Financial Planning and Analysis Manager

POSITION SPECIFICATION: MANAGER, FINANCIAL PLANNING & ANALYSIS (FP&A)

ROLE: Manager, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)

SECTOR: Live Events, Corporate Brand Experiences & Creative Communications

LOCATION: Mississauga, Ontario

REPORTING TO: Chief Executive Officer

WORK ARRANGEMENT: Onsite

COMPENSATION: Highly competitive base salary commensurate with experience + comprehensive benefits package

ABOUT OUR CLIENT

We have been exclusively retained to represent a premier corporate events and brand experience agency headquartered in Mississauga. For more than 30 years, our client has partnered with some of Canada’s most recognizable enterprise brands to produce high-impact corporate conferences, experiential activations, and broadcast-quality productions.

Having scaled rapidly from 30 to over 50 professionals in recent years, the business operates at the dynamic intersection of enterprise-grade creative delivery and fast-paced entrepreneurial growth. Their culture is rooted in genuine human values - trust, clear communication, calm problem-solving, thoughtfulness, and continuous curiosity.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Reporting directly to our client's President and Chief Executive Officer, the Manager, FP&A will serve as the strategic financial co-pilot to the executive leadership team while providing day-to-day operational support to an in-house accounting team of three.

The mandate is weighted approximately 80% toward strategic FP&A, business partnering, cash forecasting, and project profitability analysis, and 20% toward core controllership oversight and accounting governance. Our client is seeking a commercially minded finance professional who thrives in an entrepreneurial setting - someone capable of translating complex operational and event data into actionable executive insights, modernizing legacy spreadsheet workflows, and building structured financial clarity across a growing creative organization.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategic FP&A & Commercial Decision Support (~80%)

• Executive Business Partnership: Partner directly with the CEO and senior department heads to evaluate business performance, set annual operating budgets, and guide multi-year strategic financial planning.

• Forecasting & Cash Flow Modelling: Build and maintain rolling 13-week cash flow forecasts, liquidity models, and scenario analyses to guide business reinvestment and event working capital.

• Project & Margin Analytics: Deep dive into job costing, event profitability, labour utilization, and client margin variances to ensure production budgets convert effectively into bottom-line profitability.

• KPI Dashboards & Performance Reporting: Design, build, and deliver monthly executive reporting packages highlighting revenue pacing, sales pipeline health, client concentration, and operational cost drivers.

• Systems & Workflow Modernization: Identify opportunities to upgrade financial processes, automate manual spreadsheet workflows (including modernizing digital expense management systems), and formalize clean operational SOPs.

Controllership & Accounting Team Guidance (~20%)

• Accounting Team Mentorship: Support and guide a dedicated accounting team of three (coordinators and clerks), acting as an escalation point for technical accounting questions and operational review.

• Financial Governance & Review: Oversee the integrity of the month-end close schedule, review balance sheet reconciliations, and ensure financial records in QuickBooks remain accurate, compliant, and timely.

• External Advisor Collaboration: Serve as the primary internal liaison to external accounting and tax advisory partners for annual compliance reviews, corporate filings, and sales tax (HST) matters.

CANDIDATE QUALIFICATIONS

• Professional Credential: CPA designation (CA / CMA / CGA) in good standing paired with a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce, Finance, or Accounting.

• Proven Experience: 5–8+ years of progressive finance experience, including a minimum of 2–3 years focused heavily on FP&A, financial modelling, budgeting, and commercial analysis within an owner-led, mid-sized, or high-growth agency/professional services environment.

• People Leadership & Accounting Foundation: Demonstrated ability to supervise or mentor accounting staff and a strong underlying command of full-cycle accounting principles.

• Software & Modelling Mastery: Advanced Microsoft Excel capability (financial model design, dynamic scenario building, nested logic, pivot tables) paired with hands-on proficiency in QuickBooks.

• Systems Optimization Track Record: Practical experience refining financial workflows, designing management reporting from scratch, and replacing manual spreadsheet tracking with structured tools.

• Executive Presence & Adaptability: Exceptional communication skills with the emotional intelligence to navigate an entrepreneurial environment where polished client work coexists with evolving internal infrastructure.

• Assets: Familiarity with project/job-cost accounting or cross-border (US) operational exposure is considered an asset.

Candidates must be eligible to work in Canada

I would like to thank all the candidates in advance. Please do stay connected on LinkedIn for future opportunities. Shortlisted candidates will be contacted .

This position reflects a current vacancy with one of our clients. Our Recruiters combine their expertise and AI-enabled technology in the recruitment process.