Description
Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA) has a position available for a Chief Financial Officer. SCPPA has the desire to expand the finance capabilities in the Finance and Accounting Department. The Chief Financial Officer will report to the Executive Director and supervises a vacant Accounting Manager position.
This position will be responsible for bringing together all of the internal, external, and Member resources to create SCPPA's financing strategies and finance and/or refinance SCPPA's projects and purchase power agreements. In addition, The CFO will be responsible for directing and controlling the budgeting, accounting, financial forecasting, and finance activities for SCPPA in close collaboration with its Members and SCPPA's Finance Committee. The finance activities include designing the financing strategies, preparing and delivering presentations to the three credit rating agencies on an annual basis, and completing the private placements and other financings. The accounting activities include managing the functions of accounting, treasury, Member accounting, accounts payable, cash management, payroll, and financial reporting.
At the current time, financial forecasting and financing activities are performed primarily by an outside financial advisory firm. Additionally, some of SCPPA's project accounting functions are performed by one of its largest Members, LADWP, on an agency agreement basis. SCPPA wishes to lead and coordinate, these functions more closely in the future, in close coordination with its Members.
Job Description
SCPPA is a joint powers authority, and was created in 1980 by the publicly owned utilities (POUs) in Southern California to provide financing for their participation in electric generating facilities and high voltage transmission lines. The twelve SCPPA Members include the cities of Anaheim, Azusa, Banning, Burbank, Cerritos, Colton, Glendale, Los Angeles, Pasadena, Riverside, Vernon, and the Imperial Irrigation District. Together, the Members serve over two million residential and business customers in Southern California, representing a population that exceeds 5 million people.
Since its formation, SCPPA has issued over $14.1 billion in original issuance and refinancing revenue bonds and has structured more than $1 billion in derivative transactions. It is expected that (1) the thirteen SCPPA projects which currently have debt financing, will make use of future revenue bond transactions; (2) SCPPA may potentially issue revenue bonds associated with some of the twelve SCPPA projects which currently do not have public debt financing; and (3) SCPPA may potentially issue revenue bonds for new SCPPA projects. Considering new and existing projects, SCPPA expects to issue several hundred million in revenue bonds over the next several years.
In a period of rapid growth and change, the ability of the Authority to accurately forecast the future and finance its ever growing number of projects is critical to senior managements' ability to establish credibility with Members, the Board of Directors, rating agencies, banks, financial institutions, and other private lenders. The Chief Financial Officer position will be pivotal in establishing that credibility through the accurate preparation of annual budgets, Member allocations, and financial forecasts for the short-term (2 to 5 years), medium-term (6 to 10 years), and longer-term (11 to 20 years) and attaining the necessary financing.
This position requires an individual who has excellent skills in accounting, financial modeling, and private financings. The individual must be able to identify all relevant financial parameters and ensure these are correctly incorporated into the annual budgets and financial forecasting models. All relevant data must be collected and analyzed to ensure a comprehensive review of the alternative financial scenarios is performed, using a variety of different assumptions (e.g., interest rates, inflation, growth, etc.).
Given the far reaching nature of the budgets and financial forecasts and the need for accurate inputs from all angles, this individual must have finely honed skills in collaborating closely with the financial staffs of its Members (responsible for their accounting and finance, resource planning, load forecasting, and production cost modeling), the engineering staffs of its Members (responsible for the budgets for new generating assets), and SCPPA's Project Management Department (responsible for the commercial operation of the generating plants once they come on line). In addition, the individual must be able to coordinate with the outside financial advisor and bond counsel.
This position also will be responsible for managing banking relationships, arranging short- and long-term financing, and monitoring cash and liquidity needs for plant operations and the project expansion program estimated at approximately $1.0 billion between now and 2019. The individual must be able to prepare and deliver compelling presentations to the three credit rating agencies and coordinate private placements and other financings.
The Chief Financial Officer must be able to prepare, present, and explain the budget and financial forecasts and underlying dependent variables to the Senior Staff at SCPPA, the Board of Directors, rating agencies, and existing and potential lenders. Excellent communication skills are necessary to provide both written analyses and lead discussions explaining reasons for assumptions used in the forecasting model, the budgets, and the Member allocations. This position requires the ability to manage multiple projects and react quickly to changes in project financings and changes required by industry developments.
This position will have a major impact on SCPPA's future financial success.
Job Responsibilities
- Extensive knowledge and capability in financial modeling and the use of spreadsheet software at a very advanced level, and possibly proprietary software developed for financial modeling
- Advise senior management, the Finance Committee, and the Board on budgeting and forecasting variables and provide reasoned analysis of the variables chosen
- Working with the external Financial Advisor and the Members, create the financing and refinancing strategies for the generation and transmission projects
- Working with the external Financial Advisor and the Members, maintain the primary relationships with the rating agencies
- Capability of understanding the Member the cost allocation process, developing annual budgeted rates by component (using budgeted costs and estimated usage), and assessing the impact of budgets on Member allocations
- After actual expenses and usage are determined each year, reconcile actual results and budgeted results to determine the actual after-the-fact allocations Develop and maintain financial and budget models such that the forecasts are current and updated as conditions change
- Evaluate software requirements and alternatives for performing the forecasting and budgeting functions, including the potential selection of an appropriate software
- Manage the on-going project accounting agency agreement with LADWP Develop the process and organize information necessary for preparation of annual operating and project budgets
- Calculate the Member allocations based on budget data and actual data and explain reasons for variances
- Identify and evaluate budget variances so that modifications can be made to both budgets and Member allocations when circumstances warrant
- Assist in the planning, assessment, and management of the activities required to support the Authority's project programs including debt issuance, treasury management, and working capital management
- Plan, organize, review and respond to questions about budgets, allocations, and forecasts from management, Members, banks, rating agencies, investors, and potential investors
- Assist in preparation of the annual report including Management's Discussion and Analysis, Highlights, and graph data
- Develop and prepare reports that forecast the financial condition of the Authority. Assist in preparation of internal financial and budget reports to assist with the management of department projects, operations and reporting Manage, evaluate, train, and coach the Accounting Manager and other employees
- Necessary interpersonal and communication skills to work with the financial staffs of its Members and SCPPA employees in all other departments and ability to extract the necessary information needed to prepare budgets and forecasts Necessary interpersonal skills to work with and manage the activities of the outside financial advisors and consultants
