Description:
As a Senior Financial Accountant, you will play a critical role in delivering financial services, expert guidance, and analysis to support both operational needs and strategic decision-making. This position provides leadership in key areas such as financial analysis, risk management, budget coordination, accounting operations, and financial reporting. You will also contribute to the development and continuous improvement of financial policies, ensuring compliance with legislative requirements and promoting sound fiscal practices across the organization. Collaboration with internal and external stakeholders is essential, as you work to enhance transparency, uphold fiscal responsibility, and ensure the financial stability of assigned programs.
Other key responsibilities include:
- Leading all accounting activities including preparation and monitoring of general ledger entries, bank reconciliations and maintenance of bank and other reporting documentation and records.
- Monitoring and conducting regular analysis of budget performance and expenditures to proactively identify potential problems, discrepancies, or pressures.
- Developing budget materials, financial models, and scenarios for use in budget and forecasting processes and to generate financial statements.
- Leading inventory accounting activities by tracking, organizing, and maintaining accurate records of inventory and optimizing inventory control processes and reporting.
- Processing all financial payments and transactions including posting and reconciling transactions in Microsoft Dynamics, setting up payments in banking system, processing electronic interfaces and electronic payments.
- Overseeing the development and continuous improvement of internal, external, and ad hoc financial reports, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and alignment with agency and Ministry requirements, while supporting the evaluation and stability of assigned programs.
- Delivering monthly, quarterly, and annual financial statements, variance analyses, and insightful commentary to support leadership decision-making and ensure comprehensive financial reporting.
- Managing the preparation of monthly variance analysis and leads the development of financial and administrative control policies and procedures for payments, financial reporting, and systems.
- Leading analyses and developing recommendations relating to business and financial issues such as the impact of business decisions, in support of the agency business and strategic plans, priorities, and corporate directions and makes recommendations for improvements to business processes as required.
- Providing financial expertise to the operational multi-year and financial planning process by preparing and providing information such as budget estimates, allocations, calendarizations, and forecasts.
- Supporting development of annual business plan and multi-year forecasting for Supply Ontario.
- Maintaining cooperative efforts in the delivery of an effective and efficient financial administration function and provides guidance to staff at all levels in the interpretation, analysis, and easy access to financial information.
- Leading the development, communication, and continuous improvement of financial policies, controls, and procedures to ensure compliance with legislative requirements, PSAB/GAAP standards, risk management principles, and internal controls.
- Developing and maintaining internal communication tools and staff resources to support understanding and consistent application of financial policies and procedures.
- Providing subject matter expertise to non-finance leadership and occasionally the Board of Directors on the interpretation of financial data for decision-making.
- Acting as key liaison with senior internal, Ministry and 3rd party staff in managing financial records and obligations.
- Providing back-up to the Payroll Specialist by conducting full cycle payroll processing when required.
Successful candidates will demonstrate the following:
- University degree preferably in Accounting, Business or Finance.
- Professional accounting designation (CPA).
- Minimum of five (5) years of progressive financial accounting experience with experience in month-end/year-end closing, reconciliations, financial statement preparation, support budgeting and forecasting.
- Experience within the public service, provincial agency or broader public sector would be considered an asset.
- Understanding and application of government accounting concepts, policies, standards including guidance from the Public Accounting Standards Board.
- Knowledge of accounting and public sector standards, generally accepted accounting principles and practices (GAAP), financial management and banking, budget allocation, financial planning, business planning and implementation and expenditure forecasting and reporting.
- Understanding of principles, policies and practices relating to the financial administration and processing.
- Ability to think strategically to understand external impact on internal strategy, consider how present policies, processes, and methods might be affected by future developments and trends.
- Knowledge of payroll administration methods, best practices, and applicable provincial and federal legislation.
- Knowledge and skills in financial systems and reporting tools, specifically Microsoft Dynamics, Power BI, and e-payments.
- Strong organizational skills to prioritize multiple activities, meet defined deadlines and deliver results in a fast-paced environment with competing and changing demands.
- Creativity in problem solving and ability to anticipate and identify financial issues to deliver sound solutions.
- Consultation and advisory skills to provide guidance and expert advice to leadership or other groups.
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to translate financial information into plain language and present ideas in insightful ways.
- Advanced computer skills especially in utilizing MS Office Suite of programs (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Access) and financial systems.
- Strong verbal and written communication skills to advise and prepare and provide presentations, instructions, options, and reports and liaise with various levels of staff as well as present to leadership and the Board of Directors.