Financial Manager

Unique Personnel boasts over 50 years (established in 1970) of personnel and staffing experience, so it's not surprising that even though our main focus has been providing on South African Staffing Solutions, we now recruit internationally for over 5000 clients Duties & Responsibilities

Job Summary:

The Financial Manager serves as a core strategic partner to the executive team, directing the financial operations, accounting functions, and capital management of the organization. This position ensures absolute financial compliance, designs rigorous internal controls, and manages the annual budgeting and forecasting processes. The Financial Manager transforms complex accounting data into actionable insights, driving cost-efficiency, profitability, and sustainable business growth across all operational departments

Key Responsibilities and Performance Goals:

1. Financial Reporting and Corporate Governance:

• Compile Statements: Direct the preparation of accurate, monthly, quarterly, and annual financial statements, including balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow analysis.
• Ensure Standards: Guarantee that all accounting entries and disclosures comply strictly with relevant financial reporting frameworks (e.g., IFRS or GAAP) and statutory tax regulations.
• Lead Audits: Coordinate the entire external audit process, acting as the primary point of contact for auditors, resolving technical inquiries, and closing audit cycles on schedule.
• Maintain Ledger: Oversee the integrity of the general ledger, reconciliations, fixed asset registers, and subsidiary ledgers managed by the accounting team.

2. Financial Planning, Budgeting, and Forecasting:

• Drive Budgeting: Lead the annual corporate budget formulation, working with department heads to build justifiable revenue projections and expense limits.
• Analyze Variance: Conduct monthly budget-versus-actual variance analyses, identifying operational inefficiencies and proposing corrective actions to executive management.
• Build Models: Develop rolling cash flow forecasts and mid-to-long term financial models to evaluate capital constraints, profitability pipelines, and growth targets.

3. Treasury and Capital Management:

• Optimize Liquidity: Monitor daily corporate liquidity, manage working capital requirements, and optimize banking relationships to secure competitive credit facilities.
• Evaluate Investments: Conduct financial feasibility studies, net present value (NPV) analyses, and internal rate of return (IRR) calculations for proposed capital projects or investments.
• Manage Tax: Oversee corporate tax planning, ensuring timely and accurate compliance with corporate income tax, VAT, payroll taxes, and statutory filings.

4. Internal Controls and Organizational Leadership:

• Mitigate Risk: Design, enforce, and audit internal financial controls to safeguard company assets, minimize risk, and prevent fraud or operational waste.

Direct Staff: Provide leadership, performance management, and continuous technical training to the corporate accounting and corporate finance personnel

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Targets:

• Financial Closing Timeline: Complete the monthly financial close process and deliver reporting packages within 5 business days following month-end.
• Forecast Accuracy Ratio: Maintain a forecast variance of less than ±3% for quarterly revenue and operational expenditure projections.
• Audit Compliance Index: Achieve a clean, unqualified external audit opinion annually with zero material weaknesses or significant deficiencies identified.
• Working Capital Optimization: Optimize the working capital cycle to increase the current ratio to a target range between 1.5 and 2.0.

Budget Variance Threshold: Limit unapproved departmental budget overruns to 0%through proactive monthly expense monitoring and system-enforced alerts

 

Desired Experience & Qualification

Job Specifications and Qualifications:

• Education: Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or business administration. Professional credentials such as CA (Chartered Accountant), CPA (Certified Public Accountant), or CMA (Certified Management Accountant) are required.
• Experience: 8 to 10+ years of progressive corporate finance or accounting experience, with a minimum of 4 years operating in a managerial or senior advisory capacity.
• Technical Skills: Deep expertise in complex accounting software, reporting tools, and advanced financial modeling techniques. Experience implementing corporate financial software is a major asset.
• Competencies: Advanced analytical thinking, strategic financial planning, risk assessment capabilities, high ethical standards, and persuasive executive presentation skills.