Finance Manager

We are a leading financial services provider committed to making decisions easier and lives better for our customers and colleagues around the world. From our environmental initiatives to our community investments, we lead with values throughout our business. To help us stand out, we help you step up, because when colleagues are healthy, respected and meaningfully challenged, we all thrive. Discover how you can grow your career, make impact and drive real change with our Winning Team today.

Working Arrangement

Hybrid

Job Description

Job Summary

This position is accountable for managing the accounting expense management and support the Finance Strategy Functions as a finance partner.

Working with senior management in Regional Office and Business Unit level, the role is expected to achieve the business objective of improved expense efficiency by providing governance and oversight of spend.

Overview

MBPS is officially registered as Manulife Data Services, Inc. but with an official trade name of Manulife Business Processing Services. MBPS is a Global Shared Service Centre providing Operations Administration, Professional Services, Finance and Treasury, Investments, Contact Center, Claims, New Business and Underwriting, Actuarial, Legal & Compliance, and Digital Information Services to Manulife Companies around the world. MBPS is headquartered in Quezon City, Philippines. MBPS has approximately 5,000+ employees across Manila, Cebu, and Chengdu (China).

The Finance department currently has different teams in MBPS. The key responsibilities are Finance Controllership, period end closing activities, financial reporting, GL and Suspense reconciliations, expense reporting and analysis, management reporting and financial planning and analysis.

Role and Responsibilities

Accountable to the Finance Operations Director in MBPS, the role is primarily accountable for managing the accounting, expense management, budgeting and forecasting and also support the Finance and Strategy Function as a finance partner.

Responsibilities include the following:

Provide timely, accurate and insightful expense commentary to facilitate business review meetings, business decisions and to drive expense accountability for the Asia functions. This requires working with regional functional teams and local teams to ensure that the information is sufficiently robust for decision-making purposes.

Partner with the key stakeholders, including the Function Owner, to identify the spending trend and patterns, potential savings (SCM) / accrual needed and area of potential spending to align with and achieve regional and global strategic goals.

Manage expense allocation to business units which includes liaising with regional functional teams and the BU finance teams to ensure the allocation basis is appropriate, meets tax transfer pricing requirements, and is understood and accepted by the business units.

Act as process owner of the end-to-end intercompany process.

Lead the team and manage end-to-end intercompany process from booking journal entries, settlement between entities, answering BU queries, and providing necessary commentaries.

Work with Finance Controller groups across business areas to build and define accounting models for new intercompany processes. This includes onboarding of new transactions to existing tools.

Lead and in charge of all intercompany charges and communication with BUs to ensure proper elimination on Group level.

Work with Corporate team to develop, implement, maintain and operationalize expense policies to ensure that an expense-conscious culture is embedded within Manulife Asia. Work with the business unit finance teams to ensure that this is mirrored at the business unit level.

Participate in Regional priority and strategic projects as assigned or other ad hoc activities.

Special Projects

Special projects will arise from time to time that will require strong financial knowledge, strong analytical and organizational skills with an innovative mindset. The role will be responsible ad-hoc projects as required by senior management pertaining to the introduction of new services, products and processes designed.

Individual Accountabilities:

• Asia & Regional Office expense budget

• Asia & Regional Office expense actuals reporting
• Regional Office allocation

Key Shared Accountabilities:
• Asia expense policies (shared with Corporate Expense team)

Qualifications

• University Business Degree and/or recognized accounting designation (Chartered Accountant or CPA);
• 10+ years of progressive financial reporting and management experience; Life insurance industry experience is preferred
• Experience working with senior management teams (Strong stakeholder management requiring persuasion / influencing skills); relationship building and negotiation skills
• Prior experience of managing shared services/offshore team is an advantage

• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and strong stakeholder management capabilities
• Strong technical accounting skills with a solid understanding of the business environment
• Advanced Excel skills and experience with database applications
• Strong project management skills
• Self-starter, detail-oriented, willingness to take ownership and accountability
• Able to cope in a fast paced and dynamic work environment, with the mindset of continuous improvement and aiming for excellence
• Strong oral/written communication skills required to interact with senior officers and representatives from other Divisions and functional departments
• Competencies:
• Strong relationship management skills to build enduring and productive alliances across matrix organizations. Experience in partnering with a diverse team located in multiple locations and time zones.
• Strong presentation, influencing and negotiation skills across the organization.
• Demonstrates strong flexibility in the face of ambiguous situations, shifting demands, and challenging work environments. Uses diplomacy and tact to resolve difficult situations. Escalates more serious issues to management.
• Excellent initiative and ability to commit to a course of action in the face of risks and uncertainty
• Professional attitude and client service orientation; collaborative and results-oriented
• Practical problem-solving skills and the ability to influence change
• Strong oral/written communication skills required to interact with senior officers and representatives from other Divisions and functional departments
• Strong organizational and time management skills with the ability to be flexible to changing environments
• Ability to work independently and willing to collaborate with other teams for a project with huge scale benefits

This Job Description is intended to describe the general nature and level of the work being performed. It is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required for this role.

About Manulife

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services group that helps people achieve their dreams and aspirations by putting customers' needs first and providing the right advice and solutions. We operate as John Hancock in the United States and Manulife elsewhere. We provide financial advice, insurance, as well as wealth and asset management solutions for individuals, groups and institutions. At the end of 2016, we had approximately 35,000 employees, 70,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving more than 22 million customers. As of March 31, 2017, we had $1 trillion (US$754 billion) in assets under management and administration, and in the previous 12 months we made almost $26.3 billion in payments to our customers.

Our principal operations are in Asia, Canada and the United States where we have served customers for more than 100 years. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges and under '945' in Hong Kong.

Manulife is committed to supporting a culture of diversity and accessibility across the organization. It is our priority to remove barriers to provide equal access to employment. A Human Resources representative will consult with applicants contacted to participate at any stage of the recruitment process who request an accommodation. Information received regarding the accommodation needs of applicants will be addressed confidentially.

About Manulife and John Hancock

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services group that helps people make their decisions easier and lives better. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we operate as Manulife across our offices in Asia, Canada, and Europe, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States. We provide financial advice, insurance, and wealth and asset management solutions for individuals, groups and institutions. At the end of 2022, we had more than 40,000 employees, over 116,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving over 34 million customers. At the end of 2022, we had $1.3 trillion (US$1.0 trillion) in assets under management and administration, including total invested assets of $0.4 trillion (US $0.3 trillion), and segregated funds net assets of $0.3 trillion (US$0.3 trillion). We trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges, and under '945' in Hong Kong.

Manulife is an Equal Opportunity Employer

At Manulife/John Hancock, we embrace our diversity. We strive to attract, develop and retain a workforce that is as diverse as the customers we serve and to foster an inclusive work environment that embraces the strength of cultures and individuals. We are committed to fair recruitment, retention, advancement and compensation, and we administer all of our practices and programs without discrimination on the basis of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, religion or religious beliefs, creed, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions), sexual orientation, genetic characteristics, veteran status, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, family status, disability, or any other ground protected by applicable law.

It is our priority to remove barriers to provide equal access to employment. A Human Resources representative will work with applicants who request a reasonable accommodation during the application process. All information shared during the accommodation request process will be stored and used in a manner that is consistent with applicable laws and Manulife/John Hancock policies. To request a reasonable accommodation in the application process, contact recruitment@manulife.com.

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