Finance Manager - Balance Sheet Substantiation

Manulife; Manila; Hybrid; PHP 2,000,000 - 3,200,000; Full time

Job summary

Manulife Manila seeks a Manager to lead the Balance Sheet Substantiation Initiative across Asia, standardizing reconciliations, ownership, and review practices. The role drives governance, cross-functional collaboration, and remediation delivery from the Philippines and Hong Kong to other markets.

The successful candidate will oversee backlog clearance, strengthen ownership, and advance a scalable regional framework while exploring automation and AI for improved matching and investigation

Qualifications

• University degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, or related discipline.
• Minimum of five years of relevant experience in financial accounting, balance sheet reconciliation, controllership, financial governance, audit, or finance transformation within a regional or global organization.
• Strong understanding of general ledger processes, account reconciliation, substantiation standards, financial controls, and remediation of aged or unsupported balances.
• Demonstrated project management capability, including management of cross-functional dependencies, risks, timelines, and senior stakeholders.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to identify root causes and translate complex issues into practical recommendations.
• Proven ability to influence without authority, challenge constructively, and drive accountability across multiple markets and functions.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience preparing executive-level updates and facilitating governance discussions.
• The candidate must be willing to report by day shift.
• The candidate must be willing to report in Diliman, Quezon City

Responsibilities

• Lead the end-to-end execution of the Balance Sheet Substantiation Initiative across Asia markets, including planning, prioritization, milestone management, issue resolution, and progress reporting.
• Drive delivery for the Philippines and Hong Kong and establish a disciplined roadmap for rollout to remaining Asia markets.
• Maintain effective project governance, risk and issue tracking, decision logs, escalation protocols, and management reporting.
• Coordinate dependencies across local Finance teams, Regional Controllers, Shared Services, Technology, Internal Audit, and other relevant stakeholders.
• Establish and embed standardized requirements for account reconciliation, substantiation, ownership, review, aging, and evidence retention.
• Strengthen account ownership and accountability, including decomposition of shared accounts and escalation of unresolved ownership gaps.
• Review long-outstanding, unsupported, unidentified, or unreconciled balances and drive appropriate remediation, including recommendations for write-off or clearance subject to delegated authority.
• Identify control weaknesses, root causes, and recurring issues, and partner with stakeholders to implement sustainable preventive and detective controls.
• Promote timely visibility and escalation of balance sheet risks to Finance leadership.
• Design and continuously improve the regional substantiation framework, templates, procedures, service expectations, and management information.
• Assess current clearing and tracking practices and recommend scalable process and operating model improvements.
• Partner with Technology and process owners to improve system configuration, data visibility, identifier usage, journal descriptions, and traceability of balances.
• Evaluate opportunities to integrate clearing activities and use automation or AI-assisted matching to improve efficiency and investigation outcomes.
• Strengthen documentation and knowledge transfer to reduce key-person dependency and support consistent adoption across markets.
• Build strong partnerships with market Controllers, account owners, functional teams, Shared Services, and regional leadership.
• Influence stakeholders to adopt standardized requirements and take timely action on remediation and control improvements.
• Facilitate working sessions, governance forums, and management updates, presenting complex issues and recommendations clearly and concisely.
• Develop change, communication, and training approaches that support adoption and sustainable execution.

Job description

In this role, the successful candidate will lead the Balance Sheet Substantiation Initiative across Asia, driving the standardization of balance sheet reconciliation, substantiation, account ownership, and review practices. The Manager will provide project leadership and governance, partner with market and regional stakeholders, and oversee delivery of remediation and sustainable control improvements across the Philippines, Hong Kong, and other Asia markets.

The role is accountable for advancing backlog clearance, strengthening ownership and accountability, improving reconciliation quality, and implementing a scalable regional framework. The Manager will coordinate complex cross-functional dependencies, challenge unresolved balances and control gaps, and translate project findings into actionable recommendations for Finance leadership. The position will also support the evaluation of enabling technology, automation, and AI opportunities that improve matching, tracking, investigation, and clearance of balance sheet items.

Position Responsibilities

Regional Program Leadership and Delivery

• Lead the end-to-end execution of the Balance Sheet Substantiation Initiative across Asia markets, including planning, prioritization, milestone management, issue resolution, and progress reporting.
• Drive delivery for the Philippines and Hong Kong and establish a disciplined roadmap for rollout to remaining Asia markets.
• Maintain effective project governance, risk and issue tracking, decision logs, escalation protocols, and management reporting.
• Coordinate dependencies across local Finance teams, Regional Controllers, Shared Services, Technology, Internal Audit, and other relevant stakeholders.

Balance Sheet Governance and Control

• Establish and embed standardized requirements for account reconciliation, substantiation, ownership, review, aging, and evidence retention.
• Strengthen account ownership and accountability, including decomposition of shared accounts and escalation of unresolved ownership gaps.
• Review long-outstanding, unsupported, unidentified, or unreconciled balances and drive appropriate remediation, including recommendations for write-off or clearance subject to delegated authority.
• Identify control weaknesses, root causes, and recurring issues, and partner with stakeholders to implement sustainable preventive and detective controls.
• Promote timely visibility and escalation of balance sheet risks to Finance leadership.

Process Standardization and Continuous Improvement

• Design and continuously improve the regional substantiation framework, templates, procedures, service expectations, and management information.
• Assess current clearing and tracking practices and recommend scalable process and operating model improvements.
• Partner with Technology and process owners to improve system configuration, data visibility, identifier usage, journal descriptions, and traceability of balances.
• Evaluate opportunities to integrate clearing activities and use automation or AI-assisted matching to improve efficiency and investigation outcomes.
• Strengthen documentation and knowledge transfer to reduce key-person dependency and support consistent adoption across markets.

Stakeholder Management and Change Enablement

• Build strong partnerships with market Controllers, account owners, functional teams, Shared Services, and regional leadership.
• Influence stakeholders to adopt standardized requirements and take timely action on remediation and control improvements.
• Facilitate working sessions, governance forums, and management updates, presenting complex issues and recommendations clearly and concisely.
• Develop change, communication, and training approaches that support adoption and sustainable execution.

Required Qualifications

• University degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, or a related discipline
• Minimum of five years of relevant experience in financial accounting, balance sheet reconciliation, controllership, financial governance, audit, or finance transformation within a regional or global organization.
• Strong understanding of general ledger processes, account reconciliation, substantiation standards, financial controls, and remediation of aged or unsupported balances.
• Demonstrated project management capability, including management of cross-functional dependencies, risks, timelines, and senior stakeholders.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to identify root causes and translate complex issues into practical recommendations.
• Proven ability to influence without authority, challenge constructively, and drive accountability across multiple markets and functions.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience preparing executive-level updates and facilitating governance discussions.
• The candidate must be willing to report by day shift.
• The candidate must be willing to report in Diliman, Quezon City

Preferred Qualifications

• Recognized accounting designation such as CPA is preferred.
• Experience with reconciliation platforms, data analytics, workflow tools, automation, or AI-enabled finance solutions is an advantage.
• Life insurance or financial services industry experience is an advantage.

When you join our team

• We’ll empower you to learn and grow the career you want.
• We’ll recognize and support you in a flexible environment where well-being and inclusion are more than just words.
• As part of our global team, we’ll support you in shaping the future you want to see.

About Manulife and John Hancock

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider, helping people make their decisions easier and lives better. To learn more about us, visit https://www.manulife.com/en/about/our-story.html.

Manulife is an Equal Opportunity Employer

At Manulife/John Hancock, we embrace our diversity. We strive to attract, develop and retain a workforce that is as diverse as the customers we serve and to foster an inclusive work environment that embraces the strength of cultures and individuals. We are committed to fair recruitment, retention, advancement and compensation, and we administer all of our practices and programs without discrimination on the basis of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, religion or religious beliefs, creed, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions), sexual orientation, genetic characteristics, veteran status, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, family status, disability, or any other ground protected by applicable law.

It is our priority to remove barriers to provide equal access to employment. A Human Resources representative will work with applicants who request a reasonable accommodation during the application process. All information shared during the accommodation request process will be stored and used in a manner that is consistent with applicable laws and Manulife/John Hancock policies. To request a reasonable accommodation in the application process, contact [e-mail].

Working Arrangement

Hybrid