IFRS 17 Reporting System – Bridging Legacy Workflows with Modern Automation

One of my most impactful professional projects involved developing an IFRS 17-compliant reporting system for an insurance company navigating the complexities of the new standard. IFRS 17 isn’t just another set of accounting rules — it transforms how insurers measure, manage, and disclose insurance contract liabilities, demanding unprecedented levels of data integration and transparency.

My role was to design a solution that respected the realities of day-to-day actuarial and accounting work — where Excel is still king — while introducing automation, scalability, and auditability. This meant balancing familiarity for end users with the technical robustness needed for compliance.

The Solution

We built a custom Excel Add-in that let users enter and validate IFRS 17 data directly in Excel. Instead of storing data locally, each entry was securely transmitted to a cloud backend hosted on Google Cloud Run. From there, automated workflows handled data validation, transformation, and report generation — producing IFRS 17-compliant financial statements with minimal manual intervention.

This hybrid approach gave finance teams the interface they were comfortable with, while ensuring all critical processing was centralized, auditable, and capable of handling larger data volumes without the performance bottlenecks of traditional spreadsheets.

Key Features

• Automated Report Generation – Reducing repetitive manual preparation
• Strict IFRS 17 Compliance – Aligning with the latest insurance contract accounting standards
• Cloud-Based Data Integration – Securely connecting multiple business units
• Customizable Templates – Tailoring reports for both regulatory and management purposes

Technologies Used

• R – For actuarial/statistical calculations and data processing
• Office JS – To power the custom Excel Add-in
• VBA – Supporting legacy macros and automation
• Microsoft Excel – The primary end-user interface
• Google Cloud Run – Serverless infrastructure for backend workflows

Impact for Actuaries and Accountants

The system allowed actuarial and finance teams to modernize without a steep learning curve. For actuaries, it meant quicker access to structured, validated datasets for modeling and assumption testing. For accountants, it streamlined period-end processes, reducing the risk of version errors and missed adjustments.

Future Expansion Opportunities

With the foundation in place, this system could evolve into a complete IFRS 17 platform offering:

• Real-time dashboards for contract performance and KPI monitoring
• Integration with actuarial valuation engines for direct liability computation
• Scenario testing tools for assessing the impact of changing assumptions
• Comprehensive audit trails for regulatory review

The same architecture could also be adapted to other regulatory frameworks such as IFRS 9 for financial instruments or NAIC statutory reporting in the U.S.

This project demonstrated how technology can bridge the gap between legacy processes and modern compliance requirements — helping actuaries and accountants shift from manual data wrangling to higher-value analytical and decision-making work.