General Manager - Finance - Defence Housing Australia - ExecutiveCareer

First listed on: 08 November 2019

General Manager - Finance 

Defence Housing Australia (DHA) is a Government Business Enterprise established under the Defence Housing Australia Act 1987. Our primary purpose is to provide housing and related services to Australian Defence Force (ADF) members and their families. DHA delivers services for ADF members through a variety of arrangements in a commercial environment via a Services Agreement between Defence andDHA.

DHA reports to two shareholder Ministers, the Minister for Defence and the Minister for Finance, and has a Board of Directors appointed by the Government.

The Board is responsible for ensuring good corporate governance, determining and approving corporate strategy and providing guidance and oversight to senior management.

DHAhas more than 650 staff in 19 locations to manage the following business operations:

  • A portfolio of over 17,000 properties in all states and territories of Australia—around 13,000 of which are available to DHA through private investors on long-term lease arrangements.
  • Housing allocation services for 16,500 ADF members each year.
  • Rental Allowance for 14,000 ADF members.
  • On-base accommodation for 11,000 ADF members.
  • DHA’s revenues are generated from its rents and property activities and were in excess of $930 million in 2018-19, with profit after tax of $41 million.

ABOUT THE FINANCE BRANCH

The Finance Branch performs a number of important functions within the CFO Group. The Branch is responsible for:

  • Contributing to organisational strategy.
  • Providing sound strategic, financial and budgetary advice to the CFO, Senior Executive Group and the DHA Board.
  • Corporate accounting services.
  • Development project & assets accounting functions.
  • Taxation advisory and compliance functions, incorporating income tax, GST, FBT, R&D & State Tax Equivalent taxation matters.
  • Internal financial advisory and reporting functions.
  • External reporting and compliance functions incorporating general purpose for-profit financial statements, whole of government financial statements and general government sector reporting.
  • Revenue management services relating to services provided to Defence under the Services Agreement.
  • Treasury and cash management functions.

THE ROLE AND MAIN DUTIES

Our ideal candidate will:

  • Influence overall organisational strategy by providing sound strategic, financial and budgetary advice to the CFO, Senior Executive Group and the DHA Board, delivering high value solutions.
  • Be outcomes focussed, achieve results and drive business outcomes through influence, innovation, communication and stakeholder engagement.
  • Exhibit superior planning and program delivery capabilities to provide effective contemporary financial management services, including financial and tax compliance reporting obligations, management analysis and reporting, tax, treasury and DHA’s financial systems management.
  • Have high level leadership capability and superior management skills that demonstrate an ability to evaluate team and individual performance, develop employees, and promote a healthy and safe workplace and model behaviour in accordance with the APS Code of Conduct and APS Values.
  • Be forward looking, highly motivated and demonstrate resilience and personal accountability for the quality of advice and the delivery of the Branch’s services in a fast paced and complex environment.
  • Lead a team of finance specialists, and take responsibility for overseeing the management the Finance team, ensuring the team functions effectively and collaboratively and fosters strong engagement while delivering quality financial reporting and advisory services to internal and external stakeholders.
  • Guide the ongoing development of DHA’s financial governance and risk frameworks, to enhance practice relating to DHA’s accounting, tax and treasury functions, as well as ensuring mechanisms for financial due diligence around property acquisitions, disposals and development projects are in place, effective and align with business need and risk appetite.
  • Relevant tertiary and post graduate qualifications and experience in leading a finance function at a senior level.

OPERATING ENVIRONMENT

This is a full-time position.  DHA’s core business hours are between 8.30am and 5.00pm Monday to Friday.  DHA operates under flexible working hours and staff may be required to work outside core business hours at times.

Some of the benefits of working at DHA include:

  • Generous employee benefits with a competitive salary package
  • Employer superannuation contribution of up to 15.4%
  • Flexible work arrangements, including family friendly provisions
  • Benefits of working for the APS, while in an outcome focused Government Business Enterprise (GBE)
  • A diverse range of interesting projects in high performing and collaborative work environment. 

HOW TO APPLY

Based on the duty statement, in 1000 words, please tell us how your skills and experience are relevant to the role and describe the contribution you can make to DHA.