Position

Finance Assistant, Programs

Department

Corporate Services- Finance

Classification

Level 2

Salary

Our salaries generally range from $51,765 - $58,870 and are based on qualifications and experience

Languages

English is required and French is an asset

Term

Permanent Full-Time

Location

Hybrid (Ottawa)

Background

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) is the national voice of local governments, representing their interests with the federal government.

With over 2,000 members, including Canada’s largest cities, small urban areas, rural and remote communities, as well as 20 provincial and territorial municipal associations, FCM represents more than 90% of the country’s population. Through its advocacy, funding offers and diverse programs, FCM’s work has a direct impact on Canadians’ quality of life.

At FCM, we are committed to making the communities Canadians live in more prosperous, sustainable, and equitable. We aspire to be deeply respectful, collaborative, empowering and inclusive. All leaders in the organization embrace these values, the corporate culture and the passion for FCM’s mission.

Major Purpose

Reporting to the Finance Manager, Programs, the Finance Assistant, Programs will be responsible for providing financial reporting and support services across all programs.

This role requires working knowledge of the Workday system and proficiency in Power BI. The Finance Assistant will be expected to perform a blend of traditional financial tasks and data review/analysis responsibilities. Strong knowledge of Workday and Power BI will enable the successful candidate to contribute to data-driven decision-making and enhance overall financial management within the organization.

The Finance Assistant will support financial reporting duties related to all programs, ensuring compliance with relevant Funding and Contribution Agreements. The role will also include ad hoc tasks such as data validation and system testing.

The work at FCM includes FCM becoming an even more member-driven organization that balances the realization of its goals with a people-centered approach. The incumbent embodies FCM’s commitment to being a healthy, diverse, inclusive and anti-racist organization. The Finance Assistant, Programs will maintain the highest level of confidentiality, professionalism and exercise good judgment including the ability to escalate to management when help is required and being able to meet deadlines as set out by their direct manager within a fast-paced corporate environment.

Key Responsibilities

Financial Reporting:

• Use Workday system knowledge to enter and organize financial data and generate insightful reports for management and other stakeholders.
• Use Power BI to organize financial data and generate insightful reports for management and other stakeholders.
• Develop interactive dashboards that visualize financial metrics, trends, and KPIs.
• Review and reconcile financial databases in collaboration with IS team against the source, ensuring data integrity and accuracy
• Streamline reporting processes by automating data extraction and visualization using Power BI.
• Reviews expense claims, advances and credit card statements against project budgets and other established processing procedures, assessing accuracy and eligibility, following up on any missing information or discrepancies, and coding according to established guidelines and proper signing authority.
• Assists Finance Officers with monthly journal entries and reconciliations.
• Reviews supplier contracts and ensures proper signing authority; creates purchasing requisition for vendor contract.

Other Duties:

• Provides support and assistance to Finance Manager with Power BI Reporting.
• Provides support to the Finance Manager, Programs, for ad-hoc projects, e.g., assist in external organizational / project audits by collecting required information.
• Responsible for document retention (filing hardcopy and on the server) of financial documents.
• Work with other departments to gather data and provide financial insights.
• People leadership is related to working collaboratively with others to ensure effective management of the portfolio. There are no formal people management responsibilities in this role.

Knowledge, Experience and Skills

Strong Workday system knowledge and Power BI skills allows a Finance Assistant to effectively contribute to data-driven decision-making and improve overall financial management within the organization.

We are looking for applicants with following experience:

• Passionate for accounting, financial planning, analysis and reporting, experience working in a data-driven, analytical environment, and advanced working knowledge of Microsoft Excel, Workday and Access.
• Experienced in extracting and manipulating large data sets from relational databases and previous experience working in finance is considered an asset.
• Creative and courageous, with the ability to manage in an environment of change and ambiguity to help us take bold, strategic moves in this rapidly evolving retail environment.
• Action oriented, and comfortable taking calculated risks to better serve our customers and business.
• Outcome focused, critical thinkers with the ability to analyze and visualize, to ensure continuous improvement across our entire business.
• Collaborative team players with superior influencing skills, who build relationships easily across various stakeholder groups to move initiatives forward.
• Requires experience with accounting practices and procedures, specifically, general ledger activities.
• Requires analytical skills in order to reconcile accounts and prepare reports.
• Requires a post-secondary education in accounting and 2-3 years practical experience; (Asset).
• Organizational skills and the ability to work unsupervised.
• High level of accuracy and attention to detail is essential.
• Strong oral and written communication skills.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office, specifically Excel and PowerPoint, Power BI and experience with accounting software packages such as Workday.

Language Requirements

English is required and French is an asset.

The benefits to joining the FCM team include summer hours (Fridays off between July 1st and Labour Day); office facilities located in the ByWard Market, FCM’s commitment to employee development and a competitive range of employee benefits and services. FCM encourages flexible work arrangements to support the wellbeing and productivity of employees.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities is committed to fostering an organizational culture that embraces equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging, where individuals from diverse racial and ethnic identities, nationalities, social economic status, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression and physical and mental abilities can thrive and be fully engaged at their best level.

FCM welcomes and encourages applications from people with disabilities. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the recruitment and selection process.

The future of work at FCM includes a hybrid work model; therefore, this role will be a combination of virtual and on-site work. The successful candidate is required live within 80kms of downtown Ottawa and be authorized to work in Canada.

For additional information on this posting, or for further information on FCM, access our website at www.fcm.ca. Visit the careers section of our website to apply. The deadline for applications is August 28th, 2025, or until the position is filled.

We thank all candidates for their interest; however, we will only contact those selected for an interview. All the applications will be kept on file for six months following the hiring.