Finance Manager
Location: Alberta, Canada
Job Type: Contract / Temporary
Department: Finance & Corporate Services
Professional Designation: CPA or CPA-in-progress
Position Overview
The Finance Manager will provide senior financial leadership and hands-on oversight for complex, time-sensitive finance and accounting initiatives within a large, complex public-sector environment.
The ideal candidate will bring a strong combination of technical accounting expertise, financial reporting knowledge, leadership capability, and stakeholder management skills.
This role requires someone who can quickly understand complex assignments, organize resources, manage competing priorities, identify financial risks, review technical accounting work, coordinate stakeholders, and ensure accurate and timely deliverables.
Key Responsibilities
- Manage complex financial reporting and accounting engagements.
- Lead financial reporting, general accounting, revenue/grant reporting, and related finance workstreams.
- Oversee monthly, quarterly, and annual financial reporting activities.
- Review financial statements, supporting schedules, and accompanying notes.
- Manage internal and external audit requirements and coordinate audit-related deliverables.
- Oversee month-end and year-end close processes.
- Review significant accounting issues and related technical research.
- Ensure compliance with applicable accounting standards, policies, and organizational requirements.
- Lead complex financial variance investigations and provide recommendations.
- Oversee general ledger activities and complex account reconciliations.
- Manage restricted-fund, grant, and revenue reporting activities.
- Review deferred revenue, funding, and related accounting matters.
- Oversee capital asset and general accounting activities as assigned.
- Coordinate regulatory, ministry, and other time-sensitive financial reporting requirements.
- Review work prepared by Financial Analysts, Senior Financial Analysts, Team Leads, and other finance professionals.
- Establish priorities, allocate resources, and monitor progress against deadlines.
- Manage stakeholder expectations and maintain effective working relationships.
- Identify financial and reporting risks and escalate significant issues appropriately.
- Ensure financial deliverables are accurate, complete, compliant, and delivered on time.
- Provide technical guidance and financial advice to operational and finance stakeholders.
- Support process improvements and promote consistent financial practices across assigned workstreams.
Required Qualifications & Experience
- CPA designation or CPA-in-progress.
- Significant progressive experience in finance and accounting.
- Demonstrated leadership or management experience within financial reporting, accounting, or a related finance function.
- Strong knowledge of financial statements and financial reporting principles.
- Hands-on experience with financial reporting and general ledger functions.
- Experience leading or overseeing month-end and year-end processes.
- Experience managing internal and/or external audits.
- Strong experience with complex reconciliations and financial variance analysis.
- Ability to review and provide constructive feedback on financial work prepared by other professionals.
- Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel.
- Experience working with large-enterprise financial systems.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities.
- Excellent professional judgment and attention to detail.
- Ability to work independently and manage multiple priorities in a deadline-driven environment.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Highly Desirable Qualifications
Candidates with the following experience will be strongly preferred:
- Completed CPA designation.
- Knowledge of Public Sector Accounting Standards (PSAS).
- Canadian public-sector finance experience.
- Healthcare finance experience.
- Experience within an Alberta healthcare, government, or other public-sector environment.
- Financial Reporting Manager or equivalent management experience.
- Experience managing external audits.
- Grant and restricted-fund reporting experience.
- General accounting leadership experience.
- Strong knowledge of internal controls.
- Experience working within large, complex organizations.
- Experience with 1GX or comparable enterprise financial systems.
- Knowledge of ASPE, IFRS, and/or GAAP.
Leadership & Core Competencies
The successful candidate should demonstrate:
- Strong leadership presence and professional credibility.
- Executive-level communication skills.
- Excellent judgment and sound decision-making.
- Ability to manage ambiguity and complex assignments.
- Experience leading and developing finance professionals.
- Strong stakeholder management and relationship-building skills.
- Ability to challenge, review, and improve financial work constructively.
- Strong organization, prioritization, and deadline-management skills.
- Ability to identify, assess, and escalate financial risks.
- Collaborative and solution-oriented leadership style.
- Ability to operate effectively within a complex, multi-stakeholder organization.
- Strong accountability for the quality, accuracy, and timeliness of deliverables.
