A day in the life

To give you a better idea of a typical day of work in the Finance department, we asked a few members of our team to share their experiences with you.

Tax

Who am I
Mark, Vice President in the Front Office Tax Support team.

Which area of Finance do I work in?
I work in the Front Office Tax Support team. The team’s main focus is managing tax risk for all of the firm’s Front Office transactions.

What do I do?
I ensure tax risks are identified, mitigated and understood by the Front Office. This broad remit includes signing-off new products, assisting in restructures, reviewing legal documents and assisting the business with their build-out strategies; we are the team the Front Office calls first whenever they have a tax question.

Most challenging aspects of my role?
Having to answer a question there and then. A day never really goes exactly to plan, given the urgency and volume of queries driven by the business, so our main challenge is to keep multi-task and keep all the plates spinning!

Interaction outside of Finance?
Apart from spending time with the Front Office, I also spend a lot of time with the Legal and Compliance departments given the risk aspect of the role.

What do I enjoy about my role at Barclays Capital?
Every day is different and brings a new set of challenges to overcome. Given the recent economic challenges, new product development and constantly changing tax environment brings more things to learn and understand which keeps the role fresh, interesting and intellectually stimulating.

Product Control

Who am I?
Tom, Analyst in the FX Options Product Control team.

Which area of Finance do I work in?
I work in the FX Options team for Product Control and I am responsible for the Short Dated Vanilla Options and Short Dated Exotic Options business areas.

What do I do?
My role involves reviewing new trades, P&L reconciliation, commentary substantiation, market operation reviews, as well as dealing with many other ad-hoc queries on a day-to-day basis.
I also have the opportunity to get involved in on-going improvement projects. This can range from process enhancements to complex data analysis.

Most challenging aspects of my role?
My team receive such a wide variety of queries and requests that in order to answer them all you need to have a detailed understanding of a vast array of topics. I am always trying to absorb as much information as possible from the people around me. It is a constant challenge, but it is one I relish.

Interaction outside of Finance?
As a product controller, I interact frequently with the Front Office. In addition, my involvement in project work has provided me with fantastic opportunities to gain exposure to other areas of the firm. As a result, I have regular contact with and built up great working relationships with areas such as Client Valuations, Operations and Compliance.

What do I enjoy about my role at Barclays Capital?
Most of all I like the fact that I work in a very knowledgeable team with a huge amount of knowledge and experience. I go home having learnt something new every day. I also enjoy the balance between Front Office interaction and technical pc-based work.

Financial Decision Support (FDS)

Who am I?
Anu, an Assistant Vice-President in the Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) team which sits within the FDS function of Finance.

Which area do I work in?
FP&A supports firmwide financial decisions by providing important analysis and commentary to key strategic decision makers. We work with many teams inside and outside of Finance, and especially closely with the Cost Decision Support and Management Information Support teams who are also part of the FDS function.

What do I do?
I recently transferred from the FP&A team in New York to the FP&A team in London. In FP&A, we have a strong initiative to involve everyone in the team’s major deliverables. This provides us with exposure to many different projects. On a regular basis, I provide management committees with presentations and analysis, as well as spend time on analysing credit market related losses and exposures that we disclose to the public.

Most challenging aspects of my role?
Staying tuned-in to what is relevant to senior management and translating data and analysis into thoughtful and useful tools to help them make key decisions. It is important to anticipate and understand senior management requirements in highly pressurised situations and deliver a timely response.

Interaction outside of Finance?
FP&A works with a number of groups outside of the Finance department to produce analysis for senior management. We work closely with a number of Group teams, especially Group Investor Relations on the results announcements, answering analyst queries and preparing presentations. We also interact regularly with Treasury, Risk, and the Strategy and Planning department.

What do I enjoy about my role at Barclays Capital?
FP&A is exposed to a variety of work, so every day is different. Each group member has a great team spirit and work ethic and provides a unique perspective to the team. We get a bird’s-eye view of the firm, across all business areas and frequently have opportunities to interact with senior management. Deliverables can come up against tight deadlines and we work hard to get ahead of the learning curve, but the experiences in FP&A are always very rewarding.

Financial Control

Who am I?
Denise, Assistant Vice President in the Global Financial Review (GFR) team which is part of Finance’s Financial Control function.

Which area of Finance do I work in?
The GFR team’s primary focus is to; ensure that Barclays Capital’s financial statements correctly reflect our business, communicate and explain the financial statements to others, and continually improve processes within Financial Control.

What do I do?
My main role is to review the semi-annual and annual-disclosures for Barclays Capital which form part of the external results announcement of Barclays Group Plc. This involves:

            •Providing guidance to those who perform financial reporting roles for Barclays Capital
           •Interaction with Group Finance on month-end processes
           •Capturing data in the reporting system
Most challenging aspects of my role?
Our clients, shareholders and the media are focused on what our balance sheet is made up of. As such, verifying it is crucial and it must be right!

Interaction outside of Finance?
I have a lot of interaction with Barclays Group Finance. Most recently, I have been involved in a project that will deliver new reporting infrastructure. This has given me a lot of exposure to and contact with various Product Control teams, particularly regarding monthly balance sheets and P&L movement.

What do I enjoy about my role at Barclays Capital?
The people I work with and their various experiences/backgrounds. This ensures I am constantly learning from others and expanding my knowledge.