Director, Accounting

Aegon; United States; On-site; USD 153,000 - 185,000; Full time

Job summary

Aegon is seeking a strategic leader to establish and head an operational accounting center of excellence. You will drive process rigor, control effectiveness, and continuous improvement across cash, suspense reconciliation, and related accounting processes while partnering with Finance, Risk, Internal Controls, and Operations.

The role requires 12+ years in insurance/financial services accounting, strong leadership, and ability to align processes with enterprise standards; CPA or advanced degree

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting.
• Generally 12+ years of experience in insurance accounting or financial services.
• Experience leading suspense cleanup, reconciliation improvement, aging reduction, exposure management, or similar initiatives.
• Demonstrated leadership experience.
• Extensive knowledge of accounting and business areas.
• Ability to communicate effectively to all audiences.

Responsibilities

• Establish and lead an operational accounting center of excellence to drive consistent execution and continuous improvement.
• Ensure integrity and completeness of accounting information, focusing on cash activity and reconciliation quality.
• Drive monitoring of reconciliation open items, aging, exposure, and remediation progress.
• Identify gaps, control weaknesses, and improvement opportunities from reconciliation results.
• Oversee hiring, coaching, and performance reviews of staff.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic thinking

Team management

Communication

Project management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in accounting

CPA/advanced degree (preferred)

Job description

Responsible for establishing and leading a high-performing operational accounting center of excellence focused on accounting discipline, process rigor, control effectiveness, and continuous improvement. This role oversees cash and suspense reconciliation governance, open item aging, exposure monitoring, and other operational accounting processes, such as cashiering and billing, while partnering with Finance, Risk, Internal Controls, and Operations to ensure processes are performed completely, accurately, and within the enterprise risk and control framework.

Responsibilities

• Establish and lead an operational accounting center of excellence to drive consistent execution, accountability, governance, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure the integrity, accuracy, and completeness of accounting and financial reporting information, with emphasis on cash activity, suspense accounting, reconciliation quality, and open item aging.
• Drive disciplined monitoring of cash and suspense reconciliation open items, including aging, exposure, root cause themes, and remediation progress.
• Use suspense accounting and reconciliation results to identify operational gaps, control weaknesses, process breakdowns, and improvement opportunities.
• May authorize and/or approve legal, regulatory, or company documents.
• Review written analysis to propose recommendations to senior management for decision making.
• Partner with Operations, Finance, Risk, Internal Controls, and other stakeholders to resolve accounting matters, strengthen controls, and align operational accounting processes with enterprise standards.
• Understand and apply technical accounting concepts for multiple bases of accounting.
• Drive the development of financial reports and complex models for forecasting, trending and results analysis.
• Lead adherence to the Company’s internal control framework, including documentation, escalation, remediation, and ongoing monitoring of operational accounting exposures.
• Oversee management staff providing hiring, direction, coaching, and training of staff. Complete performance appraisals and evaluates overall performance of team.
• Align staff goals, project priorities, cleanup initiatives, and process improvement objectives with business priorities and risk reduction goals.
• Collaborate effectively to provide input on organizational strategy and policy while managing risks.
• Develop strategic direction for the department/business unit. Responsible for departmental budget.
• Embody a culture of accountability, innovation, teamwork, and customer centricity.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting.
• Generally 12+ years of experience, including required insurance accounting experience and a strong background in insurance, financial services, or investment management.
• Required experience leading suspense cleanup, reconciliation improvement, aging reduction, exposure management, or related operational accounting remediation initiatives.
• Demonstrated management/leadership experience.
• Extensive knowledge of applicable accounting and business areas.
• Ability to communicate orally and in writing to all audiences.
• Ability to lead a large group of employees to ensure business goals are met.
• Forward thinker able to anticipate future needs/challenges.
• Strong organizational, prioritization, and project management skills, with the ability to manage competing cleanup, control, and operational improvement priorities.
• Effective judgment and decision-making skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• CPA/advanced degree.

The Salary for this position generally ranges between $153,000 - $185,000 annually. Please note that the salary range is a good faith estimate for this position and actual starting pay is determined by several factors including qualifications, experience, geography, work location designation (in-office, hybrid, remote) and operational needs. Salary may vary above and below the stated amounts, as permitted by applicable law.

Additionally, this position is typically eligible for an Annual Bonus based on the Company Bonus Plan/Individual Performance and is at the Company’s discretion.