IFRS 17 Reporting System
Automated Financial Reporting for Insurance Contracts
I led the development of an IFRS 17-compliant reporting system for an insurance company transitioning to the new accounting standard. IFRS 17 represents a fundamental shift in how insurers account for insurance contracts — requiring sophisticated data integration, complex calculations, and enhanced disclosure transparency.
Business Context
The introduction of IFRS 17 posed a significant challenge for insurers: build entirely new reporting capabilities while maintaining existing operations. The standard demands granular data on contract boundaries, liability cash flows, and risk adjustments — data that traditional spreadsheet-based processes were never designed to capture.
Solution Architecture
I designed and developed a custom Excel Add-in that served as the user interface for data entry and validation. Behind the scenes, a cloud-based backend on Google Cloud Run handled:
- Data validation and transformation
- Contractual service margin (CSM) calculations
- Financial statement generation from years of historical data
- Audit trail and compliance documentation
This hybrid approach combined the familiarity of Excel (the standard tool for actuarial and finance teams) with the scalability and auditability of cloud infrastructure.
Key Features
- Automated Report Generation — From raw data to IFRS 17-compliant financials
- Data Validation Engine — Ensuring accuracy before calculations proceed
- Multi-entity Consolidation — Aggregating data across business units
- Configurable Templates — Supporting both regulatory filings and management reporting
Technologies
- R — Actuarial calculations and statistical processing
- Office JS — Excel Add-in development
- VBA — Automation of legacy processes
- Python — Backend data processing
- Google Cloud Run — Serverless cloud infrastructure
Impact
Reduced reporting cycle time from weeks to minutes. The automated pipeline processes years of historical data in minutes — eliminating the manual data entry, reconciliation, and validation that previously consumed weeks each reporting period.
The system also improved data quality through built-in validation, reduced regulatory risk through comprehensive audit trails, and enabled faster period-close processes for the finance team.
Scalability
The architecture supports extension to additional regulatory frameworks including:
- IFRS 9 for financial instruments
- Solvency II requirements
- Localstatutory reporting requirements
Future enhancements could include real-time dashboards, scenario analysis for assumption testing, and integration with actuarial valuation engines.