The role of Group Financial Manager provides the business with a highly professional management accounts service, inclusive of accurate and timely financial reporting and business analysis, detailed forecasting as well as support financial modelling to inform commercial decisions. The Group FM delivers the budget and forecasting process across the businesses and provides financial insight into business models within the company. Functions will also include assisting in the preparation of business cases to support key proposals within the company and provide meaningful management information, among other functions.
Duties and Responsibilities:
- Providing the business with a highly professional management accounts service, inclusive of accurate and timely financial reporting and business analysis, detailed forecasting and supporting financial modelling to inform commercial decisions
- Delivering the budget and forecasting process across the business
- Providing financial insight into business models
- Assisting in the preparation of business cases to support key proposals
- Providing meaningful management information
- Interrogating key financial data and making recommendations for improvements in financial performance to help ensure future stability, growth and profitability
- Managing and maintaining the financial records of the company by overseeing and managing the Group Shared Services Accounting team, the function’s daily activities, processes, governance, compliance and reporting
- Managing the day-to-day activities of the Finance Department
- Continuously appraising and developing finance team members, processes and procedures
- Preparing monthly management accounts to agreed timescales, including balance sheet reconciliations and variance commentary
- Providing accurate and timely financial reporting, such as margin and departmental reporting
- Participating in budget review preparation and comparison with previous year’s performance and identifying key areas of concern to allow accurate budget phasings
- Maintaining and managing the capital expenditure process
- Informing and assisting with the standardisation and centralisation of finance activities as and when required
- Ensuring maintenance of accruals and prepayments schedules
- Reviewing financial performance and reporting by exception
- Preparing and submitting all Tax and SARS related returns for all applicable entities
- Managing the company credit card programme
- Ensuring the financial systems are fit for purpose, sustainable and that users have correct access rights in consultation with the Chief Financial Officer
- Recommending and implementing improved financial governance by ensuring the organisation’s policies are current and are being adhered to
- Designing, recommending and facilitating an appropriate annual budgeting process
- Preparing year-end accounts and liaising with external auditors and assisting with the year-end audit
- Working with the Chief Financial Officer and relevant Executives on Finance initiatives and process improvements
- Supporting the implementation of new financial systems and ensuring finance due diligence is appropriately conducted
- Supporting a process of significant and complex organisational change as required
- Participating in and executing any other tasks which can reasonably be performed as requested
- Overseeing and reviewing accounting processing of all group entities
- Analysing processing and procedural requirements and recommending standards
- Ensuring processing of all business transactions meets the requirements of the relevant selected accounting standards
- Ensuring suitable internal controls are in place
- Ensuring all transactions are allocated with the detail and accuracy required to produce meaningful, accurate and complete information for management and legislative requirements
- Ensuring accounting records are up to date and all group entity transactions are processed daily
- Ensuring all journals, bank transactions, debtors transactions, creditor transactions and any other monthly transactions are processed as soon as possible after month-end to ensure timely issuing of accurate management accounts
- Assessing, identifying and implementing all necessary revenue recognition principles and processes
- Reviewing all payment batches and releasing payment batches under the agreed limits for all group entities
- Checking all payment batches on a daily basis as required and releasing payments if they are authorised according to relevant mandates
- Ensuring that payment batches are processed as effectively as possible and mitigating fraud risks as much as possible
- Ensuring stipend batches are paid before month-end, reviewing batches and ensuring all stipends are duly authorised and valid
- Preparing and reviewing monthly management accounts
- Ensuring monthly management accounts are prepared in an agreed format and distributed by the 15th of the following month
- Ensuring management accounts provide up-to-date, relevant and accurate information that is suitable for decision-making
- Assessing and managing cash flow needs of all entities by company practice
- Transferring excess funds to call accounts on a continuous basis to ensure interest income is maximised as much as possible
- Arranging for financing when necessary
- Reconciling, preparing and submitting all entities VAT 201 returns by the last working day of the relevant VAT submission month
- Reconciling, preparing and submitting all entities EMP 201 returns by the 7th day of the month or the last business day before the 7th if on a weekend
- Calculating and estimating provisional tax for all group entities accurately and compliantly within the allowable timeframes
- Submitting provisional IRP6 tax returns by 31 August and 28 February
- Preparing accurate and compliant income tax calculations based on the Annual Financial Statements, with Income Tax returns submitted within 12 months of the company’s year-end
- Submitting dividend tax or any other relevant returns when applicable
- Addressing and dealing with any audits or verifications initiated by SARS
- Reconciling and submitting EMP501 reconciliations for the half year and full payroll term
- Ensuring tax compliance for all entities continuously
- Handling all new tax registrations or filing requirements
- Co-ordinating annual audits, independent reviews and compilation engagements of Annual Financial Statements, ensuring they are prepared within 6 months after year-end
- Preparing official management accounts when necessary for financing or other purposes
- Reviewing, maintaining and developing financial policies and procedures to ensure the accuracy, completeness and validity of all financial processes
- Ensuring policies and procedures comply with relevant legislation and mitigate the risk of fraud and error
- Demonstrating excellent interpersonal and communication skills
- Applying book-keeping and accounting standards knowledge, including IFRS and IFRS for SMEs
- Demonstrating excellent organisational skills and planning own workload to meet deadlines
- Producing accurate and reliable work in a busy, pressurised environment
- Appreciating the need for tact and diplomacy as appropriate
- Displaying absolute honesty and maintaining unquestionable ethical standards
- Being highly numerate and displaying expert abilities in general accounting bookkeeping practices
- Applying sound financial formats
- Bringing about improvement and innovations to processes to improve the effectiveness of the operation
- Using factual information and logic to draw conclusions and make recommendations
- Dealing effectively with pressure, remaining focused, optimistic and persistent even under adversity
- Completing tasks according to specified and agreed deadlines
- Adhering to Occupational Health and Safety standards
Minimum Requirements:
- Degree in Accounting
- Completed SAICA, CIMA, ACCA or ACA articles will be advantageous
- At least 5 to 10 years experience as a Financial Manager at Group level
- Advanced Excel and strong Caseware and Google Sheets experience
- Xero experience will be advantageous
- Thorough working knowledge of accounting practices and standards