Finance Manager Risk and Compliance at Omnia (Pty) LTD

ROLE IMPACT

• To strengthen BME's governance, risk and control environment by leading internal financial controls, audit and assurance activities, compliance monitoring and governance processes. The role acts as an independent assurance partner to management, providing oversight, challenge and guidance to ensure effective control execution, timely remediation of deficiencies and compliance with governance requirements. Through proactive risk management, governance reporting and continuous improvement initiatives, the role supports Exco and management in safeguarding the organisation's assets, managing risk and driving a culture of accountability and compliance

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Internal Financial Controls

• Maintain and periodically review Risk and Control Matrices (RACMs) for all significant financial processes, ensuring key risks, controls, control owners and monitoring activities remain current and effective.
• Coordinate the Internal Financial Control assessment processes, including planning, stakeholder engagement, documentation requirements and reporting of results.
• Facilitate and oversee Control Self-Assessment (CSA) workshops across BME
• Review control deficiencies, identify root causes and remediation plans with control owners to address identified weaknesses and reduce control risk.
• Monitor progress against remediation plans, evaluate supporting evidence and validate closure of control deficiencies and audit findings.
• Coordinate Internal Audit and External Audit testing activities relating to internal controls and provide subject matter expertise during audit reviews.
• Track and report on control effectiveness ratings, remediation progress and emerging control risks, highlighting areas requiring management intervention.
• Drive continuous improvement of the control environment through control standardisation, process optimisation, policy enhancement and increased automation of financial controls.
• Act as the business custodian for Internal Financial Controls, providing guidance, training and support to management regarding control best practices. 

Audit and Assurance

• Lead the planning, coordination and management of internal audit engagements across all BME entities as the primary liaison between auditors and key stakeholders.
• Coordinate audit activities from initiation through to final reporting, including scope reviews, information requests, stakeholder engagement and action plan development
• Build and maintain effective working relationships with internal and external assurance providers, including PwC and Group Finance and BME teams, to ensure efficient execution of assurance activities.
• Review audit observations and control deficiencies to assess root causes, business impact and risk exposure, ensuring management action plans address the underlying causes of findings and not merely the symptoms.
• Own and maintain the audit findings and remediation governance process, including tracking, monitoring and reporting on all internal audit, external audit, operational review and IFC findings across the business.
• Monitor implementation progress against agreed action plans, validate supporting evidence and assess whether deficiencies have been effectively remediated before recommending closure.
• Drive a culture of accountability and continuous improvement by ensuring management ownership of findings and timely closure of actions
• Lead internal investigations into significant control breakdowns, governance failures, policy breaches, payment irregularities and control exceptions, including root cause analysis, remediation planning and reporting to management.

Joint Venture Governance

• Lead the implementation and ongoing monitoring of the JV Governance Framework to ensure compliance with Group governance requirements, shareholder obligations and oversight responsibilities.
• Engage with Finance, Operations, Legal, Company Secretarial and other stakeholders to obtain governance information, monitor compliance and resolve identified gaps.
• Coordinate periodic compliance assessments, identify control or governance gaps, and facilitate the implementation and monitoring of corrective action plans.
• Maintain a centralised repository of governance evidence and supporting documentation to demonstrate compliance with JV governance requirements.
• Monitor remediation of governance findings and compliance actions, escalating material issues and overdue actions to management where appropriate.
• Prepare and present JV governance compliance reports, dashboards and management updates for Exco, MBRs, ARC and other governance forums.

Executive and Management Reporting

• Lead the preparation, consolidation and presentation of governance, risk, compliance, assurance and internal control reporting for Exco, providing management with meaningful insights, key risk indicators, control deficiencies and remediation progress to support effective oversight and decision-making
• Prepare executive-level dashboards and management reports that provide clear visibility of assurance activities, risk exposures, compliance gaps and remediation progress across BME.
• Support Exco and ARC reporting through preparation of high-quality papers, presentations, briefing notes and supporting analysis for governance-related decisions.

Treasury, Payments and Financial Governance

• Perform independent review and approval of payment batches and manual payments
• Review supporting documentation, authorisations, supplier details and payment requests to verify completeness, accuracy, validity and compliance prior to payment release.
• Act as an authorised payment approver and releaser within banking and financial systems, ensuring that all payments are appropriately authorised and supported before execution.
• Support periodic reviews of payment processes and controls to identify opportunities for strengthening governance, reducing risk and improving operational efficiency.
• Investigate and escalate unusual, high-risk, non-compliant or exceptional payment transactions to the Financial Director
• Identify control weaknesses and fraud risk indicators within travel and foreign exchange and reimbursement processes and recommend enhancements to strengthen the control environment.

Insurance Management

• Coordinate the annual insurance renewal process across BME, including the collection, validation and submission of underwriting information, asset declarations, operational exposure data and risk information required by insurers.
• Act as the primary Finance liaison between the business, Group Insurance, insurance brokers and insurers to ensure accurate and timely completion of annual insurance renewals and periodic insurance reviews.
• Review insured asset listings, declared values, inventory balances, fixed asset registers and business interruption information to support adequate insurance coverage and minimise under-insurance risk for all territories where BME operates.
• Support the submission, tracking and administration of insurance claims by coordinating information requests, supporting documentation and engagement with stakeholders,
• Manage ad hoc insurance-related requests from businesses, including requests relating to asset additions, contract requirements and proof of insurance.

Finance regionalisation and Transformation

• Support finance transformation and regionalisation initiatives aimed at standardising governance, financial control activities, processes and operating models across BME
• Partner with Project Management Office, Finance leadership and process owners to document, review and optimise finance processes, controls, roles and responsibilities as part of the finance regionalisation programme.
• Support the development of process flows, Risk and Control Matrices (RACMs), operating procedures, Delegations of Authority and governance documentation to strengthen consistency and accountability across regions.
• Provide governance and control expertise during organisational redesign, system changes and process transformation initiatives to ensure control effectiveness is maintained.
• Support change management activities, including communication, training, procedure implementation and stakeholder engagement to embed new ways of working where applicable
• Monitor implementation progress, track outstanding actions and provide regular updates to management

Commercial Governance and Contract Management

• Review customer contracts, supplier agreements, service level agreements and other commercial arrangements to identify compliance and governance risks.
• Support contract approval processes by assessing payment clauses, credit risk exposures, and insurance commitments.
• Support due diligence activities relating to new suppliers and customers, from a governance, compliance and financial risk perspective.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in accounting, Finance, Internal Audit, Risk Management, Commerce or a related field
• CIA (Certified Internal Auditor) or CA(SA)

Experience

• 7-10 years demonstrated experience in internal audit and risk and compliance management
• 2 years in a mining, manufacturing environment
• 2 years demonstrated experience in multi-national and multi currencies environment (Advantageous)
• 3 years' experience people management (Advantageous)

Key Competencies

• Strong analytical, problem-solving and decision-making skills.
• Strong written, verbal and presentation skills
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Outlook
• Ability to build effective relationships and work collaboratively across functions and all levels of the organisation.
• Strong business and commercial acumen.
• Ability to influence, challenge constructively and drive accountability.
• Strong planning, organisational and project management skills.