Director, Financial Planning

Role Responsibilities

Reporting to the Executive Director, Finance and Senior Financial Officer, the Director plays a key role in leading a comprehensive range of budgeting and financial planning activities for the ministry,  including, but not limited to, budgeting and forecasting, financial planning, analysis and management, and strategic support and advice to assist the ministry in meeting financial and business plan goals.

The Director manages a team of professional staff, and ensures that the Department's financial resource requirements are met by providing financial services for differing and complex program areas within the Department and establishing positive working relationships. The position provides leadership and mentorship to all financial planning staff and ensures consistent understanding of job functions and expectations.

The Director must possess strong communication and leadership skills, and the ability to develop teams and foster a positive working environment that supports communication, collaboration, high performance and ensures continuous improvement and professional development of all staff.

Job Responsibilities:

• Provide leadership and direction for the preparation of briefing materials, with input from Directors and Assistant Deputy Ministers, to provide useful information for the Minister's presentations to Cabinet Policy Committee, Treasury Board Committee, and Committee of Supply.
• Develop the financial portion of the Ministry Business Plan, capital plan and annual budget in accordance with Treasury Board and Finance (TBF) guidelines and support the direction identified.
• Ensure the allocation and incorporation of budget information in the Government of Alberta financial system and in the Department's internal reporting process.
• Ensure budget and forecast systems/processes are developed and maintained to support Ministry Directors in their performance of these functions. Provide strategic advice and support to Department officials.
• Oversee the preparation of all required budget documents to ensure timelines are met and information is accurate. Resolve issues with budget targets and briefing materials with Treasury Board and Finance officials.
• Lead the preparation of the tracking, and analysis of monthly cash flows and internal forecasting to ensure quarterly forecast submissions for revenue updates, operating expenses and capital investment are prepared and analyzed to ensure documentation and rationale for funding.
• Gather and review financial and staffing information from program areas in an efficient and effective manner to support financial information and analysis, briefing materials related to budget and forecast preparation and revenue, expenditure and Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) reporting to the Executive team.
• Provide critical analysis, strategic advice, and recommendations to the ED (SFO), ADM’s, DM and other members of the Executive Team through performing the responsibilities of the role and supporting ministry program areas and projects/mandates.
• Ensure Minister briefing documents and responses to action requests are complete, accurate and timely meeting the needs of the Minister, DM, ADM, SFO, Executive Team and other Ministry officials.

For a copy of the full job description for this position, please visit this link.

APS Competencies

Competencies are behaviors that are essential to reach our goals in serving Albertans. We encourage you to have an in depth understanding of the competencies that are required for this opportunity and to be prepared to demonstrate them during the recruitment process.

This link will assist you with understanding competencies: https://www.alberta.ca/system/files/custom_downloaded_images/psc-alberta-public-service-competency-model.pdf.

Drive for Results – The position takes and delegates responsibility for outcomes, uses variety of resources to monitor own performance standards, acknowledges even indirect responsibility, commits to what is good for Albertans even if not immediately accepted and reaches goals consistent with APS direction.

Creative Problem Solving – The position engages the community and resources at hand to address issues, engages perspective to seek root causes, finds ways to improve complex systems, employs resources from other areas to solve problems and engages others and encourages debate and idea generation to solve problems while addressing risks.

Agility – The position identifies and manages required change and the associated risks, identifies alternative approaches and supports others to do the same, proactively explains impact of changes, anticipates and mitigates emotions of others, anticipates obstacles and stays focused on goals and makes decisions and takes action in uncertain situations and creates a backup plan.

Develop Networks – This position builds trust to fairly represent every party, uses network to identify opportunities, establishes credibility and common purpose with a range of people, actively represents needs and varying groups, creates strategic impression by inspiring and connecting with values and beliefs.

Systems Thinking – This position takes a long-term view towards organization’s objectives and how to achieve them, takes holistic long-term view of challenges and opportunities, anticipates outcomes and potential impacts, seeks stakeholder perspectives, works towards actions and plans aligned with APS values and works with others to identify areas for collaboration.

Qualifications

Required:

• A University Degree in Finance, Accounting, Business or Administration supplemented by 7 years of related experience.
• Sufficient experience in public sector accounting and business planning.
• Related experience or education may be considered as an equivalency on a one for one basis.
• Management level experience supporting and dealing with executive management concerning strategic, financial operations and policy.

Assets:

• Strong leadership skills to build and lead an effective team.
• Professional accounting designation (CPA) would be required.
• Strong facilitation and consensus building skills.
• Creativity and innovation.
• Excellent verbal, written, and presentation skills.
• Project management and evaluation.
• Very strong analytical and problem-solving skills with sound judgment and decision making.
• Knowledge of relevant accounting standards, legislation, regulations and policies, specifically the Financial Administration Act, and the Sustainable Fiscal Planning and Reporting Act.
• Knowledge of Government strategic and policy directions as they relate to the Ministry's mandate and initiatives as well as the Ministry business plan, programs, deliverables and initiatives.

Minimum recruitment standards outline the minimum education and experience required for appointment to a job classification. Refer to https://www.alberta.ca/alberta-public-service-minimum-recruitment-standards.

Notes

A cover letter must accompany your application and how your experience aligns with the behavioral competencies of the role you are applying for. This cover letter may be used to assess your communication abilities.

In your resume, please include dates (including months and years) associated with all education and work experience. As well, please indicate whether your work experience is casual, part-time or full-time. For example, January 15, 2006 - June 25, 2009: Assistant (PT three 8 hrs. shifts/week).

Candidates with lesser qualifications may be considered at a lower classification and salary. This competition may be used to fill future roles at the same or lower classifications.

Final candidates will be required to undergo a security screening. All costs associated with the recruitment process including documentation fees and travel expenses are the candidate’s responsibility. If documentation is requested from an applicant, out-of-province applicants can obtain the documents requested from the province they reside in.

What we offer:

• Working for the Alberta Public Service – https://www.alberta.ca/advantages-working-for-alberta-public-service.aspx
• Management Employees Pension Plan (MEPP) – https://www.mepp.ca
• Alberta Public Service Benefit Information – https://www.alberta.ca/alberta-public-service-benefits
• Professional learning and development – https://www.alberta.ca/professional-development-support-directive
• Research Alberta Public Service Careers tool – https://researchapscareers.alberta.ca
• Positive workplace culture and work-life balance
• Leadership and mentorship programs