Description

Duties Description:

The New York State Insurance Fund (NYSIF) is seeking an Assistant Director Investment Accounting to participate substantially in, and help lead, activities within its Investment Accounting Unit to achieve continued excellence in its financial reporting.

NYSIF’s investment portfolio of over $22 billion is currently spread across public equities, public and privately placed fixed income securities, syndicated loans (bank loans), and private market limited partnerships (e.g., private equity).

An external vendor maintains NYSIF’s investment accounting book of record and prepares Statutory-basis accounting schedules for NYSIF’s review.  The incumbent will draw upon their deep experience in investment accounting for a variety of investment asset classes to validate vendor-provided accounting data through activities such as reconciliations/roll-forwards, journal entry reviews, and transaction analyses.  The incumbent will produce financial reporting for the investment portfolio based on the accounting book of record. They will demonstrate excellence at reconciling large datasets across investment, ledger, and regulatory reports, while maintaining strong internal controls and fostering positive stakeholder relationships.  They must be a collaborative, results-driven professional who demonstrates strong analytical skills and close attention to detail. 

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Reviewing vendor-provided accounting data and reports for new and existing asset classes, including equities and fixed income, private markets, and syndicated loan (bank loan) investments.
• Supporting month-end close processes, including reconciling positions among the investment accounting system, custodian bank, and external investment managers, as well as reconciling investment general ledger entries to core investment accounting data and regulatory reports.
• Reviewing vendor-provided reconciliations of positions among the accounting system, external investment managers, and custodian bank. 
• Producing roll-forward reconciliations for carrying values and earned income, leveraging automated tools where possible.
• Working with and validating regulatory reports (e.g., Schedule BA, Schedule D) and reviewing Supplemental Investment Risk Interrogatories (SIRI).
• Preparing annual financial statement investment footnotes, as well as materials required for quarterly filings.
• Coordinating and optimizing various processes, including onboarding new portfolios, executing asset transfers across portfolios, and other-than-temporary impairments (OTTI).
• Liaising with external auditors, including promptly responding to inquiries.
• Working with external vendors, including software providers, data providers, and the custodian bank, to obtain required data and address issues that may arise.
• Continuously reviewing and optimizing processes and internal controls.
• Participating in external vendor procurements (such as Requests for Proposal) and implementations.
• Working with stakeholders including the Investments, Investment Compliance, Internal Audit, and Internal Controls Departments.  This includes assisting with periodic internal control reviews and internal audits.
• Liaising with NYSIF’s Information Technology Services (ITS) group on matters relating to investment accounting. 
• On occasion, producing presentations, primarily to support requests to or from management.
• Leading or supporting projects to integrate new asset classes into accounting systems and operations.
• Other duties as assigned.

Requirements

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in an accounting-related field, AND
• At least seven years of highly analytical experience in Statutory (STAT) basis investment accounting on a well-established software and/or services platform*. Experience must include:
  • Accounting for private markets investments (e.g., limited partnerships in private equity and private real estate).
  • Proficiency with reviewing regulatory schedules (e.g., Schedule BA, Schedule D).
  • Reconciling an investment accounting general ledger to core investment accounting reports and regulatory schedules.
  • Producing roll-forward reconciliations of book/carrying values and earned income.
  • Producing portions of annual financial statements related to investment accounting, including footnotes.
  • Validating the results of processing corporate actions into an investment accounting system.

*Examples of qualifying systems: BlackRock’s Aladdin Accounting Book of Record (ABOR), SS&C’s CAMRA, Clearwater Analytics, FIS, State Street’s PAM/PFI

Note: Functions frequently performed by an investment middle office, such as confirming alignment of trade details between counterparties and tracking trade executions and settlements, are not qualifying experience.

Please be advised that the New York State Insurance Fund (NYSIF) does not offer sponsorship for employment visas to employees or potential employees. Candidates sponsored for employment by an organization should be aware of their sponsorship status and the relevant expiration date(s) of that sponsorship before applying to this position. NYSIF is not currently enrolled in eVerify, which is a requirement for certain types of employment verifications.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Supervisory experience.
• Relevant professional designations (e.g., CPA, CFA).
• Experience working with external auditors and external vendors (including leading meetings and resolving issues).
• Experience with accounting for syndicated loan (bank loan) investments.
• Experience with BlackRock’s Aladdin ABOR (Accounting Book of Record) and/or IBOR (Investment Book of Record).
• Experience producing portions of procurements (such as Requests for Proposal / RFP) for investment accounting software, data, and services.
• Experience collaborating with various internal and external stakeholders, e.g., information technology professionals, Investment Front Office, custodian bank, and investment managers.
• Ability to use Structured Query Language (SQL) or other query language/tools to directly obtain data from accounting system databases.