Finance & Audit Committee: Technical Exeprt

About You

As the Technical Expert for CPSA’s Finance and Audit Committee (FAC), you will be a voting member responsible for providing direction and guidance to the FAC and senior management, with respect to CPSA’s financial business and activities. This includes providing oversight of the financial reporting process, the audit process, the organization’s system of internal controls and risk management.

Key attributes

The following attributes are deemed essential components of financial expertise:

• An understanding of accounting standards for not-for-profit organizations
• The ability to assess the general application of such principles in connection with the accounting for estimates, accruals and reserves
• The ability to simply communicate complex financial concepts and issues to non-financially-trained executives
• Experience successfully interacting with senior executives at medium-sized organizations
• Experience preparing, auditing, analyzing or evaluating financial statements that present a breadth and level of complexity of accounting issues
• An understanding of internal controls and procedures for financial reporting
• An understanding of the audit committee function and its role in overall board governance
• A general understanding of nonprofit financial issues and specific knowledge of the nonprofit industry (e.g., health care, regulatory body) in which the organization operates

Specific skills, knowledge & experience

In addition to the attributes noted above, CPSA requires committee members who, individually or collectively, bring specific skills, knowledge and experience. These may include:

• An accounting professional designation, with experience in the audit of medium-to-large corporations;
• Knowledge of the mandate and activities of CPSA, as well as the legislative framework within which it operates and an ability to promote CPSA’s mandate and values;
• Experience in risk management, specifically in identifying, managing and mitigating financial risks, as well as demonstrating the ability to anticipate, assess and address business risks, particularly as they relate to financial transactions, IT and security risk;
• Financial and business acumen: understanding and experience with both operational and capital budgets;
• Experience with compensation and benefits;
• Experience with managing or overseeing a pension fund and being familiar with asset allocation, choice of managers, etc.;
• Experience with investment portfolios; and
• Board experience, preferably in a large, sophisticated not-for-profit organization and at a minimum, in a medium-sized not-for-profit organization.

Expected time commitment

The FAC Committee typically means five-to-six times per year. The meeting calendar for 2022 is:

• Feb. 18
• April 22
• May 13 (half-day)
• June 21
• Aug. 3 (half-day)
• Nov. 4

Honorarium and expenses

Paid at CPSA rates.

Find out more

• FAC Terms of Reference
• Committee backgrounder

Questions?

Contact Tracy Simons, CPSA Chief Financial Officer

Ready to apply?

Complete the form. Application deadline is Friday, Oct. 8, 2021.