Why Join Southeast Collegiate?
At SEC, we believe in taking care of our staff so they can focus on empowering our students. In addition to a competitive salary, this role offers a comprehensive benefits package and a work-life balance that is virtually unmatched in the finance sector:
Unrivaled Work-Life Balance & Time Off:
- Paid summer time: Enjoy the vast majority of the summer off with full pay (working only one week in August for the annual audit).
- Paid holiday breaks: Two (2) full weeks of paid leave over Christmas and one (1) full week of paid leave during Spring Break.
- Enjoy a schedule built around the academic calendar, giving you significant time to recharge without sacrificing year-round financial stability.
Daily Fresh Hot Meals:
Skip the meal prep! Enjoy a free hot lunch prepared fresh daily by our on-site culinary team in the campus kitchen.
Comprehensive Group Benefits:
- Extended healthcare: Robust medical coverage to protect you and your family.
- Prescription drug coverage: Generous coverage for necessary prescription medications.
- Paid sick leave
- Long-term disability (LTD) benefits
- Group life insurance for long-term peace of mind
- Employer-supported pension planning to help you build toward a secure financial future.
The Finance Officer is the sole financial professional responsible for the end-to-end management of all financial operations, risk management, and physical asset administration for the Southeast Collegiate campus. As a department of one, this hands-on leadership role requires an active CPA who can seamlessly pivot between high-level strategic advisory for the Board and the daily execution of all transactional accounting, reporting, and administrative tasks. The Finance Officer is responsible for proactively researching, authoring, and securing new grant funding streams to support SEC's mission.
Given the operational demands of this role, the Finance Officer will work full-time during the 10 months that school is in session, plus one week in August during the annual financial audit.
Responsibilities
Strategic Financial Leadership and Reporting
- Executive Advisory: Partner directly with the Principal and Board of Directors to provide financial analysis, long-term forecasting, and decision-support modeling.
- Financial Reporting: Prepare and present monthly consolidated financial statements, comprehensive variance analyses, and executive board packages.
- Audit Lead: Manage and execute the annual external audit process from start to finish, preparing all working papers and ensuring compliance with GAAP/ASNF (Accounting Standards for Non-Profit Organizations).
- Budgeting and Planning: Lead, develop, and execute the annual consolidated budgeting process across all departments, integrating it into the computerized ERP/accounting system.
- Taxation and Compliance: Manage complex corporate and organizational taxation requirements, including GST/HST rebate filings, charity information returns, and non-profit tax compliance.
Grant Procurement, Funding Strategy, and Revenue Management
- Grant Proposal Development: Proactively research, author, and submit high-impact grant applications and funding proposals to government agencies (e.g., ISC, MFNERC), corporate donors, and philanthropic foundations.
- Funding Pipeline Management: Serve as the primary author and architect for securing discretionary and multi-year grant funding to support SEC’s academic, boarding lodge, building renovations and other capital initiatives.
- Grant Reporting & Compliance: Manage project-specific budgets, ensure full compliance with grant terms, and lead all quantitative and qualitative reporting required by funders.
- Invoicing and Billing: Prepare and execute monthly billing to SERDC and MFNERC, verifying student enrollment numbers and maintaining accurate invoicing for other agencies.
Risk Management, Insurance and Capital Assets
- Risk and Insurance Management: Oversee and coordinate the organization’s commercial insurance portfolio (liability, property, and board coverage) to proactively mitigate safety risks associated with a residential boarding school environment.
- Capital Asset Oversight: Track capital fund allocations, manage asset registries, and monitor maintenance budgets for building operations.
- Project Management: Support campus system transitions, capital developments, and cross-departmental administrative initiatives.
- Corporate Records: Maintain the central registry of official business documents, including contracts, leases, land deeds, and service agreements.
Hands-On Financial Operations and Internal Controls
- Accounts Payable and Receivable: Process supplier invoices with proper GL coding and GST disbursements; prepare AP cheques; maintain and oversee the purchase order system.
- Cash Controls and Reconciliation: Ensure strict adherence to internal controls; reconcile bank statements, petty cash, organizational credit cards, fuel cards, and gift cards monthly.
- General Ledger: Prepare and post all journal entries with appropriate supporting documentation.
- Systems Administration: Personally maintain and update the computerized accounting system, vendor files, and archival procedures.
- Other duties as assigned.
Qualifications
- Professional Designation: Active Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) designation in good standing is required.
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or Business Administration.
- Minimum 5 years of progressive financial experience, ideally featuring sole-charge or small-team accounting responsibilities in a non-profit, educational, or public sector environment.
- Grant writing track record - proven, hands-on experience independently writing, securing, and managing successful grant proposals from federal/provincial programs and private foundations.
- Practical experience in successful grant proposal development and grant reporting.
- Demonstrated experience leading initiatives such as software implementations, workflow redesigns, building renovations, and capital development projects.
- Direct experience with insurance procurement and risk management, preferably in high-liability, residential care, or educational environments.
- Strong working knowledge of corporate/organizational taxation for non-profits, charities, or First Nations funding.
- Expert-level mastery of computerized accounting platforms (SAGE, QuickBooks, or similar ERP) and advanced MS Excel.
Professional relationships
- Provide financial information to Principals, Administration, and Board of Directors;
- Provide financial support and guidance to staff;
- Support and cooperate with external auditor;
- Interact with external officials and consultants with respect to taxes and governmental agencies;
- Respond to vendor/supplier inquiries/questions
- Provide required information and respond to inquiries from funders (ISC/SERDC/MFNERC)
Main challenges of this position
- Balancing high-level strategic grant writing with daily, hands-on transactional accounting tasks.
- Adapting financial reports and procedures to meet the evolving needs of internal and external stakeholders.
- Aligning procedures and communication between academic school staff and residential lodge staff.
- Staying current with changing government funding programs, mandates, and grant criteria.
Work Conditions
- Environment: On-site school and residential lodge setting.
- Tasks: Extensive reading, editing, and proofreading of complex proposals, financial reports, memos, and compliance manuals.
- Physical Demands: Minimal to light physical effort required; prolonged periods of desk work and repetitive computer/keyboard usage.
- Interpersonal: Collaborating with stakeholders with diverse management styles in a culturally rich Indigenous educational environment.
- Pace: Fast-paced environment subject to shifting priorities, tight grant deadlines, heavy workload volumes, and periodic disruptions or emergencies.
- Availability: Must be available by phone or in person for operational emergencies during the school year.
Job Types: Permanent, Full-time
Pay: From $95,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Company pension
- Dental care
- Discounted or free food
- Employee assistance program
- Extended health care
- Life insurance
- On-site gym
- On-site parking
- Paid time off
- Vision care
Flexible language requirement:
Ability to commute/relocate:
- Winnipeg, MB: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Application question(s):
- CPA Member Identification Number (will be used to cross-reference with the official member directory)
Education:
- Bachelor's Degree (required)
Licence/Certification:
- Chartered Professional Accountant (required)
Work Location: In person
