Accountant: Finance - Johannesburg at Absa Group Limited (Absa)

Job Summary

• To perform financial analysis and provide financial accounting services.

Job Description

Overall Job Purpose:

• Specific Role Purpose: Role will be focused on building financial models using historical data; product related information based on various industry & internal inputs in support of business cases, strategic initiatives, potential new products and partnerships.
• The Finance Analyst performs financial reconciliations’, analysis and reporting in an accurate, complete and timely way; and continuously seeks to improve operations by scaling automated financial processes to doing deep dive and trend analyses to crafting financial solutions aligned to all appropriate controls, business financial health and growth objectives. The Finance Analyst equips finance and business leadership with sound financial information to support decision making at all levels.
• The Finance Analyst of the business enables achieving the operational objectives of the business by building an agile finance enablement to transform, to bring stewardship, financial integrity & insights to the current state of the business & its future possibilities to deliver on the new operating model and to achieve the business objectives set by Absa Africa United for PSC. 
• The Finance Analyst co-creates Finance capabilities required to lead to exponential growth and business effectiveness.

Commercial Finance Execution Accountabilities

• Serve as a subject matter expert on financial data integrity, accounting processes, reconciliations’, analysis and reporting for end-to-end Financial Management in business area.
• Develop and sustain knowledge and experience on the end to end processes, including relevant systems within scope of work.
• First line of operational support to internal and external auditors within scope of work; and all queries addressed effectively and efficiently.
• Responsible for continuous operational excellence and real-time responsiveness of finance to enable business to achieve growth and profitability objectives.
• Prepare for all cycles in advance and ensure adequate engagement with the relevant finance and business teams.
• Focus on information-driven performance improvement and formulate data into easy access standardised views.
• Ensure that the CFO is appraised of key financial issues that need to be raised with executive leadership to enable integrity and timely management the BU.
• Create unprecedented, seamless customer experiences via finance BU enablement.
• Embrace our distinctive brand aspiration and infuse in business.
• Identify and innovate operating practices to optimize the function. Embrace digital solutions.
• Drive continuous process efficiency, financial rigor and controls. 
• Adopt what’s ‘best for absa’ approach in finance practices.
• Have a holistic eco-system view of business, that is, geography, customer, channel and product in developing information views of business.
• Book of work contribution: Build innovative finance business case financial information, insights and benefits tracking’s’ solutions to continuously inform management decisions.
• Transform and evolve Finance planning, tracking and control processes.
• Know BU financial ambitions and balance sheet aspirations of PSC in performance reporting.
• Contribute to the effectiveness of the core finance processes for PSC Finance (annual planning, forecasting, spend trajectory and reporting).
• Understand and integrate Treasury, Risk, and Finance data from a BU perspective, where appropriate.
• Influence the build of a leading global payments hub, where applicable.
• Maintain stewardship and excellence which drives performance and sustainable growth through preservation of financial integrity.
• Be an active force for good in society through business execution.
• Contribute to BCM & cybersecurity processes relevant to the BU and finance execution.

Financial Reporting Accountabilities

• Build trust in the finance function through the creation of a single source of financial information which is corroborated by related management information sources and alignment to the agreed accounting principles, methodologies, and underlying data are correctly applied.
• Generate innovative easy to comprehend progress reports for leaders on their strategic agenda, short-term and long-term plans and investments, operational success metrics, efficiencies, risks and mitigations.
• Interact with the stakeholders to agree minimum quality standards, as well as an agreed method of communicating and resolving any identified quality deficiencies in the reporting process.
• Own the process of delivery of high-quality information for regular and ad-hoc enhanced reporting to agreed requirements, timelines, and standards.
• Act in line with the correct governance and control frameworks across the Finance team, as well as for proactively addressing any deficiencies and exceptions.
• Develop and implement control procedures as deficiencies or exceptions are identified which support the production of error-free reports. Assess and drive improvement of business accounting practices and policies.
• Take a commercial view on business and provide contextual insights into performance reports.
• Integrate advanced modelling and analysis capability to provide actionable intelligence, beyond data within the function.
• Generate finance narratives and insights driving business; and build pioneering new propositions.
• Ensure appropriate, quality and timeous delivery of accurate financial and non-financial management information to support business objectives and expectations, including appropriate financial and non-financial metrics, valid and insightful comments and packaging the information in a relevant and appropriate manner.
• Deliver reporting reflecting deep commercial, holistic understanding, coherency, clarity, and contextualisation. Tell the story with passion and conviction.
• Provide thought-leadership, insight, influence and challenge on evolving stakeholder information requirements and reporting processes to deliver analytics.
• Align to processes around month-end, year-end and planning cycles across the PSC finance community and BU based on the requirements from Group. Prepare for all cycles in advance and ensure adequate engagement with the relevant finance and BU teams.
• Manage the production of regular, high quality, standardised financial and non-financial reporting and analytics to Business and Finance; and focus on effective collaborative stakeholder hand-offs in the production.

People Investment Accountabilities

• Peer responsibility: Coach, inspire, engage, mentor and develop finance and business savvy leaders.
• Network with finance colleagues across GFD and create awareness of challenges, opportunities and issues and encourage collaboration
• Focus on Finance skills evolution and remaining relevant.
• Embrace the value of finance partnership in Big Data, Advanced Analytics, mergers and acquisitions, and partnerships into the core of our business.
• Ensure deep personal understanding of income statement, balance sheet, margin returns, variance analysis, capital and liquidity requirements, revenues, assets, liabilities and capital, expenses, headcount analytics and other key ratios through relevant business engagement.

Role / Person Specification

• Minimum B-degree (NQF level no.7) Desired Post Graduate Degree (NQF level no.8+), CA (SA) or CIMA or MBA qualification preferred.
• 3+ years professional financial management experience
• 2+ years Banking Experience
• Knowledge and skills:
• Experience in executing finance processes.
• Experience in commercial innovation environments
• Broad Finance including strategic, commercial, legal, risk and operational aspects
• Understanding of the financial services sector within a professional business environment
• Knowledge of building collaborative work environments

Education

• Bachelor`s Degrees and Advanced Diplomas: Financial Sciences (Required)