Sandra joined the City of Toronto in January, 2017 as the Director of Accounting Services. She oversees the preparation and publication of the City’s consolidated financial statements, as well as having responsibility for accounting policies and the implementation of new standards, and providing complex accounting advice to the organization and the City’s consolidated entities.
Since joining the City, Sandra has transformed the City’s Annual Financial Report, making it an easy to read and interesting account of how the City spends taxpayer dollars on valuable services that improve the lives of residents, businesses and visitors to the City of Toronto. To further strengthen the City’s Annual Financial Report, Sandra and her team have been collaborating with the City’s environmental specialists to support the recommendations of the Task Force for Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). As one of the key members of the TCFD working group, Sandra is currently working on a roadmap to fully implement the recommendations in future annual reports. The TCFD journey began with work that Sandra and the City’s Environment and Energy Division performed with CPA Canada to prepare and publish a guidance document for municipalities when considering implementing TCFD in their Annual Financial Reports.
In addition to disclosure enhancements, Sandra supports the City’s Financial Sustainability program and the financial system transformation project. Both initiatives involve a reimagining of how the City’s finance function operates, but Sandra’s primary focus is on the City’s general ledger redesign to meet financial reporting requirements while supporting standardized financial processes, as well as strengthening data governance processes.
Sandra’s team has responsibility over the City’s PCI Compliance governance, which began with PCI certification in 2018. This small, but mighty team partners with the City’s business units, and technology and cyber security teams to ensure that PCI DSS standards continue to be met. She is responsible for managing the relationship with the City’s Quality Security Assessor, who conducts the annual audit required for re-certification, along with managing the City’s payment processing contract.
Prior to joining the City, Sandra spent 24 years with the Toronto Police Service. In her last role as Director of Finance and Business Management, she was responsible for Budgeting, Accounting, Payroll and Benefits Administration, Purchasing and Facilities Management and had the opportunity to support the Service’s Transformation Task Force in their development of The Way Forward police modernization plan.
