National Finance Officer

This role is a permanent full-time role.

Founded by St Ignatius Loyola more than 450 years ago, the Society of Jesus (also known as the Jesuits) is an international religious order of priests and brothers within the Catholic Church committed to service in the world in a variety of ways.

The Jesuit presence in Australia began in 1848 and the Australian Province of the Society of Jesus now comprises more than 120 Jesuits.  They work in over 30 ministries in companionship with some 1800 women and men who share the Ignatian vision of the service of faith and the promotion of justice.

This is a newly created role with the establishment of Jesuit and Ignatian Spirituality Australia Ltd (JISA) which is the entity that co-ordinates the Province’s Ministry of the Spiritual Exercises, Mission Formation and Intellectual Apostolate. Initially it has three divisions, Jesuit Spirituality Ministry, Mission Formation and the Intellectual Apostolate. The work of Mission Formation and Jesuit Spirituality Ministries is supported by Mobile Teams of spiritual directors and formators (Jesuit and lay) and by a national Finance and Administration Team.

The Ministry, which is a priority under the Apostolic Plan of the Australian Jesuits, will transition from a fixed location service to an outreach model staffed by mobile teams that focus on bringing Jesuit and Ignatian spirituality and mission formation to those who seek it, where they seek it.

The changes, which demonstrate the Ignatian maxim of living with “one foot raised” in the direction of greatest need, a sixteenth century articulation of the modern concept of “agile availability”, will create new opportunities not only for those seeking an experience of Ignatian spirituality, but also for spiritual directors delivering those services. Ignatian spiritual directors and presenters have until now been largely restricted to physical retreat centres for the delivery of Ignatian spirituality and mission formation. 

The Role

The primary responsibility of the National Finance Officer – JISA is to support the Manager – Finance and Administration and to manage the daily financial and accounting requirements of the JISA.

Primary Responsibilities

• Assisting in the preparation of the JISA budget
• Managing records and receipts and keep accurate records for all daily transactions
• Manage accounts payable and accounts receivable, credit cards, invoicing and other finance-related transactional function
• Reconcile bank statements and GL on a monthly basis
• Preparing balance sheets
• Being a key point of contact for other departments on financial and accounting matters

Ideal Candidate

Ideally the successful candidate will possess and have demonstrable knowledge of the following: 

• Tertiary qualifications in Accounting or Commerce
• 5+ years relevant experience in accounting services including cash management and accounts payable/receivable
• Proven experience as a Finance Officer or similar role
• Prior experience in working for not-for-profit or religious order
• Solid knowledge of financial and accounting procedures
• Experience in MYOB essential and an understanding of Dynamics AX Software is desirable. 
• Advanced MS Excel skills
• Excellent analytical and numerical skills