ESG Reporting Accountant

Position: ESG Reporting Accountant (fixed term)
At M&G, our purpose is to give everyone real confidence to put their money to work. With a heritage dating back more than 175 years, we have a long history of innovation in savings and investments, combining asset management and insurance expertise to offer a wide range of solutions.
Our two distinct operating segments, Asset Management and Life, work together to provide access to balanced, long-term investment and savings solutions.
Through telling it like it is, owning it now and moving it forward together with care and integrity; we are creating an exceptional place to work for exceptional talent.
We will consider flexible working arrangements for any of our roles and offer workplace adjustments to ensure you have the support you need to succeed in your role.
** Role

Summary:

** We are looking for an ESG Reporting Accountant to join the Group Sustainability team for a 6 month period. It’s an exciting time to be involved in this fast-moving space, with companies coming under growing pressure to disclose more information on their sustainability efforts, and with regulations and disclosure frameworks evolving to allow for reporting in more standardised and comprehensive formats.

The ESG Reporting Accountant is responsible for leading on the delivery of the Group’s subsidiary sustainability reporting under TCFD, SDR and SFDR and plays a vital role in the delivery of the Group Sustainability Report in the Annual Report and Accounts. The role includes the end to end production of reports including managing the external audit relationship and ensuring complete, accurate and compliant reporting of external disclosures.

The role will incorporate a broad range of responsibilities including: supporting on the sustainability reporting change agenda; peer analysis; presentation of papers at governance forums; managing key controls and associated risks; and content drafting through collaboration with internal stakeholders.
*
* Key Responsibilities:

*** Working collaboratively with various subject matter experts to design ESG disclosures for inclusion in external reporting documents including the Group’s Annual Report and Accounts.
* End to end production of entity reports including planning, managing change, understanding peers, metrics analysis, content drafting and content verification.
* Coordinating responses to auditor queries in relation to ESG disclosures.
* Responsibility for the team’s Key Controls and risk management returns.
* Taking personal accountability for maintaining and enhancing controls you are responsible for to support improvement of the overall control environment.
* Keeping abreast of developments in the ESG disclosure space (peers and regulations) to ensure all disclosures are in line with latest requirements of various regulatory bodies and emerging best practice.
* Supporting the team planning including management of governance processes.
* Writing governance papers for submission to boards and committees.
* Supporting the project team where necessary in tasks associated with the implementation of new sustainability regulations.
** Knowledge &

Experience:

**** To ensure your success in this role you will be/have:
*** Qualified Accountant with some experience or knowledge of sustainability reporting.
* Some understanding of key reporting regulations including TCFD, SDR and SFDR.
* Experienced in production and delivery of disclosures in a financial services organisation, or experience of auditing such disclosures.
* An understanding of controls.
* Experience of working with external auditors or knowledge of key audit concepts.
* Good analytical skills in relation to financial metrics or sustainability metrics.
** It is desirable for the candidate to have:
*** Sound understanding of…