Organisation: Department of Health
Job Title: Financial Accountant
Word Limit: Max 500 words per question
Location: Fyshwick ACT
Describe a recent financial reporting role you performed which contributed to the success of
your team and demonstrated your ability to plan and organise your work, monitor progress and
complete tasks under pressure.
Throughout my career I have been required to undertake work that is complex in nature, and
operate under limited direction, requiring me to plan and organise my own work. Within my
current role as a Property Accountant with DTZ, I demonstrate leadership and accountability by
driving the delivery of accounting and financial reporting services. These services are provided to
internal stakeholders and external clients, including major clients such as Optus, Caltex and
SunCorp, as well as a variety of Government departments, aligning with their organisational
objectives and those of DTZ.
I have a schedule of reporting and tasks to follow for each and every one of my clients which
enables me to meet their deadlines and requests. This schedule includes:
– bank balance checks and reporting to clients,
– balance sheet checks and reporting,
– rent role reminders for commercial premises,
– funds requests,
– property and energy accrual amounts and reporting,
– provider statements, and
– weekly energy reports
In order to provide these clients with the reports that they request, I am required to process large
amounts of data and work effectively within a diverse team. Within this role I work closely with
Property Managers, other Property Accountants, staff from the Information Technology (IT)
department, as well as the General Manager. Together, we work collaboratively to provide
occupiers and investors around the world with industry leading, end-to-end property solutions.
My strong record of success in my current role demonstrates my capacity to achieve crucial results
and deliver quality outcomes within set timeframes and data limitations. Recently, I was notified
of an urgent client request for additional data within a report for analytical purposes. In order to
plan and organise an effective solution that would be in the best interest of all stakeholders
involved, I arranged a meeting with the client to gain a clear understanding of their requirements.
Subsequent to eliciting the requirements, I identified that I did not have access to the data that
the client required, so I approached the IT department to discuss how we could best incorporate
the additional data. This involved the department generating the data on a monthly basis so that I
was able to incorporate it into the general financial report, thus saving operational time, resources
and costs. I could then monitor the progress of these reports each month effectively. As a result, I
was able to maintain a strong relationship with the client through providing them the additional
report information in a timely manner, therefore upholding the integrity of the company.
Furthermore, the implementation of the generation of this data contributed to the creation of a
template that the IT department is now able to utilise to provide a similar service to additional
clients. This example demonstrates my ability to work under pressure to complete tasks as
required.
Describe a recent financial reporting task that required you to work closely with other people to
achieve a challenging outcome. Describe what you did to ensure you worked well together and
how you developed your skills in that role.
I am innovative in networking, building effective working relationships, and developing
partnerships, and I take ownership of relationships and the sustainment of business networks,
while respecting the cultural diversity of those I work with. Throughout my career I have assumed
a long-term view of relationship development and I have used enduring relationships as leverage
when cooperation has been required to achieve challenging outcomes. Within my current role, I
have built relationships with internal facility managers, the finance manager and property
managers and have needed to gain assistance from all of these people on behalf of clients within
my portfolio. By respecting others’ positions and expert knowledge, I have developed positive
working relationships with them and therefore can get the job done easily. In addition, I have
maintained an excellent relationship with the Accounts Payable team to ensure correct and
accurate documents are being sent out to clients.
As well as my financial management reporting capabilities, my current employer provides services
to a range of clients and my role includes management of statements and information which go
out to those clients. This has included a broad range of statistical and usage information. My
management of the trust accounts includes supervising and coordinating the workflow for a total
of five interstate clients as well as large amount of reporting to clients. This involves ensuring that
incoming revenue is dispersed to clients in a timely manner. I conduct quality assurance audits on
these activities, including reporting the outcomes of these audits, as well as undertaking monthly
audits on all accounts and providing training for those staff whom I have identified as requiring
further skills and knowledge. This ensures that all legal requirements are consistently met and
avoids the likelihood of Government penalties to be incurred for the inefficient management of
accounts. Furthermore, I take a collaborative approach with my team, where each staff member’s
cultural diversity and expertise is valued.
I demonstrate my integrity in ensuring that stringent cooperation exists so that all key operational
functions, in addition to the legal requirements, are consistently met. For example, recently I
identified a holding account with $680 that had not been dispersed to the property owner. As this
was not in compliance with legislative requirements, I relied on my strong relationship with the
Property Manager to identify why the funds were there and what the best course of action would
be to disperse them accordingly or meet the relevant requirements. I proactively use my
relationship management skills as a risk management tool when dealing with the trust accounts.
Where there are areas of discrepancies, I anticipate potential issues or errors, facilitate
cooperation, and collaborate with all stakeholders involved, while valuing the diversity that
different opinions can bring. This approach has seen many potential issues never eventuate, and
has mitigated minor problems before they have become large.
Describe your current role and give examples of how you handle pressure and develop your own
skills in your day to day activities.
During my tenure at DTZ, I have consistently demonstrated my ability to take initiative in
completing work tasks with limited guidance from a supervisor. Within this role I manage a
substantial portfolio of Government departments, as well as multimillion dollar global clients such
as Optus, Caltex and SunCorp. When undertaking my responsibilities, I maintain exemplary
standards of conduct, integrity and professionalism, and I utilise my technical expertise to
contribute to operational outcomes. This includes applying initiatives to maximise the benefits of
change, while contributing to the improvement in quality and efficiency of service, including
ensuring that all staff are meeting Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
This was demonstrated in an instance where I identified that several KPIs in relation to the Optus
account were marked as failed due to reporting errors that occurred upon the commencement of
a new manager and staff. I took accountability to rectify the issue and support the new staff in
achieving the KPIs through the provision of guidance and quality assurance. This involved
analysing current policies and procedures and undertaking process improvement implementation
over a one month period. I identified a procedural error regarding the accrual report for the Optus
account, which I discussed with the team through the facilitation of project meetings, in addition
to testing the skill level and knowledge of all staff involved. The data that I gathered from the
testing demonstrated that some individual staff members had changed the procedure, thus
resulting in the identified discrepancies.
I undertook a process of re-educating all staff regarding the correct procedure and developed and
implemented a guide with clear checkpoints to ensure that no further errors occur in the final
reporting process. This guide was approved and implemented by my General Manager.
Furthermore, I dedicated three weeks to training the new account manager for the Optus account
to ensure that a consistent exceptional service was delivered. As a result, the new staff gained
increased knowledge and skills in the completion of accurate reports, thus contributing to the
long-term success of achieving positive business outcomes. During this time, I was also
contributing to my own learning of mentoring and coaching the manager to succeed, something
which I had not undertaken before.
Within my role generally, I look for opportunities to develop my skills further and am also
furthering my skills through studying towards gaining my Certified Practising Accountant
accreditation, which will be completed next year. In addition, I have successfully completed a
Master of Professional Accounting (Accounting Standards and Regulations) at the Australian
National University (ANU) as well as Master of Financial Management (Australian Financial
Industry and Instruments), also a ANU. These have further developed my skills since completion of
the Bachelor of Business I gained in Taiwan.
