Role Responsibilities

The Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction is looking for a Senior Financial Analyst.

Reporting to the Manager of Financial Reporting and Operations, the Senior Financial Analyst plays a vital role in ensuring the financial integrity and compliance of the Ministry's operations and reporting. This position is responsible for developing and implementing financial policies, procedures, and processes for the Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction (the Ministry). The position applies advanced financial knowledge to ensure compliance with Government of Alberta (GoA) legislations, financial policies, Treasury Board directives, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), Public Sector Accounting Standards (PSAS) and best practices.

Key Responsibilities:

•    Developing and implementation of financial operations policy, procedures and processes.
•    Leading the development and implementation of department policies, internal controls and procedures to ensure financial processes are following legislation, regulations, and Government of Alberta (GoA) policies and directives, including the Financial Administration Act, Treasury Board Directives, best practices and departmental requirements, as well as Public Sector Accounting Standards
•    Leading the accounting officer functions and compliance reviews to ensure daily transactions comply with acts, regulations, policies and procedures.
•    Developing and leading the preparation of quarterly compliance report to inform the senior financial officer (SFO) and executive team about the Ministry's compliance and internal control activities and findings.
•    Preparing schedules, notes and templates for the quarterly reporting and annual consolidated Ministry financial statements in accordance with Canadian Public Sector Accounting Standards, Public Sector Accounting Standards and Government of Alberta requirements.
•    Preparing the Knowledge of Business (KNOB) documents which outline various financial operations, internal controls and program area procedures relevant to financial results and provides them to the auditors for their review.
•    Leading the preparation of various public disclosure reports, such as grant disclosure, blue book, minister expenses, MLA report, discretionary expense forecast, Alberta gazette, etc.
•    Providing leadership and technical expertise in the implementation and use of all financial systems (e.g., 1GX, EPS).
•    Working with the direction from the management team, this position utilizes the financial, accounting, audit, internal control expertise to research and provide advice on compliance and financial implications on planned initiatives that best represents management's goals and objectives.

For a copy of the full job description, 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.

Develop Networks – Leverages relationships to build input and perspective, looks broadly to engage stakeholders, open to perspectives towards long-term goals, actively seeks input into change initiatives and maintains stakeholder relationships.

Agility – 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.

Systems Thinking – Integrates broader context into planning, plans for how current situation is affected by broader trends, integrates issues, political environment and risks when considering possible actions, supports organization vision and goals through strategy and addresses behaviors that challenge progress. 

Build Collaborative Environments – Collaborates across functional areas and proactively addresses conflict, encourages broad thinking on projects, and works to eliminate barriers to progress, facilitates communication and collaboration, anticipates and reduces conflict at the outset, credits others and gets talent recognized and promotes collaboration and commitment. 

Drive for Result – 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 – 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, engages others and encourages debate and idea generation to solve problems while addressing risks.

Qualifications

Required:

•    University degree in a related field plus 5 years progressively responsible related experience. Equivalences maybe considered. 
•    A related diploma plus 7 years directly related experience.

Assets:

•    Professional accounting designation (CPA) is considered an asset.
•    Experience and in-depth knowledge of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), Generally Accepting Auditing Standards (GAAS) and Public Sector Accounting Board (PSAB) standards.
•    Experience and knowledge of business concepts and practices as they relate to departmental activities.  
•    Ability to interpret government and departmental financial legislation, regulations and policies - Financial Administration Act, Sustainable Fiscal Planning and Reporting Act, Government Organization Act and various TBF directives and guidelines.
•    Ability to evaluate operations to ensure compliance with financial policies and best practices
•    Ability to apply effective written and oral communication skills to explain, clarify, analyze and resolve sensitive and/or complex accounting information
•    Works independently from general instructions and broad work expectations
•    Organizes and manages multiple priorities to achieve maximum efficiency and to meet deadlines.
•    Demonstrates strong attention to detail and work ethics
•    The position requires above average problem solving, analytical and communication skills that are necessary to analyze, resolve and provide recommendations for changes. This is done through formal and informal meetings and contacts with the respective program areas and staff
•    Audit and internal controls related work experience is an asset.

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 should indicate 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, 2020 - June 25, 2022: 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
•    Public Service Pension Plan (PSPP) – https://www.pspp.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
•    Opportunity to participate in flexible work arrangements such as working from home up to two days per week and modified work schedule agreement
•    Leadership and mentorship programs