The Forex and Hedge Accounting Specialist will be a member of the team managing the foreign transactions and accounting processes in a timely and accurate manner, in accordance with defined operating procedures, policies, SOX, compliance, IFRS 9 and business partnering. The Specialist is responsible for the accounting treatment of hedge accounting, ensuring timeous forex payments and dealing of forex receipts. The individual will enjoy problem solving and striving to improve the metric of the operational process.
Duties and Responsibilities:
- Managing foreign transactions and accounting processes in a timely and accurate manner in accordance with defined operating procedures, policies, Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), compliance, International Financial Reporting Standard 9 (IFRS 9) and business partnering
- Being responsible for the accounting treatment of hedge accounting
- Ensuring timely foreign exchange payments and management of foreign exchange receipts
- Solving problems within operational processes and striving to improve process metrics
- Participating as a member of the wider Finance Operations (FinOps) teams
- Communicating effectively with stakeholders across varied internal environments as well as external stakeholders including business units, vendors, subsidiaries and other markets
- Driving a culture of continuous process improvement to support world class operational performance
- Being accountable for completeness and accuracy of accounting and reporting related to foreign exposure and hedge accounting in terms of International Financial Reporting Standard 9 (IFRS 9)
- Supporting relevant stakeholders with foreign exchange related requests and queries
- Establishing close working relationships with other teams across Finance Operations, Finance Business Partners, Group Treasury and Transactional Cash Management teams
- Interacting with Global Process members, peers in Shared Services and cash management process team members
- Advising relevant stakeholders on foreign exchange related transactions, International Financial Reporting Standard 9 (IFRS 9) accounting, processes and reporting
- Identifying opportunities to optimise foreign exchange related cash flows and striving to streamline and improve processes
- Performing month end reporting in accordance with the financial calendar and establishing adherence to relevant Group policies
- Ensuring compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) controls
- Ensuring all internal and external compliance requirements are met
- Working with other departments to ensure all cross-department issues are resolved
- Monitoring sub-processes related to foreign exchange payments and receipts
- Preparing and submitting applications to the South African Reserve Bank
- Performing monthly variance analysis and reporting and providing valid reasons for identified variances
- Analysing reported data for key trends and anomalies and investigating exceptions and resolving exceptions
- Working with team members and key stakeholders across business units to ensure timely resolution of foreign exchange issues including ensuring accurate and complete accounting treatment of foreign exchange related transactions by analysing financial transactions, identifying cost drivers and key vendors and reporting on spend
- Being responsible for separate and consolidated statutory reporting packs and other reporting requirements as part of interim and year-end close processes
- Being responsible for both separate and consolidated interim and annual financial statements
Minimum Requirements:
- BCom Accounting degree essential
- Minimum of 5+ years’ relevant experience with a strong background in financial reporting
- Strong IFRS 9 knowledge
- Experience in financial reporting and statutory reporting requirements
- Excellent working knowledge of MS Office, especially Advanced Excel, Word and PowerPoint
- SAP ERP and HFM experience
- Strong SOX knowledge