Senior Financial Analyst

Role Overview

• Reporting to the Manager, Finance & Administration, the Senior Financial Analyst is responsible for coordinating a full range of financial services in the Housing Secretariat’s Unit
• Housing Benefit Accounting & Reporting, including variance analysis and reporting, budgeting, and contributes to other specialized reports and establishing and maintaining cooperative and effective professional relationships with management and staff.
• Oversees the preparation, analysis, implementation and monitoring of the unit’s operating budget following both corporate budgetary guidelines and relevant accounting principles and practices.
• Monitors, controls, and provides analytical support in budget development, expenditures, revenues, and management of budgets throughout the year by organizing the collection and interpretation of appropriate data on expenditures and revenues.
• Performs analysis and investigation of budget variances including both high level and activity level analysis of expenditures, revenues, and other performance measures; forecasts expenditure and revenue patterns; highlights to management relevant financial issues with strategic and operational impacts; and recommends options towards resolution of issues.
• Contributes to the preparation of briefing notes, specialized reports and staff reports for the City Council and its various committees for financial implications.
• Establishes credible professional relationships with service areas and program managers, which enable the delivery of value-added strategic and financial advice to programs in regard to their services, budgets, operations, or core businesses.
• Ensures decisions respecting budgetary changes are properly documented and that approved estimates and in-year adjustments are reflected in the corporate financial system and SAP.
• Participates in special projects, where required, such as performing research on assigned subject matter and contributing toward writing capital-related reports and/or briefing notes.
• Actively contribute to financial oversight and analysis requirements: Complete financial analyses and make recommendations to management including cost/benefit analyses, assessments of traditional and non-traditional financing arrangements and review of business cases.
• Build an in-depth knowledge of program guidelines of federal and provincial funding sources and provide recommendations on appropriate program funding and reporting models.
• Complete financial research and analysis and participate in policy formulation.
• Review and assess risk management activities, processes and trends and make recommendations to ensure that risks to the City are minimized.
• Develop, document and implement effective business processes.
• Monitor operations for opportunities for improvement and maximization of use of resources.
• Supervise assigned staff: Responsible for performance management, motivation and training to promote effective teamwork, high standards of work quality and organizational performance, continuous learning and innovation.
• Responsible for the planning and organization of assignments to achieve objectives and tight time schedules.

Requirements

• Post-secondary education in Accounting, Business or Finance, completed accounting designation (CPA), or the equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Extensive experience in the development of operating and capital budgets within a large private or public sector organization.
• Extensive experience in budgeting, accounting, internal control techniques, costing and financial analysis, and/or analysis and interpretation of data, coupled with strong analytical and organizational skills.
• Considerable experience with computer software such as Microsoft Office applications (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc.), financial/accounting system such as SAP, and/or Business Intelligence Tools (e.g. Excel, PowerPivot, PowerQuery, Tableau, SAP Analytics Cloud)
• Experience in providing supervision, work direction, training, guidance and support to staff.
• Experience with project management including definition of project purpose and objectives, defining and achieving milestones and deliverables, monitoring and tracking progress and managing communication and reporting requirements.
• Strong communication (written & verbal) and facilitation skills to convey information.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with the public and staff and to be able to relate to people in an objective and empathetic manner.
• Must be able to work independently in a dynamic, complex environment, working with a quality improvement focus.
• Ability to handle confidential and sensitive information with discretion and tact.

Tech Stack

• Cloud
• Tableau