As you might know this spring we have elections for all of the Executive positions in the Society! This includes President, VP Education, VP Internal, VP External, and VP Finance. Leading up to the nomination period each week one of the current Exec will be posting a blog post detailing what each of our positions actually does, what an average day is like, where we see the portfolio going, and why we love our jobs. Watch out for all our posts and get in touch if you want more information!
The Role of VP Finance
At a fundamental level, the VP Finance (VPF) is responsible for all financial affairs of the Society, which basically means being the person who manages any money going into or out of our accounts, as well as any activities that involve finances. This means that the VPF is tasked with budgeting and forecasting expenses, tracking the spending of money, and ensuring that the Society is in a good spot financially.
Each school term, undergraduate students pay an Engineering Society membership fee. This fee goes towards funding the operations of the Society, which includes the services that are provided, events that we run, and also operations such as running the Orifice. The VPF is responsible for creating the budget for these fees. Part of this responsibility involves making sure undergraduate students are getting the most out of their EngSoc fee, and ensuring that the Society is not wasting student money. In addition, the VPF is also involved in managing the finances and operations for the Society’s business related accounts, such as the C&D, Novelties, RidgidWare and other initiatives. If it involves money, the VPF is a part of it.
The VPF sits on a few committees, such as the EngSoc Sponsorship Committee, and also the Engineering Capital Improvements Fund (ECIF) committee, which allows you to be involved in not only managing money, but also to work on funding initiatives that will improve the student experience in engineering.
A day in the life of VP Finance involves many things, such as assisting directors with purchases, writing cheques, and working very closely with the Society’s Business Manager to support everything they do. The VPF role has a great balance of strictly finance related tasks, as well as being able to get involved with all things happening in the Society. You might think that to be the VP Finance you need a background in finance, and while it certainly can’t hurt, if you have an interest in managing money and a desire to learn more about it, then you can certainly be successful in the role.
One of the things I like most about being VPF is I have the ability to get involved in pretty much everything the Society does. There are very few events and services and operations that do not require financial support, and that means that the VPF has to know what is going on in all aspects of the Society.
As the Society moves forwards, I think that the future of the VPF role will be one that involves building new services and finance projects, and also growing what we already have.
Being an executive with the Engineering Society is a very rewarding job, and is truly what you make of it. If you’re passionate about serving students and helping them get the most out of their education, then you should definitely consider getting involved. If you are interested in running for an executive position, or want to learn more about the other roles, check out these other blog posts:
President
VP-Education
VP-External
Why You should consider running for Executive
Guide to running in the Spring 2015 elections
Elections Information Page
Thanks!
Kevin McNamara
VP Finance Engineering Society ‘A
vpfinance.a@engsoc.uwaterloo.ca