Finance Controller at Boardroom Appointments

Position Overview

• An established organisation is seeking an experienced and technically strong Financial Controller to join its Finance leadership team and provide independent financial oversight, analysis and constructive challenge across the Group.
• The successful candidate will be responsible for ensuring that financial and management information is accurate, reliable, consistent and meaningful while providing senior management and executives with valuable financial insights to support informed business decisions.
• This role requires a finance professional with strong IFRS expertise, group consolidation experience, financial reporting capabilities, commercial awareness and analytical skills.
• The ideal candidate will combine technical accounting knowledge with independent judgement, professional scepticism and the confidence to challenge financial information, reporting assumptions and business performance constructively.

Key Responsibilities
Financial Reporting & Controllership

• Provide independent review and challenge of financial reporting and accounting information.
• Coordinate monthly management, Executive and Board reporting.
• Review balance sheet integrity, reconciliations, significant accounting adjustments and financial movements.
• Identify financial reporting risks and recommend appropriate corrective actions.
• Ensure financial information is accurate, reliable and consistent across the Group.
• Drive first-time-right financial reporting and continuous improvement in reporting quality.

Group Consolidation

• Coordinate and review the Group consolidation process.
• Review intercompany eliminations, consolidation adjustments and foreign currency translations.
• Investigate consolidation differences and ensure appropriate resolution.
• Promote consistent accounting treatment across Group entities.
• Identify opportunities to improve consolidation processes through standardisation and automation.
• Ensure the accuracy and integrity of consolidated financial information.

Budgeting, Forecasting & Financial Planning

• Coordinate the annual budgeting process and maintain consistent planning methodologies.
• Review and challenge revenue, margin, cost, headcount and capital expenditure assumptions.
• Assess working capital and cash-flow forecasts.
• Coordinate rolling forecasts and evaluate the quality and realism of financial assumptions.
• Perform scenario planning and sensitivity analysis.
• Identify emerging financial risks and business opportunities.
• Support management with financial planning insights and recommendations.

Financial Performance & Business Analysis

• Analyse actual financial performance against budgets, forecasts and prior periods.
• Evaluate revenue, margins, profitability, operating costs and business-unit performance.
• Investigate material financial variances and challenge management explanations where appropriate.
• Identify performance trends, risks and opportunities.
• Quantify the financial implications of business decisions.
• Translate complex financial information into actionable business insights.
• Support senior management in making commercially informed decisions.

IFRS & Technical Accounting

• Provide oversight of IFRS application and Group accounting policies.
• Monitor changes to IFRS and assess their impact on the Group.
• Review complex, unusual and non-routine accounting transactions.
• Review significant accounting judgements, estimates and financial statement disclosures.
• Prepare or review technical accounting papers.
• Coordinate specialist accounting advice where required.
• Promote consistent and compliant accounting practices across the organisation.

Financial Controls, Risk & Audit

• Independently review the design and effectiveness of key financial controls.
• Assess segregation of duties and identify material control exceptions.
• Analyse audit findings, audit adjustments and recurring control weaknesses.
• Monitor the implementation of corrective actions and remediation plans.
• Escalate material financial reporting, control, audit and accounting risks.
• Support strong financial governance and accountability across the Group.
• Ensure financial processes maintain appropriate supporting documentation and audit trails.

Financial Systems, Data & Continuous Improvement

• Improve the consistency and efficiency of financial reporting, budgeting and forecasting processes.
• Identify opportunities for automation and improved ERP-to-reporting integration.
• Improve financial data quality, dashboards and analytical capabilities.
• Reduce manual intervention, reporting errors and unnecessary rework.
• Support the development of more effective financial reporting processes and systems.
• Promote continuous improvement while maintaining appropriate financial controls and governance.

Payment Controls & Authorisation

• Ensure compliance with maker-checker, dual-authorisation, supporting-documentation and audit-trail requirements.
• Maintain appropriate segregation of duties throughout payment processes.
• Ensure payment release activities are excluded from the Controller's subsequent independent review or are reviewed by another suitably independent authorised person.
• Act as an alternate authorised payment releaser when required for business continuity or operational support, subject to formal approval under the Delegation of Authority and banking mandate.
• Release payments only where the Controller has not prepared the payment, approved the underlying transaction, created or amended the beneficiary, performed the first-line review or undertaken another incompatible activity.
• Maintain independence, accountability and compliance with established financial control requirements.

Minimum Requirements

• Relevant tertiary qualification in Accounting, Finance or a related field.
• Professional accounting qualification such as CA(SA), CIMA, ACCA or equivalent.
• Significant experience in financial reporting, financial control and financial analysis.
• Strong practical knowledge of IFRS and technical accounting.
• Experience coordinating or reviewing Group consolidations.
• Experience with budgeting, forecasting and financial planning.
• Strong understanding of financial controls, audit and governance.
• Proven ability to analyse financial performance and translate financial information into meaningful business insights.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel capability.
• Strong financial systems, data management and analytical skills.
• Ability to engage effectively with senior management and executive stakeholders.
• Strong commercial awareness and independent financial judgement.

Advantageous Experience

• Experience within a multi-entity or Group finance environment.
• Exposure to complex consolidation processes and foreign currency translation.
• Experience reviewing complex accounting transactions and technical accounting matters.
• Experience with financial reporting automation.
• ERP integration and financial systems improvement experience.
• Experience developing financial dashboards and management reporting tools.
• Exposure to data analytics and business intelligence reporting.
• Experience improving financial controls, governance and reporting processes.

Technical Competencies

The successful candidate should demonstrate strong knowledge and practical capability in:

• IFRS and technical accounting.
• Financial reporting and controllership.
• Group consolidation.
• Intercompany eliminations and consolidation adjustments.
• Foreign currency translation.
• Budgeting and rolling forecasts.
• Financial planning and analysis.
• Financial performance and variance analysis.
• Balance sheet integrity and reconciliations.
• Financial controls and segregation of duties.
• Audit, risk and governance.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel.
• ERP systems and financial reporting integration.
• Financial data analysis and reporting automation.

Key Competencies

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

• Strong analytical and problem-solving ability.
• Independent judgement and professional scepticism.
• Exceptional attention to detail and technical accuracy.
• High levels of integrity, objectivity and accountability.
• Confidence to constructively challenge and influence stakeholders.
• Strong commercial and business acumen.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management.
• Ability to communicate complex financial matters clearly to non-finance stakeholders.
• A continuous improvement and automation mindset.
• Strong planning and organisational skills.
• Ability to operate effectively with senior management and executives.
• A structured and disciplined approach to financial governance.
• Sound decision-making and professional judgement.