Finance Manager at Absa Group Limited (Absa)

Job Summary

Overall Job Purpose: 

• Specific Role Purpose: Role will be focused on reporting and planning of all financial and management information within finance.
• Analysing and reporting of financial information in an accurate, complete and timely manner and providing business with meaningful insights and value-add perspective to enable decision making
• Continuously seeking ways to improve operations by scaling automated financial processes, performing deep dives on several topics and trend analyses.
• Crafting financial solutions aligned to all appropriate controls, business financial health and growth objectives. 
• Preparing Exo and Board packs on a monthly and quarterly basis.

Job Description

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.
• 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.
• Own the process of delivery of high-quality information for regular and ad-hoc enhanced reporting to agreed requirements, timelines, and standards.
• Contribute to the effectiveness of Finance processes for RBB and Group Finance (annual planning, forecasting, spend trajectory and reporting).
• Apply IFRS 17 concepts to the budgeting model, ie Budget model would have to be rebuilt taking into account IFRS 17, run and test parallel budget models for IFRS 17.
• Understand and review actuarial inputs.
• 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.
• Validate all financial and management reporting information for flash results, month end financial results and utilisation and reporting of various key metrics
• 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.
• Take a commercial view on business and provide contextual insights into performance reports.
• Present financial results to business highlighting performance against plans, prior performance and providing meaningful insights on possible risks and opportunities for the near future
• Align to processes around month-end, year-end and planning cycles across the RBB 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.
• 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.
• Act in line with the correct governance and control frameworks across the Finance team, as well as for proactively addressing any deficiencies and exceptions.
• 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.
• Know BU financial ambitions and balance sheet aspirations of RBB in performance reporting.
• 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.
• Responsible for continuous operational excellence and real-time responsiveness of finance to enable business to achieve growth and profitability objectives.
• Focus on information-driven performance improvement and formulate data into easy access standardised views.
• Maintain stewardship and excellence which drives performance and sustainable growth through preservation of financial integrity.

Financial Planning Accountabilities

• Assist finance manager in developing processes and controls to ensure that the planning process is effective, supports business strategies and completed within the required timelines with the appropriate level of details.
• Apply IFRS 17 concepts to the budgeting model, ie Budget model would have to be rebuilt taking into account IFRS 17, run and test parallel budget models for IFRS 17.
• Build the financial model to support the business plan and ensure the model is in compliance with model governance through annual model review
• Understand and review assumptions provided by business to support the forecast
• Understand and integrate Treasury, Risk, and Finance data from a BU perspective, where appropriate.
• Prepare and process all journals relating to the forecast on the relevant system within the required timelines.
• Review all journal entries posted relating to the forecast to ensure accuracy and completeness
• Provide accurate, complete and timeous reporting of the forecast to relevant stakeholders
• Prepare for all cycles in advance and ensure adequate engagement with the relevant finance and business teams.
• Transform and evolve Finance planning, tracking and control processes
• Perform regular Revised Annual Forecast (RAF’s) during the year.

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
• Engage with various channel managers and teams as well as actuarial team.
• 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.

Education & Experience

• CA (SA) qualification preferred.
• 3+ years professional financial management experience in Life insurance
• Knowledge and skills:
• Knowledge and preferably also experience with IFRS 17
• 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)

Closing Date: 15th, March 2022