Finance Business Partner at Absa South Africa

Job Summary

The Finance Business Partnering function covers the reporting of all financial and management information, RAFs, MTPs and STP within Corporate Functions Finance. It involves the analysis and interpretation of this reporting and providing business with meaningful insights to enable decision making. The team provides continuous decision support to BP&A. 

• Specific Role Purpose: Role will be focused on business partnering of Corporate Functions Finance and supporting the financial forecasting and planning process.
• The Finance Business Partner performs financial analysis, planning, reporting and reconciliations 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 Business Partner equips finance and business leadership with sound financial information to support decision making at all levels. 
• The Finance Business Partner 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 operating model and to achieve the business objectives. 
• The Finance Business Partner co-creates Finance capabilities required to lead to business effectiveness.

Job Description

Reporting Packs

• Prepare monthly deck detailing performance benchmarks such as Budget and RAF.
• Consult Functional heads to discuss monthly performance and provide analysis on portfolio performance.
• Preparation and analysis of slide submissions into various internal documents pertaining to cost performance

Projects

• Participate in projects that are focused on further enhancement of reporting tools
• Ad hoc decision support projects for finance and areas part of the portfolio

Analysis of data

• Pro-actively track and analyse cost
• Provide analysis on Business performance

Financial Planning and Budgeting

• Provide analysis and input to business on financial planning and budgeting.

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 view of business 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.
• Contribute to the effectiveness of the core finance processes for Corporate Functions Finance (annual planning, forecasting, spend trajectory and reporting).
• Understand and integrate Treasury, Risk, and Finance data from a BU perspective, where appropriate.
• 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.
• 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 Corporate Functions 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.

Education and Experience Required

• Appropriate Accounting qualification – BCom, CA(SA) / CIMA
• Post qualification banking experience will be advantages

Knowledge & Skills: 

• Strong financial reporting skills
• Problem solving and efficiency improving
• Client service drive
• Strong communication skills
• Analytical and detailed focused

Competencies: 

• Personal & Interpersonal Skills
• Business Skills
• Technical Knowledge
• Commercial Effectiveness
• Control Environment

Education

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