Sheree joined council seven years ago as a ‘fairly traditional accountant’, with training in public practise and regulatory reporting in the banking sector. She spent the first five years as a business analyst, supporting most areas of the business in that time.
One of the great things about working at Tauranga City Council is the career progression opportunities and support to try new things. Sheree moved into her current role as Treasury and Financial Compliance Manager two years ago. Treasury is quite different from traditional accounting, and Sheree believes she wouldn’t have been exposed to it had she not worked in council.
The role covers two different functions within the finance team. The treasury element is focused on borrowing and investing to get the best result for ratepayers. Council is a billion-dollar business, and the timing and type of borrowing and investing we do changes often. Sheree is responsible for modelling and stress testing potential opportunities and changes in the business or economy and assessing how that will impact council’s debt position and related financial metrics. This part of the role is something Sheree particularly enjoys – as she puts it, there’s no end to how many ways you can cut a sandwich / debt ratio.
The primary output of the financial compliance function is the annual report, covering our full year results, performance against budget and key performance indicators – both financial and non-financial. The team coordinates stakeholders across the business and Audit NZ to produce the annual report. They also monitor all accounting standards, legislation and internal policies to ensure that council is being fiscally responsible.
Sheree’s advice to anyone thinking about a role in council is to go for it. “A foot in the door to an organisation like this will open career opportunities that you didn’t know existed. Many people here are in roles so different to where they started, as they have been encouraged to progress and move across the business as opportunities develop.
“I like that no two days are the same – we’re constantly learning something new. We must react to decisions, queries and changes in policy, so you quickly learn to be agile in your work. The next few years are going to be very interesting in the public sector and it’s exciting to be part of that journey.”
