struggles to obtain the necessary information or explain problems clearly to the people involved.

Preparing for audits also requires usable documentation. Auditors' requests must be traceable to working files and technical explanations. A poorly defined recruitment requirement risks leaving this coordination without an owner, particularly when everyone assumes that another team is responsible.

Fictional example: a note presents a different amount from the associated reconciliation file. As the release deadline approaches, the manager investigates the discrepancy, obtains the missing information and documents the correction. If a technical decision exceeds their authority, they submit the analysis to the person responsible for approval.

The key choice is to distinguish expertise, coordination and decision-making authority. A role focused on technical review does not require exactly the same autonomy as one responsible for all group reporting production. Also specify the place of consolidation and the publications applicable to the company. Avoid selecting a candidate solely for their knowledge of software: what matters is their ability to produce, review and explain financial information.

• Prepare or review the statutory financial statements within the role's remit.
• Check that the notes are consistent with the financial statements and their supporting files.
• Coordinate the contributions and closing deadlines needed to produce financial reporting.
• Review balance-sheet and intercompany reconciliations, then arrange for identified discrepancies to be addressed.
• Contribute to consolidation or lead its preparation when this responsibility falls within the role.
• Document accounting analyses and treatments that require technical justification.
• Prepare supporting documentation and coordinate responses to auditors' requests.
• Analyse changes to applicable standards and explain their implications to the relevant teams.
• Contribute to the external financial publications assigned to the role.

Backgrounds in accounting, audit, consolidation or financial reporting can provide skills relevant to the role. Their value depends on the responsibilities exercised: preparing statements, reviewing notes, resolving discrepancies, documenting a treatment and responding to auditors. A previous job title alone does not demonstrate that the candidate has carried out each of these activities.

In France, the diplôme supérieur de comptabilité et de gestion, or DSCG, is one example of a relevant qualification. This master's-level qualification develops skills in accounting, audit and finance, including French and IFRS group accounts. It is not a mandatory requirement attached to the Financial Reporting Manager title. Accounting qualifications sought in certain international vacancies must also be assessed in their context.

For an audit background, look for the ability to move from reviewing documents to producing and coordinating them. For an accounting background, examine the responsibilities already held for statements, notes and supporting documentation. Consolidation experience is particularly useful when the role includes preparing group accounts.

Autonomy is measured through work already undertaken and decisions actually taken. A candidate should be able to distinguish the documents they produced, those they reviewed and the points they referred to their managers. An anonymised technical memorandum or a detailed explanation of a reconciliation makes these skills observable. Coordination and supervisory experience must be examined separately when the role includes a team.

To assess this profile, connect the skills to the documents the candidate will need to produce, the checks they will need to perform and the decisions they will be entrusted with.

1. Set the criteria before the interview

Define the statements, notes and publications concerned, the applicable framework and the place of consolidation. Specify deadlines, contributors and approval authority.

Separate technical criteria from coordination and any supervision. State what the candidate will need to produce independently, have reviewed or refer to their managers.

Treat a precise explanation of the limits of responsibility as a positive sign. Pay attention to a candidate who automatically equates the title with signing the accounts or taking responsibility for the entire finance function.

2. Examine past work

Ask the candidate to describe a financial statement or note they have worked on. Have them specify their personal role, the checks performed and the difficulties encountered.

Ask how they connected published figures to supporting files. Explore a reconciliation discrepancy: how they investigated its origin, the information obtained, the correction and its documentation.

For a complex treatment relevant to your company, ask how they researched the standard and justified their conclusion. Distinguish their analysis from a decision taken by someone else.

A positive response traces an understandable approach and acknowledges points that remained open. An answer limited to the software name or a collective result calls for further questions.

3. Use a case close to the expected work

Fictional example: give the candidate an extract from financial statements, a note and a reconciliation file containing an inconsistency.

Ask them to identify the problem, specify the missing information and propose the checks to perform. Have them explain what they could correct and what would require approval.

Add an auditor's request and a production deadline. Ask how they would organise the response, supporting documentation and exchanges with contributors.

Assess the quality of the reasoning and the traceability of the work. Avoid turning the exercise into a test of a software brand that is absent from the role's responsibilities.

4. Test coordination and communication

Ask the candidate to explain a discrepancy to someone unfamiliar with the accounting treatment. Observe whether they identify the problem, its implications for the documents and the decision required.

Explore a difficult deadline: missing contributions, the sequence of checks and how difficulties were flagged. Look for a concrete approach to organising exchanges.

If the role includes a team, ask how the candidate allocates work and reviews deliverables. Distinguish supervision actually exercised from simply taking part in a group project.

If English is needed, use a document or exchange representative of the actual work.

5. Have the technical skills assessed and check professional references

Entrust the technical assessment to someone capable of evaluating the statements, reconciliations and framework relevant to the role. If this expertise is unavailable internally, seek a competent accounting or finance expert.

With authorised professional references, cross-check the responsibilities described, the quality of supporting documentation and the way difficulties were handled. Ask for observations relating to work actually performed.

Reach a conclusion on the autonomy demonstrated for your role. Identify matters that will still require technical review or support.