Corporate Finance Senior Manager at BDO South Africa

The person in this position reports to the Partner/ Associate Director and is responsible for working on financial due diligence, valuations, JSE Advisory and limited M&A work. This person will also be responsible for assessing and determining fees relevant to new and re-occurring clients and will be expected to participate in or initiate business development efforts.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Business / Brand Development / Operational Excellence

New Business / Administration (20%)

• Responsible for the preparation of engagement letters
• Initiate contact with prospective clients based on leads from partners
• Responsible for preparation of scope and determination of fees for each job
• Responsible for teams capacity budget and ensuring staff available for work committed to
• Responsible for the preparation of proposals
• Responsible for engagement matters inter alia the client take-on process
• Preparation of client invoices

Due Diligence (oversee and review) (20%)

• Pre-due diligence matters i.e. scoping of due diligences and engagement with clients
• Project manage internal BDO teams and multi-jurisdictional teams
• Oversee executives in the performance of the due diligence, including:
  • Review of the accuracy of the working papers prepared;
  • Review of the report produced by the executive; and
  • Review the working papers and report to identify potential KPI’s and areas for investigation.
• Responsible / assist executives with the report writing aspect of the due diligence. Perform a quality control check and close out the report in order to ensure that it complies with BDO standards and aesthetic requirements.
• Assist with the generation of a Q&A list to the Target management and attend key Target management meetings.
• Reconcile the work performed to the scope of work agreed to by the client.
• Responsible for responding to client queries post-production of the draft due diligence report.
• Managing the process of the DD from internal partner communications as well as client status updates and timeline expectations being met
• Engagement with client and partner to determine a risk based scope of the DD
• Preparation and guidance on report “storybook” and templates
• Assistance with closing out and touching up of due diligence reports
• Assistance with the preparation of the key issues list
• Review and quality control of the due diligence reports

Due Diligence (execute) (20%)

• From time-to-time, the senior manager would be required to perform due diligence as opposed to reviewing and overseeing the process. These KPI’s are as follows:
  • Preparation of due diligence working papers in a neat, concise and understandable format consistent with our standard working paper formats
• Perform an analysis of the underlying company (as per the scope of work per assignment) and its key performance indicators and generate a list of queries and potential issues from this analysis
• Engage with due diligence “target” management in order to obtain an understanding of the target business, discussions around KPI’s (i.e. explanations for variances identified) and any other due diligence matters.
• Communication is required to be courteous and conducted in a professional manner
• Preparation of a draft due diligence report meeting the following criteria:
  • Report must be neat, professionally laid out, prepared using BDO Create, and meet certain aesthetic criteria
  • Explanations, elaborations and discussions need to be drafted according to a certain grammatical standard
  • Discussion points need to adequately address the entirety of the issues and KPI’s identified
• Preparation of a list of key issues and deal considerations identified as a result of the due diligence performed            

Valuations (10%)

• Pre-valuation matters and engagement with clients
• Initiate the scoping meetings with the client
• Obtain an understanding of the client financial information and be able to draft a list of queries based on the review
• Populate (and / or review) a valuation model and report based on the underlying information. The valuation model is to be:
  • Based on BDO office templates
  • Neat, concise and easily navigable and understandable
  • Produced with minimal error (self-review is key)
• Obtain (and / or review) necessary data from reliable, independent and relevant sources
• Produce (and / or review) a draft valuation report. The report is required to meet a certain standard with a low level of errors being evident
• Manage partner review process

JSE Advisory Services (20%)

• Pre-advisory matters and engagement with clients
• Project manage multi-jurisdictional teams
• Have an detailed knowledge of the JSE listings requirements as well as the SAICA and IRBA regulations and advise clients adequately
• Ensure that IFRS treatment is appropriately applied and facilitate the obtaining of technical opinions
• Perform the final review of the circular and “double-check” the underlying models and documents
• Engage with sponsors and attending advisor meetings, ensuring adequately prepared to provide reporting accountant expert opinion
• In addition to the executive, the senior manager is required to perform a second review on the financial information produced for the JSE circular, including:
  • Review of the financial models for accuracy, ensuring that the models are free of clerical error
  • Review of circulars and pre listing statements and “tick in” figures from the financial models to the circular
• The senior manager is required to have an adequate (but not extensive) knowledge of the JSE listings requirements and able to ensure that a set of financial information meets the requirements on a high-level
• Ensure that sponsor provided timelines are adhered to
• Preparation of all reporting accountant reports and other signing documents for partner                        

Mergers and Acquisitions (10%)

• Assist the head of M&A with drawing up transaction documents, such as, inter alia:
  • Teaser documents;
  • Information Memorandums; and
  • NDA’s.
• Assist the head of M&A with research and preparation of prospective buyer (or seller) lists.

Finance

Reporting (80%)

• Preparation of departmental monthly management accounts
• Analyse WIP report to determine write offs and write ups

Staff (20%)

• Assess department staffing requirements

People Development, Learning and Growth

Training (20%)

• Train all new staff members joining the Corporate Finance team
• Review the work of colleagues when necessary to identify quality compliance issues and provide advice or training

Staff Development (30%)

• Mentorship and feedback to team members
• Knowledge sharing and upliftment of skills base

Own Development (50%)

• Keep abreast of relevant changes on own field of work i.e. law amendments, new practice notes, attend technical meetings, etc.
• Identify areas of weakness and engage with Corporate Finance Director to upskill and improve through training, GIBs and online self-development
• Write thought leadership commentary/blogs and technical articles for BDO or participate in interviews and panel discussions representing BDO and Corporate Finance initiatives