Everything you need to know about Reporting and Analysis department of Shell Business Operations
The Reporting and Analysis department of Shell Business Operations Kraków is the financial heart of the company, covering the EMEA region - Europe, Africa and parts of Central Asia. We have talked with Shell's Reporting and Accounting Managers, Anna K?sek and Agnieszka Noworyta, about the skills necessary to take up a job in the department and opportunities that await future R&A employees.
The Reporting and Analysis department (R&A) is the biggest part of Shell Finance Operations. In Kraków alone it employs over 650 professionals. The R&A department provides services to all Shell's companies, focusing on the EMEA region. It takes care of general ledger accounting, planning, financial and management reporting, group reporting, financial consolidations as well as prepares reports in accordance with local regulations and manages the fixed assets register. Because of such a wide scope of services, the R&A department offers excellent development opportunities - employees can achieve versatility by changing duties or transitioning to new teams within the organisation.
The R&A department coordinates the most demanding and comprehensive tasks, including financial controlling, planning and analysis, consolidation and group reporting. One might say that the centre in Kraków has now become the financial heart of Shell, in terms of a comprehensive knowledge of financial processes, financial reporting consulting and operational expertise for the EMEA region.
Due to its dynamic development, the department is continuously looking for both experienced professionals and those who are just beginning their career in finance. The R&A department is currently hiring for the following positions:
- Finance Analyst/Senior Finance Analyst, Accountant/Senior Accountant
- Reporting & Accounting Manager, Financial Controller
- Group Reporting Advisor/Senior Group Reporting Advisor
- Business Analyst/Senior Business Analyst
We have talked with Anna K?sek, Financial Accounting and Reporting Lead – Europe, and Agnieszka Noworyta, R&A Manager, about work and possible development opportunities in the R&A department.
R&A roles
1. How are the job positions in R&A different and what do they have in common?
All of these roles share one common denominator – subject-matter knowledge.
Regardless of their position in the organisation, all job roles - including management - use financial knowledge in their everyday work. Such an organisational structure and requirements allow for an individual development of any employee, regardless of whether they have chosen the specialist or management path. It is possible, because both specialists and managers participate in reporting processes - starting from preparation, through analysis to final approval management reports, including those meant for management boards of companies and presidents of specific businesses. Despite having the same basis, all of these job positions differ from each other in certain elements:
- Roles in group reporting teams will be more attractive to professionals with good knowledge of international accounting standards, ACCA/CIMA certifications. These roles are often taken by people with audit experience.
- Jobs in planning and appraisal will be better suited to employees who feel comfortable working on large datasets and can cooperate with a bigger number of people involved in the budgeting process.
- For those interested in accounting in a broader sense, R&A processing teams will be a better choice - these teams take care of general ledger accounting, balance sheet reconciliation, fixed assets accounting and financial statement submissions.
Employees who would like to take leadership roles are of course required to have experience in team management.
Aptitude for working in the R&A department
2. What skills are necessary to work in the R&A department?
The required entry-level competencies are fundamental finance and accounting understanding and the ability to draw conclusions from data analysis.
Since we work in an international environment, it is necessary to have teamwork skills and the ability to work in a virtual setting, with partners from other regions and cultures. Because of that, English and good communication skills are required. The nature of our work requires us to meet deadlines and have the ability to learn continuously, which is of utmost importance in finance.
Most of our employees have a relevant university degree in finance, accounting or economics. When it comes to highly specialized positions, ACCA, CIMA or audit certifications as well as our Polish ones such as chief accountant (g?ówny ksi?gowy) or chartered accountant (bieg?y ksi?gowy) are an additional asset. For employees who wish to enhance their skills in finance, Shell provides supplementary funding to help cover the costs of international study courses and qualifications such as ACCA, CIMA or a chartered accountant qualification.
Career development in R&A
3. What development opportunities can you offer to your employees in R&A?
Shell offers a number of development opportunities in the financial area, both to individual team members, including specialists, and managers with additional leadership skills. Each employee creates an individual development plan on the basis of their skills, experience and aspirations.
The individual development plan is supported and approved by the employee’s supervisor and lists the key competencies which the employee needs to enhance, the ways of acquiring them and an estimated time when the person can achieve a desired level of skills allowing them for taking up a new position in the company or taking on new responsibilities.
Vertical and horizontal development in R&A
4. What kind of career prospects can you expect in the R&A department?
Our organisational structure allows for lateral moves into different positions or teams and offers specialisation in specific areas. Employees with leadership skills and ambitions have a clear management career path ahead of them.
For example, the role of financial analyst can involve taking care of the fixed assets register, balance sheet and results analysis as well as preparation of group reports for the less complex Shell companies. The more comprehensive companies are usually handled by senior analysts, since they require more experience in reporting as well as cooperation with a number of people, including central finance departments.
In the same way, the role of business analyst differs from the senior business analyst in task complexity and the position of the task recipient in the organisation hierarchy.
Senior Team Managers or Financial Controllers can be promoted to the role of Accounting Managers and those who prefer to broaden their knowledge of reporting standards - may be transferred to the group reporting department.
Shell Business Operations as a good workplace
5. What makes Shell Business Operations a good place to work?
Shell is a good place to work because of its variety of job positions and processes, resulting in a wide range of development opportunities and career paths, but most importantly - because of its friendly workplace environment.
In 2017 and 2018 Shell Polska was awarded the “Great Place to Work” certification. The company was recognised for building trust with its employees, offering self-fulfilment possibilities and satisfaction with job duties. We can officially say that we are an employer of choice for candidates who highly value a corporate culture based on respect, trust, diversity appreciation and tolerance.
Our experts:
Anna K?sek
Financial Accounting and Reporting Lead – Europe
She graduated from Cracow University of Economics followed by ACCA postgraduate studies. Having gained several years of experience in finance, she joined Shell in 2008 as Junior General Ledger Team Manager, initially to oversee the migration process of financial reporting preparation and then to manage general ledger, fixed assets and reporting teams. For two years she led a global project transferring the roles of financial controllers from their original locations to five SBO centres in Kraków, Glasgow, Chennai, Kuala Lumpur and Manila. Currently she is a manager of a sizeable team in Kraków, which is responsible for preparation, analysis and reporting of financial reports for Shell's European companies in the Downstream business.
Agnieszka Noworyta
R&A Manager
She has worked for Shell for 12 years, starting as Operations Manager, when she was made resposible for migration of operations from Shell entities to the centre in Kraków. She spent a few years in Credit Department, managing credit assessment and collections teams, before she was appointed Process Manager in Cash Management managing teams across centres. Currently she is a manager of a team in Kraków, which is responsible for preparation, analysis and reporting of financial reports for Shell's companies in the Upstream business. She holds ACCA and MBA qualifications.
