Job Description

LOCATION: Cape Town or JHB.

Before you think boring role - its really not. Its part of a multi disciplinarily and highly creative team. They work closely with the corporate finance business and are very keen to hire a funky, forward thinking, highly creative, good communicator who wants to learn and grow. The team will offer support - friendship, great leadership and expertise and scope to grow. Its not the technical role with no passion or business interaction - it's the complete opposite.

R HIGHLY NEGOTIABLE PLUS ANNUAL PERFORMANCE BONUS

Our client is a premium African financial services organisation that offers a broad spectrum of financial solutions to retail and corporate customers across key market segments in 14 countries. The lines of business include life and savings, property and casualty, asset management and banking and lending.

They now seek a senior group technical accountant to join their team. You will report to the senior manager: technical accounting. She is an amazing ambassador for what's right and proper in a business space/ She cares deeply for her team- and allows them to grow and develop and to flex around their personal circumstances so work can be a passion and not a chore. Hugely inspirational person and as a result a team that are very positive and passionate about work and working smart and being clever and innovative about their work. Its not a role where you just do the technical work and never see how its interpreted or what the valuations end up 'doing' for the business. It's the opposite of that. No other team seems to be doing this. One doesn't think dynamic and technical usually - you can certainly do so here/ There are other areas of finance that will be open to this person too. So huge horizontal and lateral growth. The team fall into the group reporting and insights area and this area is very 'value added' and with the business being so busy and a great demand there are many projects to be involved with and you will never be bored or have any day the same as the one prior.

The team is respectful of one another and considerate of each other's lives and lifestyles. The key principles in the area are respect; support; collaboration; integrity; transparency and passion/creative. You will have a unique and exciting experience.

This role is suitable for appropriately qualified affirmative action candidates.

JOB DESCRIPTION WILL INCLUDE BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO: and not every day will be the same - so this JD is really just a guide. We would want you to meet the inspirational manager and decide for yourself!

• You will be responsible for maintaining and assisting with the implementation of appropriate accounting policies across the the company group;
• You will be responsible for preparation of update papers to the group audit committee;
• You will be responsible for preparation of comment letters to the IASB on a timely basis to enable industry to collaborate and drive accounting standard changes;
• You will be responsible for reviewing the company and Group financial statements to ensure compliance with the relevant accounting standards, JSE Listing and Companies Act requirements; and the creation of cutting-edge financial reporting;
• You will be responsible for maintenance of the the company accounting issues log and ensuring that there are appropriate documented conclusions around key accounting judgement areas;
• Group technical advisory:

• You will be responsible for advising on structuring and accounting consequences of proposed corporate activity;
• You will be required to act as a central professional practice department (PPD) or centre of excellence for all technical accounting related topics;
• You will be responsible for interpreting, communicating and advising on accounting standards and disclosures throughout the group to ensure consistency of application and reporting standards;
• You will be responsible for advising group reporting and business segment finance teams in resolving technical accounting issues;
• You will be responsible for supporting the head: technical accounting and senior: manager technical accounting with the integration of technical accounting project outcomes (i.e. policies and frameworks) into business as usual;
• You will be responsible for maintaining an issue log and ensuring that all conclusions are appropriately documented;
• You will be required to liaise with the external auditors;
• You will be responsible for supporting preparation of reports to the audit committee and board (where applicable);
• Governance & compliance:

• You will be responsible for the operation, maintenance and consistent application of accounting policies relevant to the production of all financial information prepared by the company and ensuring that any material changes are approved in accordance with the company governance structures.
• You will be responsible for development of updates to technical accounting standards across the group and the resulting consequences on the group accounting manual;
• You will be responsible for liaising with relevant operational managers to coordinate compliance with policy, approvals of changes to policy and introduction of new policies;
• You will be responsible for working with the head: statutory reporting to integrate policies into the reporting processes and systems;
• You will be required to assist with continuous review for various business segments;
• Knowledge sharing & professional development:

• You will be required to drive continuous improvement through knowledge sharing, training and review;
• You will be responsible for supporting the senior manager: technical accounting in the preparation of technical updates and the communication of industry developments to the company finance teams;
• You will be required to maintain up-to-date technical accounting knowledge hub and review of industry practice.
• Financial statements:

• You will be required to support the head: IFRS reporting, head: technical accounting and head: governance and audit to develop and produce the group financial statements templates for interim and annual reporting;
• You will be responsible for technical review of interim and annual group financial statements to ensure that disclosures are in accordance with accounting standards, JSE Listing and Companies Act requirements;
• You will be responsible for supporting the response to technical audit queries during reporting cycles pertaining to the financial statements.

CORE COMPETENCIES REQUIRED, BUT NOT LIMITED TO:

• You are a self-motivated, team player with a desire to learn new skills and grow;
• You have the ability to multi-task and focus on detailed problems, with the tenacity to drive issues until resolved;
• You have the ability to work autonomously and as part of a broader team;
• You are highly organised and structured;
• You have a strong ability to solve problems.

CORE QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:

• You are a CA(SA);
• You have a minimum 4 years' current, relevant post-qualification experience;
• You have a demonstrated understanding of IFRS and technical application; but there are IFRS technical people - so you don't have to be an expert here;
• You have financial reporting experience;
• You have internal control & risk management experience;
• You have tax accounting experience;
• You have advanced Excel, Word, PowerPoint knowledge;
• You are a professional who wants to operationalise and evolve IFRS to be relevant in the FS industry. You want to grow, you want to be challenged and you want to be excited about going to work every day.

Claire Bourquin Recruitment Consultants