A niche in numbers: CMA Janet Cosier helps minimize risk and provide strategic direction for the Bank of Canada. (Profile).

Coming from an accounting family, it makes sense that CMA Janet Cosier would find her niche in numbers. Born in Montreal and raised in the Toronto suburb of Willowdale, Cosier is the adviser on strategic planning and risk management for the Bank of Canada. And during the course of a career that has taken her from the federal Auditor General's office to the country's top banking authority, she has had an opportunity to apply CMA training and theory in every work environment.

An Ottawa resident since 1973, Cosier is a graduate of York University (BA, mathematics and computer science) and the University of Windsor (BComm, accounting and financial management). She became a Certified Management Accountant in 1978.

"In terms of my commerce degree and my CMA designation, I think both of these areas provided me with a useful foundation in broad financial management principles," says Cosier. "And what has really been beneficial is the process

of continuous professional development. Thanks to the CMA, I have continued to acquire valuable knowledge. I think CMA Canada's professional education programs have evolved and have strengthened over the years."

Cosier began her career in 1973 with the Office of the Auditor General of Canada in Ottawa as an audit analyst and in 1977, joined the Department of Industry, Trade and Commerce as a planning and budget analyst In 1980, she joined the Bank of Canada as budget officer in the comptroller's department.

She lauds the CMA program for its focus on the importance of management information, and cost-benefit analysis and other analytical techniques, to support an organization's business needs in the short, medium and longer terms.

"I was particularly interested in acquiring a solid understanding of good management principles and practices in the areas of strategic leadership, planning and performance measurement," she adds. "The evolution of financial reporting and disclosure, as well as management information to monitor business performance, were areas that fascinated me at the time."

Cosier has enjoyed a successful career at the Bank of Canada, which is responsible for formulating and implementing monetary policy, promoting the safety and soundness of Canada's financial system and supplying bank notes that are readily accepted without concern about counterfeiting.

She has served as comptroller, director of internal audit and chief of management services, comprising financial management services, human resource services and information management services. More recently, as adviser on strategic planning and risk management, Cosier is responsible for the Bank's overall strategic planning and stewardship process.

"This process involves the development of an overall strategic direction for the Bank for each of its main functions and strategic goals, priorities and measures, to monitor and report on the Bank's performance. I also provide advice to management on the Bank's risk management activities, which include identifying, monitoring and reporting on the key areas of corporate risk facing the Bank. In addition, I was appointed chair of the Canadian Payments Association (CPA) in January 2001."

A not-for-profit organization created by an Act of Parliament in 1980, the CPA operates a national clearing and settlement system and plans the evolution of the national payments system. "The CPA operates two main systems for the clearing and settlement of payments in Canada: the Automated Clearing Settlement System (ACSS) and the Large Value Transfer System (LVTS)," says Cosier. "On an average business day, the total value of transactions cleared and settled through these systems is approximately $128 billion."

New financial legislation passed by Parliament in 2001 will bring about some key changes for the CPA, including some revisions to its mandate and a broadening of its membership. Until recently, only Canadian banks and other deposit-taking institutions have been eligible to be CPA members, but the new legislation opens the doors to life insurance companies, securities dealers, and money-market mutual funds. In her role as chair, Cosier is looking forward to implementing this new framework. Along with the CPA's board of directors, Cosier is responsible for establishing the association's strategic direction and priorities, ensuring that adequate resources are available to meet its needs, and for monitoring the CPA's results and overall performance.

Performance measurement is vital in any organization, she adds. "The whole evolution of measuring performance is Important," she says. "It is a rather complex subject matter, where you have qualitative and quantitative measures, and you need to identify which measures are critical in terms of measuring results. You can't just use a standard list; the measures have to be relevant to your business lines. They would be different for research and development than for the production of bank notes. Performance measures are increasingly critical for every organization."

In addition to her major roles with the Bank of Canada, Cosier has provided leadership and direction on several committees and working groups dealing with security co-ordination, the environment, continuous learning, employment equity and performance measurement. She also chaired a risk-management working group that developed a methodology and framework for assessing and evaluating corporate risk at the Bank of Canada.

Internationally, Cosier headed a performance measurement working group of central banks sponsored by the Bank for International Settlements in Basle, Switzerland, and lectured at the Vienna Institute in a seminar series on International Accounting and Reporting Standards, organized by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for central banks.

As a member of CMA Canada's Government Relations Working Group, Cosier helps support CMA Canada in its endeavour to increase the profile, presence and influence of CMA Canada and its members among federal political parties and federal government departments and agencies, and within the federal public service. Her work with the Society of Management Accountants of Ontario has included membership on the Professional Services Committee and chairing the Student Services committee; she also served on the board of the Financial Management Institute of Canada (Capital Chapter).

That should be enough to keep anyone busy, but Cosier has also been a member of the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors of a not-for-profit organization in Ottawa that provides social and health services to low-income families -- and she chaired that organization's Finance Committee.

No matter where you are, good analysis is a vital component for success, Cosier says. "For all of us in an organization, approaching different subjects in an analytical way is helpful. Those fundamentals of analysis are part of the CMA program, whether you're dealing with security, environmental or costing matters. It's vital to apply our analytical skills to identify and build a framework for addressing any issue."

Cosier's career high points include heading up the Bank of Canada's comptrollership and internal audit functions. Part of that highlight was working with others to modernize these functions to meet the Bank's future needs. "On the audit side, we introduced more analytical techniques and statistical methods to assess the Bank's internal controls for its main business lines."

There's certainly no lack of opportunity to discuss business and finance with her family: Cosier's dad, Leslie Woods, is a chartered accountant; and her two sisters, Margaret Woods and Heather Woods, and her brother-in-law, Harley Dekker, are all CMAs.

With her husband Tony, a retired teacher and internationally recognized poet and fiction writer, Cosier lives in Barrhaven, just outside of Ottawa. "On weekends, Tony and I commute to our stone farmhouse. It's a great old spot, built in 1830 and surrounded by 50 acres of maple bush alongside the Rideau River. We canoe the Rideau in the summer and hike the Rideau Trail all year round." An avid photographer with a fascination for local history, Cosier enjoys attending plays by local theatre groups in the eastern Ontario towns of Merrickville, Smith Falls and Perth.

And she says that, career-wise, her work really began paying dividends when she joined the Bank of Canada. "I've been very lucky in my career. I've had an opportunity to work with many talented colleagues who are open to new ideas. The Bank of Canada is a wonderful place to work, particularly because of the dedicated and warm-hearted staff who work here."

John Cooper is a Whitby, Ont.-based freelance writer.