Manager, Financial Planning & Analysis - Corporate Functions

Location: Markham, Ontario

Job Description

The Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) team helps to drive overall business performance by challenging and supporting critical decision making through the delivery of insightful analysis, action-oriented reporting and the design and management of planning and forecasting processes that meet both Corporate and Operational requirements. The Manager FP&A Corporate Functions is accountable for delivering these services to our Corporate Support Functions (HR, IT, Finance et al.) and ensures maximum impact through clear messaging, presentation, effective business partnering with senior management stakeholders and focused communication of group strategic and financial goals. This role is an individual contributor required to work with executives across the organization and will have a “hands on” approach to meeting deliverables. The individual is self-motivating, challenging and discerning how and what work gets done and will be able to build relationships and hold accountabilities at senior levels within the organization and with themselves.

Essential Duties

• Prepare monthly, quarterly and annual analysis of results across corporate functions inclusive but not limited to Selling, General & Administrative expenses as well as project expenses.
• Build, track and maintain monthly (or as frequently as changes in expectations may require) project cost expectations inclusive of costs incurred as well as estimated costs to complete as well as expected functions/benefits/outputs of the project both operational and financial.
• Manage the preparation of monthly, quarterly and annual financial and operating reports for Corporate Functions as well as supporting materials for Executive Business Reviews and Board of Directors.
• Build and maintain monthly, quarterly and annual forecast and budgeting materials for Corporate Functions.
• Provide accurate and timely financial recommendations to management for decision making by analyzing current and past trends of key performance indicators and other ad hoc reporting.

• At least 5 years of financial planning and analysis experience.
• 2+ years of leadership experience in finance or accounting working to directly support executives.
• Bachelor’s degree required in Finance, Economics or Business, and CPA, or CFA designation is required.
• Experience in financial systems and business intelligence tools, including NAV, Tableau, Adaptive, or similar is preferred.
• Have solid knowledge of finance and accounting standards with a strong understanding of retail sales and expense management, particularly labour scheduling, preferred.
• Excellent working knowledge of tools such as Excel (Power suite) and data manipulation to efficiently conduct reporting requirements.

• Fostering Teamwork – ability to get groups to work together co-operatively; by enlisting active involvement, creating a climate for respect and openness, and applying effective techniques for group facilitation.
• Analytical Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills – ability to understand complex situations, develop and implement a logical approach to a problem solution.
• Results Oriented – ability to keep the desired end result of ones own or ones units work clearly in mind, by setting goals and focusing on them tenaciously until they are achieved.
• Attention to Detail – ability to ensure the work and information are complete and accurate, by preparing carefully for meetings and presentations, and following up with others to ensure that agreements and commitments have been fulfilled.
• Influential Skill – ability to gain others’ support for ideas, proposals, projects, and solutions, through logical argument, appeal to others’ interests, and a variety of other indirect strategies.
• Communication – ability to prepare written communication professionally and convey concepts to a non-finance audience.
• Flexibility - able to change priorities quickly and have a capacity to handle multiple tasks simultaneously.
• Process oriented - able to self-manage projects, due dates and communicate status to stakeholders.
• Impact Awareness – ability to anticipate the likely effect of actions and events on others and to tailor one’s own behavior to achieve a desired effect on others.
• Interpersonal Awareness - ability to notice, interpret, and anticipate others’ concerns and feelings, and to communicate this awareness empathetically to others.
• Productivity - motivated self-starter and quick learner. Ability to work under deadlines with heavy workloads as well as flexibility to work outside of normal business hours to meet period deliverables.

Pet Valu Canada is seeking a Manager of FP&A to support Corporate Functions by optimizing and monitoring the reporting and transparency on Selling, General & Administrative costs as well as IT Projects. In the role of Manager FP&A Corporate Functions, you will be responsible for the following:

• Be the financial expert on Corporate Functions (HR, IT, Finance et al.) helping to guide decision making with relevant financial analysis and provide regular communication on the expectations of upcoming expenses and their impact on the organization.
• Participate in the internal financial communication processes. Be involved in Budgeting, Forecasting and Reporting processes for the Corporate Functions teams.
• Collaborate with the Corporate Functions teams through the development of performance analysis and alternative forecasting to support decision making.
• Contribute to the implementation of relevant KPIs, dashboard and monitoring tools. Provide ad-hoc data analysis to Management when required.

The ideal candidate will be a self-driven and highly motivated individual. Someone who displays precision, attention to detail, and proficiency with systems and technology. The candidate must be able to work in a fast-paced environment, performing multiple tasks/projects with defined deadlines.

The Ideal Candidate would possess a Degree in Finance, Economics or Business and/or hold a relevant designation (CPA, CA, CMA, CGA, CFA) with prior exposure to Selling, General and Administrative costs in a financial support or analytical capability.

Exposure to financial systems and business intelligence tools is required. NAV, Tableau, Adaptive or experience with comparable tools is suitable.

At least 5 years of experience budgeting and forecasting is required with at least 2 years’ experience providing direct executive support is required. Prior experience supporting the IT function, with exposure to tracking costs on project is heavily desired. A solid base of finance knowledge and accounting standards is required. The incumbent must be responsive and timely, with a developed sense of urgency to meet tight deadlines.

Excellent working knowledge of tools such as Excel (Power suite) and data manipulation to fulfill reporting requirements.

• This role will be responsible for complex decision making. The individual will need to understand and source data from various systems and know what tools should be applied to analyze that data. They should be able to establish and prove a hypothesis for that data and will regularly be exposed to situations where the question may not be known; and/or will evolve as their analytics provide insights. Additionally, the individual requires knowledge of financial accounting and reporting standards and will know when to apply and ignore those standards.

• The individual will be highly curious, capable of troubleshooting and problem solving on their own. Systems are regular disparate requiring the individual to regularly test their data and be able to establish its reasonableness in use for decision making.

• This role will support advanced decision making within the organization. The incumbent will be responsible to source, analyze, interpret, and provide recommendations to Senior Management that will be used in corporate target setting and operational actions required to achieve those targets. While decisions will be made by the operations this role supports; they will be key in providing the information necessary to make decisions.

• This role will primarily support internal stakeholders. Excellent communication skills are required, not just in the written and spoken word but in the ability to interpret and translate information so that it may be understood and used by individuals at all levels within the corporate functions’ teams. Key contacts would VPs, Sr. VPs and Chiefs in the HR, IT Finance et al. departments. Exposure and presentations individuals at the “Chief” level will be required on a semi-regular basis.

• This role is an individual contributor (no direct reports) but is required to provide financial leadership, guidance, and influence across the organization. This will include results/performance analysis that can include difficult and unpopular information as well as the requirement to support strategic analysis and translate that into tactical actions and analysis.

• This role will create financial projections and will have access to highly sensitive information (strategic and financial) including their source systems.

• This is a knowledge-based role working predominantly on a computer with data sources, analytical and presentation tools. The role will be mentally demanding and will occasionally require work in addition to a standard 8-hour workday such as during month end reporting requirement, budgeting cycles and in support of projects as required. The individual will primarily work at a computer and attend meetings. A significant portion of meetings can be attended virtually but some may require physical attendance. The individual will be expected to manage their own time and may make their own decisions on when to break.

• This will be a demanding role, supporting regular and timely reporting as well as complex analytics. Mental dexterity and resilience are required.

• This role will be situated in Pet Valu's head office in a workstation and meeting rooms. Work from home is temporarily accommodated in accordance with Pet Valu's policies.