Regional Chief Financial Officer, Apac

Job Description

**The role**

Clifford Chance is seeking an experienced leader for its Finance function in APAC. APAC comprises eight offices in five countries, with multiple statutory and reporting entities within each jurisdiction. This role covers offices in Australia (Sydney and Perth), Singapore, Hong Kong, China (Shanghai, Beijing) and Japan (Tokyo), as well as our alliance and joint operation partners in Singapore and China.

The Regional Chief Financial Officer role is a member of the global Finance Leadership Group, contributing towards building a stronger finance functional globally, as well as the Asia Pacific Leadership Group (APLG), driving the regional business forward. The Regional CFO will report to the Global CFO (solid line) and Regional COO (dotted line).

The focus regionally and globally for the Finance team is to drive growth and market expansion, increase profit and cash while reducing risk for the Firm. This value is generated by the function working closely with partners, lawyers and business professionals to improve commercial performance and deliver effective operations across pricing, accounting, reporting, tax, treasury, control and governance. Our teams across the world are aligned around the vision to be one global team, working in collaboration to deliver value to clients, partners and the partnership, with robust controls and continuous improvement environment.

**Reporting Lines and Committee Membership**

**Reports to**:

- Global Chief Finance Officer (GCFO) - solid line
- Regional Chief Operating Officer (RCOO) - dotted line

**Close working relationship with**:

- Regional Managing Partner
- Asia Pacific Leadership Group. _Comprised of the RMP, Regional Practice Area Leaders, RCOO and Regional HR Director_
- Heads of Finance across the region
- Head of Commercial Advisory for the region

**Committee Membership**:

- Finance Leadership Group (FLG). _Comprised of the GCFO, _regional CFOs, and heads of Tax, Reporting, Commercial and Systems._

**Job Purpose**

You will be responsible for the Finance function in the region and notably:

- As a strategic advisor will provide constructive challenge, early identification of risks and prompt escalation of issues.
- Work closely with the Global CFO and as part of the regional leadership team to streamline our finance processes across the region and roll out best practices, including the leveraging of our operational hub in India.
- Guide members of the regional Finance team, encouraging their personal development. Work with talented individuals to build a pipeline of talent passing through global programmes then sharing their experience to develop others.

**Key Responsibilities**

**Business Partnering & Leadership**
- Act as strategic advisor on regional financial performance to the Regional Managing Partner and Regional COO, as well as the Regional Practice Area Leaders and Business Managers, providing challenge and identifying areas for performance improvement.
- Monitor and review the financial performance of the region, presenting key highlights to the GCFO.

**Strengthen Commercial Performance**
- Strengthen performance across matter life cycle and implement robust commercial expectations within the region to maximise profitability and optimise working capital. Work closely with Partners, and other leaders in the Firm to discuss and implement best practice.
- Working closely with Practice Area leadership, support the roll out of the Commercial Awareness Framework (CAF) programme to promote commercial acumen and improve client relationship skills within our partners and lawyers.
- Collaborate with other regional CFOs and global colleagues to identify opportunities to share best practices with other regions and vice versa.
- Together with the Global Treasury Team, optimise the funding for the region and work with the banks to minimise transaction / FX costs and seek a secure low risk investment return.

**Simplify and Modernise our Operations**
- Implement global transformation and change programme initiatives relating to operational efficiency and commercial discipline ensuring that they are embedded within the region and aligned to the global strategy.
- Ensure the finance function works effectively with Partners, including Office Managing Partners, Regional Business Managers and Regional Functional Heads.
- Identify and implement opportunities for standardisation and automation of processes.
- Streamline regional reporting in line with global best practices.

**Implement Robust Risk Governance**

Our clients and the Firm are working in increasingly more regulated environments. A broad cohort of stakeholders expect us to deliver to high professional standards in all aspects of our work from provision of legal advice and matter management, to how we manage the Firm. As the Regional CFO you will:

- Monitor for and identify areas of potential risk to the firm, escalating and resolving as necessary.
- Maintain and evolve ro