Senior Manager, Fund Valuations recruitment

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Interested candidates must submit their profile by clicking on the "APPLY ONLINE" button below by Quoting job reference number J0412-0544. All Resumes must be submitted online only, please do not email your application to the recruiter or hiring manager. Posting Deadline is May 18, 2012.  Late submissions will not be accepted.
2. CIBC thanks all applicants for their interest, however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted.
3. Please note that if you are selected for an interview, due to volumes of applicants, you may not be contacted immediately.
4. Meeting the minimum requirements of the vacancy will not guarantee an interview.
5. If you are not selected for an interview, you will receive an e-mail advising you that the position has been filled.

Overview

Responsible, at a senior level, for ensuring all Fund Valuation processing, management, controls and functions are accurate and completed on time. This includes developing and monitoring controls and maintaining policies over our major service provider, CIBC Mellon Global Securities Servicing Company. Plan, analyze, review and make recommendations on proposed actions with Fund Valuations and Wealth Management Finance. All information, analysis and reporting may potentially impact the value of the investments held by CIBC’s clients, and therefore all tasks require complete accuracy. The three primary areas of focus for this role are valuation, financial reporting, and distribution/taxation, and expert knowledge of these areas and how they support each other is fundamental to being successful in this role.

This role requires an individual who has relevant operational experience in the mutual fund industry with the ability to absorb facts, put the facts into the business context, understand the business impact, and communicate with various support groups (legal, compliance, operations, product, marketing) ensuring the communication meets each groups unique needs. This role requires both technical skills on various fund valuation concepts, communication with various stakeholders, and independent problem solving in order to resolve daily challenges.

This role is also expected to have an in depth knowledge of the relevant sections of the securities act and accounting guidelines in order to ensure the investment funds operate in compliance with all of externally applied rules and regulations. The ability to take theory and rules into the business context, and explain the implications is key in a dynamic environment where rules and regulations change frequently.

Take a lead role in the review and analysis of the Funds’ financial statements, distributions calculations, tax returns, management reports on fund performance and simplified prospectus/AIF production. Ensuring the review is thorough and identifying emerging issues, apply it to the existing context, and also understand the downstream implications to all aspects of the Fund Valuations Department. Fund Valuations is a significant contributor to all aspects of the investment fund business.

Key Accountabilities

1. Required to Provide:
• Expert, specialized analysis/planning of mutual funds financial data, with the ability to provide guidance to staff and have them execute on it.
• Analyze the impact of new initiatives, and/or the adoption of new procedures or processes on the mutual fund business
• Review end of day mutual fund price movement analysis prepared by staff, and understand the implications of the information presented. Must be highly analytical with the ability to identify valuation issues based on trending analysis. Ability to understand daily stock market movements and trends globally is critical to the process. Recommend process changes based on trend analysis, and ensure that funds involved in the fair value process are being evaluated appropriately.
• Co-ordinate and control the preparation, consolidation and validation of financial statement and various securities documents.
• Complete the detailed review/analysis related to the annual and semi-annual financial statements. Ensure all critical items for the Fund Valuations department are covered and proactively identify issues
• Liaise with internal and external auditors, providing information on the CIBC Asset Management investment funds. Understand complex audit issues from different viewpoints in order to develop effective solutions
• Responsible for the accuracy of all financial data included in the Management Report of Fund Performance of the mutual funds.
• Responsible for the review of the prospectus and annual information forms
• Co-ordinate the recoverable expense process working with other departments in Finance, and proactively analyze and escalate issues with fund expenses
• Prepare the annual budget for audit and custody costs and review with senior management ensuring trends or concerns are highlighted. On an ongoing basis look for cost savings, and understand how the expenses are generated through trading or vendor related work.
• Reconcile fund valuation expenses against plan, identify variances and recommend next steps
• Participate on project teams to launch new initiatives; highlighting product design strengths and weaknesses. Act in an oversight role when participating in order to address issues between departments; be a subject matter expert
• Provide expert operational analysis of proposed new products and product re-organizations
• Ability to work independently and take the initiative is fundamental, with the ability to know when to obtain support and escalate issues
• Build relationships and partner with other departments
• Provide project input, and departmental signoff as required

2. Ensure:
• Current Fund Valuations policies and procedures employed by CIBC are properly documented and adhered to. Recommend changes as required and develop new policies and procedures to address gaps
• Liaise with business heads to ensure financial information requirements and disclosures meet their needs. Recommend improvements as necessary
• Provide expert guidance and technical support to staff and CIBC Mellon to ensure the appropriate transaction related financial/tax treatment, and disclosure, is in accordance with industry standards.
• Monitor vendors on a regular basis to ensure they complete all tasks, and maintain their level of service via the Service Level Agreement. Change and update the Service Level Agreement as required.

3. Staffing:
• Day to day management of staff
• Provide direction to Managers, and also provide guidance to new staff; ensure teamwork to meet common department goals
• Work with Director to address all staffing issues, and ensure that current staff have the required tools to effectively complete their jobs. Ensure staff satisfaction levels are met in order to retain and develop existing staff
• Actively assist the Director in monitoring daily office operations; be a mentor to existing staff

4. Department Operation:
• Take on additional responsibility as required, including filling in for the Director as needed. This includes being a delegate and presenting at board meetings and other industry groups as needed, therefore excellent presentation, communications and negotiation skills are required
• Develop new/enhanced reporting systems, procedures and controls to meet changing business requirements.
• Actively review all reporting provided to identify issues with existing controls, and develop/enhance controls.
• Recommend revisions to address inefficiencies and ensures appropriate implementation.
• Participate in the design requirements of new financial information reports and implement controls.

5. New Products:
• Work with the Product group to develop new client offers and products, ensuring Fund Valuations needs are covered.
• Responsible for the implementation of new products, policies, regulations and other changes from an operational position.
• Ensure all staff impacted by a change in processing mutual fund information and pricing are involved, and their issues are identified, escalated and resolved.
• Actively participate in all planning sessions, and provide feedback.
• Communicate new processes/requirements to all staff within the Fund Valuations department.

6. External Contacts
• Supervise staff interaction with other departments
• Contact other business partners at a senior manager or above level.
• Contact with external/internal auditors and tax professionals at a senior level

Requirements:
Knowledge/Skill Requirements:
• Must have in-dept knowledge of fund valuations/investment fund industry with ten years experience in a similar role
• People management experience is essential
• Equivalent to a University degree in Business/Accounting and/or a professional accounting designation (e.g. CA, CMA, CGA).
• Expert knowledge of portfolio accounting principles, and multi-class accounting as well as tax knowledge as it relates to mutual fund distribution calculations.
• Expert knowledge of the operational and control procedures of portfolio and unitholder administration systems.
• Self-motivated, and autonomous work ethic
• Advanced knowledge of regulations for mutual funds under Ontario Securities Act (NI81-101, NI81-102, NI81-106)
• Superior analytical ability, and strong knowledge of core Microsoft business software
• Ability to use a high degree of judgment required to plan, research and interpret results. Make independent decisions with implications for groups outside of Fund Valuations
• High degree of flexibility and creatively required to be able to adapt to a constantly changing environment, and to develop and adapt financial procedures and processes to meet such changes.
• Superior communication skills to promote interaction and co-operation with senior personnel throughout CIBC.
• In a project environment, the individual is required to provide leadership and motivation to staff, and have excellent negotiation skills to ensure fund valuation issues are addressed.

Physical Demands/Working Conditions:

• May need to work extended hours as required to ensure all deliverables are completed accurately and on time