Central Highlands Water Hiring for Head of Finance Job at Ballarat Full Time

Position Description

Central Highlands Water

Integrity

Teamwork

Leadership

Care

Head of Finance

Classification Senior Manager

Team, Unit Finance

Division Business Services

Work Location Learmonth Road, Wendouree

Employment Type Up to Full-time, -Year Fixed Term role

Individual contract

Flexible options available: part-time work, purchased leave, varied start

and finish times, hybrid/working from alternative locations and -day

fortnights.

Position Reports to General Manager Business Services

Direct Reports Manager, Finance (vacant)

Indirect Reports:

• Team Leader Finance Business Partnering
• Team Leader Financial Accounting

Our Values

Our vision: Our Water – Our Customers – Healthy Living

Our mission: Together, we provide quality water and wastewater services, safely, efficiently and

sustainably to communities in the Central Highlands Region

Our values: Integrity Teamwork Leadership Care

Organisational Environment

At Central Highlands Water (CHW) ‘Safety is Everyone’s Priority. We are committed to the safety of our people,

customers and the community we serve, and we have a zero tolerance towards harassment or violence within

the workplace.

We have an inclusive workplace that embraces diversity and difference. We believe all jobs can be worked

flexibly and we actively encourage job applications from Aboriginal people, people living with disability, LGBTI

and people from varied cultural backgrounds.

We encourage employees’ continuous professional development. Employees are supported in keeping

abreast of current industry best practice and are encouraged to take an active personal interest in staying

informed of professional practices, standards and latest trends.

We believe that everyone has the capability to show leadership, regardless of their formal level of authority.

We expect all team members to focus their efforts on developing and displaying the leadership behaviours

defined in our Leadership Capability Framework. We have a commitment to enhancing our leadership maturity

across the whole business, through our internal Personal Leadership Program, Learn Lead Grow (LLG), and

focussing on Leading Self, Leading People and Leading the Organisation.

Finance Division

The division comprises a broad range of financial disciplines including superior financial expertise and advice

in relation to ensuring financial sustainability, budgets, financial analysis and forecasting, payroll and accounts

payable. We work collaboratively within CHW to provide guidance to stakeholders to protect and enhance all

corporation services delivered to the community.

Purpose

The Head of Finance is a member of the Strategy Leadership Team (SLT) working closely with other members

of the SLT and the Executive Leadership Team (ELT). The primary objective of the role is for a results-driven

and confident Head of Finance to lead, manage and continuously improve CHW’s financial performance and

ensure financial information is presented to key decision makers to help make informed decisions or highlight

emerging issues or risks proactively.

Key objectives of the role include:

• Present regularly to the Strategy Leadership Team on CHW’s financial position and tracking budget

to actual variances to enable CHW to make informed decisions that will ensure the long-term financial

sustainability of CHW is not negatively impacted.

• The formulisation of sound financial strategies, implementing robust internal controls, achieving

organisational targets, and developing financial plans that support CHW’s Strategy .

• Responsibility of evaluating and managing financial risk including:

o ensuring compliance with regulations;

o the delivery of unqualified financial statements;

o overseeing accounting operations;

o analysing financial data and providing regular updates to the General Manager Business

Services on emerging issues or financial risks;

o monitoring expenditure, forecasting revenue and ensuring accuracy of financial information.

• Oversee the payroll function to ensure pays are completed to staff on a timely and accurate basis, in

alignment with CHW’s Enterprise Agreement .

• Provide monthly reports to key stakeholders to enable informed decision making on key financial and

human resourcing investment.

Key duties/responsibilities

Establish strong financial governance and provide insights and financial advice to improve decision making

across the business and in turn delivering strong business performance.

Leadership

• Build a proactive team, lifting their capability to self-manage the day-to-day operations of the function,

providing value-adding advice and services to our internal customers.

• Establish clear direction, set objectives, provide feedback and proactively develop the team.

• Provide strategic advice to the Strategy Leadership Team in relation to CHW’s financial challenges,

opportunities and plans.

• Embed strong financial literacy across the organisation and driving accountability for financial

management and business improvement.

• Provide values-based leadership with a strong integrity focus in leading the Finance team to deliver

comprehensive financial management solutions across the business.

Financial

• Ensure sound financial management of the Corporation’s assets, investments and operations.

• Carry out ongoing development, implementation and review of financial policies, standards and

systems to meet CHW’s regulatory obligations and support the business to become financially

disciplined and efficient.

• Manage monthly financial processes (including Accounts Payable) delivering timely and high quality

financial and KPI reports supported by evidence-based insights and analysis to understand business

drivers of performance and trends.

• Manage year-end processes working with external auditors to deliver a clean and high-quality Annual

Report.

• Lead the ongoing development and maintenance of strategic financial planning including financial

input into the -year pricing review and annual corporate planning processes.

• Plan, manage and coordinate the preparation of annual budgets and mid-year forecasts aligned to

CHW’s long-term strategic objectives.

• Manage the treasury function to ensure the best outcome for CHW through the placement of funds,

debt profiling and cash flow management.

• Support the business by identifying and undertaking economic/financial modelling to support business

improvement opportunities.

• Drive continuous improvement in Finance processes with a focus on digitising and automating paper-

based processes while maintaining and improving internal controls.

• Manage effective accounting records and systems in accordance with relevant regulations and

directions, and compliance with all regulatory obligations through sound risk management.

• Deliver reports and presentations to the Executive Leadership Team and Audit and Risk Committee.

• Other duties as directed.

Payroll

• Ensure the payroll function is fully maintained.

• Oversee the accurate and timely processing of all payroll tasks, including pay, leave, superannuation

and taxation.

. Authority and Accountability

• Expected to act and demonstrate behaviours and leadership in accordance with the CHW values of

Integrity, Teamwork, Leadership and Care at all times.

• Create, maintain and foster a safe work environment and ensure compliance with the provisions of the

Occupational Health and Safety Act, Regulations, and CHW policies and procedures.

• Effectively plan and organise workload to meet business requirements.

• Provide people leadership, goal setting and development oversight within the team.

• Accountable via the General Manager to contribute to the Board and/or Board sub-committees as

applicable.

• Manage financial, physical and human resource requirements within the terms of relevant legislations

and instruments.

. Judgement and Problem Solving

• Strong initiative, flexibility and problem-solving skills, with a strategic and commercial focus.

• Ability to analyse complex issues and achieve effective high-quality results in a fast-paced

environment.

• Work collaboratively with others in applying a structured approach to solving problems and reaching

agreement on best course of action.

• Assess risks and benefits and anticipate potential problems through environmental scanning and pre-

emptive actions required.

• Strong initiative, analytical and problem-solving skills, with a solutions and strategic focus.

. Specialist Knowledge and Skills

• Demonstrated ability to analyse financial data and prepare financial reports, analysis and

interpretations.

• Experience in and/or understanding of the water industry or other regulated industry would be

advantageous.

. Management and Leadership Skills

• Provide strategic leadership, vision and direction for CHW.

• Demonstrated ability to measure organisational performance against strategy.

• Effectively lead and develop others across the business through strong communication and

collaboration skills targeted towards continuous learning, setting and managing expectations, and

developing high-performance.

• Ensure achievement of objectives within specified timeframes.

• Ensure CHW’s relevant policies, procedures and programs are observed and complied with at all times

by self and the team.

• Provide strong, collaborative and adaptable leadership to create a culture of inclusiveness, respect

and supportiveness where safety comes first.

• Demonstrated ability to identify a need for change, and to respond to and manage change positively.

. Interpersonal Skills

• High level interpersonal and communication skills (written and verbal) with the demonstrated ability to

initiate, build and maintain strong and effective partnerships across all organisational levels.

• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a team-based environment and provide coaching, support

and leadership to others.

• High level self-awareness and capacity to build a positive and proactive safety culture focused on the

customer.

• Demonstrated ability to influence and deliver outcomes within the team and across the business.

• Expected to act with integrity and professionalism and maintain a high level of confidentiality.

• Demonstrated ability to negotiate and positively influence to achieve desired outcomes through the

adaptation of communication style.

. Qualifications and Experience

• Tertiary qualifications in financial management and accounting including Chartered Accountant or

Certified Practising Accountant accreditation and membership.

• Extensive experience in a senior leadership role managing financial and accounting functions in a

commercial environment.

• Extensive experience (is preferred) in managing a treasury function.

Key Selection Criteria

• Relevant qualifications and professional experience at a senior leadership level.

• Proven experience in managing teams using values-based leadership with a focus on integrity,

including the ability to coach and develop staff.

• Working knowledge of business planning, corporate planning and strategic planning principles.

• Extensive working knowledge and experience of accounting frameworks/concepts including

commercial analysis.