Financial Systems Analyst

COUNTRY Financial serves about one million households and businesses throughout the United States. It offers a full range of financial products and services from auto, home and life insurance to retirement planning services, investment management and annuities.

At COUNTRY Financial, our Financial Systems Analyst performs business analysis, project support and testing for efforts impacting Corporate Controllers and the financial staff of Alliance partners. This position may be filled as a Financial Systems Analyst or Senior Financial Systems Analyst. Placement will be determined by skills and qualifications of the candidate.

* Participates on project teams to investigate, develop, test and implement new or enhanced systems to determine system impacts, and develops and documents system and data conversion requirements. * Performs maintenance and provides support on various financial systems, including: Lawson Financial and Hyperion Essbase. * Assists in development of test strategy, test cases, and test plans for testing software (vendor packaged as well as COUNTRY Financial developed) based on system requirements. * Writes test cases (acceptance, usability, regression) and executes test plans, analyzes issues found during testing and assists in the documentation and troubleshooting of issues. (May lead small to medium size testing efforts.) * Develops and maintains project schedule using information provided from the team leaders and the project leader, identifies issues with the schedule and areas of concern due to dependency conflicts or resource constraints, monitors project status and makes necessary adjustments, develops project status reports and maintains issues and risks lists, and facilitates discussion of risks and issues and coordinates issue resolution. * May serve as business liaison between business areas and ITS and/or outside vendors for projects and application support issues impacting users and applications. * Provides data analysis and account reconciliation to identify data or account balance problems as part of system development work, and investigates variances between accounting and source systems, or conversion of data from previous systems. * Researches and identifies reasons for systems problems, such as a system internally being out of balance, and develops resolutions to correct the system errors.

* Education equivalent to a college degree with a strong emphasis in accounting and/or computer science, or equivalent work experience. * CPA designation or currently working toward CPA Designation is a plus. * Previous experience in a business analysis/information technology role supporting financial systems with business operations exposure is also preferred. * Knowledge of project management and information technology concepts including knowledge and skills in the use of personal computer hardware and software, knowledge of or ability to learn reporting tools, data marts and interface tables, and understanding of basic accounting concepts. * Knowledge of insurance company operations understanding of financial statements, accounting concepts, and statutory accounting is preferred. * Possesses ability to function and communicate in a team environment, as well as ability to work independently in completing assignments and meeting deadlines utilizing good prioritization and multitasking skills. * Demonstrated ability to perform duties in an organized, logical and analytical manner using problem solving and business analysis techniques, and ability to effectively communicate with others in oral and written form. * Exhibits the ability to communicate in both user and data processing terms is desired.