Traineeship in the Directorate Finance – Financial Accounting and Reporting

at  The European Central Bank

General Information
Type of contract Traineeship
Who can apply? EU nationals eligible for our traineeship programme
Grant The trainee grant is €1,170 per month plus an accommodation allowance (see further information section)
Working time Full time
Place of work Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Closing date 12.08.2024
Your team
You will be part of the Accounting Section of the Financial Accounting and Reporting Division in the Directorate Finance. Our Division has around 50 members of staff.
As a trainee in the Accounting Section, you join a team of around 25 members of staff responsible for processing incoming and outgoing invoices, dealing with VAT and other tax matters, maintaining the ECB’s fixed asset and leasing accounts, levying fees on supervised credit institutions, managing payroll and pension accounting, and performing other financial accounting tasks. This includes the closing of the corresponding accounts at the year-end and contributing to the disclosures required for the ECB’s annual accounts preparation process. We strive to continuously improve our processes and procedures in all these areas and are moving towards straight-through processing, automation and digitalisation.
The ECB is an inclusive employer and we strive to reflect the diversity of the population we serve. We encourage you to apply irrespective of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, race, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or other characteristics.
Your role

As a trainee in the Accounting Section you will:

• contribute to regular accounting processes not related to monetary policy (such as accounts payable, accounts receivable, fixed assets and year-end procedures) that include working with ECB SAP components relevant to financial accounting;
• advise purchasing business areas, contractors (creditors or debtors) and other relevant stakeholders on accounting issues, and contribute to the development and implementation of accounting concepts for new business cases;
• support the analysis and presentation of accounting data to management for information and decision-making purposes;
• contribute to the optimisation and documentation of internal processes and procedures, such as the analysis and implementation of innovative solutions, also covering the ECB’s procure-to-pay process and its accounting modules in SAP.

The position offers you excellent opportunities to gain insights into how the ECB works, acquire hands-on experience in the area of finance, and put your theoretical knowledge into practice. You will be part of a multicultural team that strives for continuous innovation to make a positive impact on the lives of European citizens.
Qualifications, experience and skills

Essential:

• a bachelor’s degree or higher in accounting, finance, business administration or another relevant field;
• knowledge of one or more of the following areas: accounting or information technology for financial accounting;
• a good knowledge of the MS Office package, including Word, Excel and PowerPoint;
• an advanced knowledge of MS Excel and other tools for data management and analysis;
• a working knowledge of other software applications and data visualisation tools, including programming skills (e.g. for Python) and the ability to document and explain code;
• an advanced (C1) command of English and an intermediate (B1) command of at least one other official language of the EU, according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

Desired:

• knowledge of accounting principles and financial statements;
• experience and interest in accounts payable or accounts receivable processing;
• knowledge of enterprise resource planning systems (such as SAP);
• experience and interest in data analysis and the ability to interpret data;
• a basic (A1) command of German.

You are curious and eager to learn and want to further develop your ability to analyse complex information. You are keen to collaborate with others, pursue team goals and learn from other people’s diverse perspectives. You strive to know and anticipate stakeholder needs and will signal any need for change and propose alternative solutions.
You are motivated to contribute to the ECB’s mission, to serve the citizens of the EU as a member of a public institution and to work with colleagues from all over Europe. You are keen to be part of our team and to use your skills and competencies to achieve the aims of this position.
Further information
Initial traineeship of six months, with a possible extension to up to 12 months in total. The contracts are planned to commence in the first half of 2025, also taking into account the availability of the successful candidates.
Other details on the conditions applicable to traineeships at the ECB can be found on our website.
For additional information on this specific vacancy, you can speak to Heiko Nordhausen on +49 (0)69 1344 6295.
Application and selection process
The recruitment process for this position will include an online interview and a written exercise.
Further information on how to apply is available on our website.
If you are not selected for this position but are still considered suitable, you will be placed on a reserve list for 12 months from the closing date for applications, from which you might be considered for other traineeship positions within the ECB.

Please refer the Job description for details