Financial Administrative Officer - Pretoria at Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)

About the job:

• The CSIR has a vacancy for a Financial Administrative Officer in the Manufacturing Cluster, within the Advanced Production and Security Division. The successful incumbent will be responsible to ensure all financial administration of the Division is performed in accordance to the CSIR policies and procedures and according to sound financial principles. This position is based in Pretoria.

Key responsibilities:

• Review and ensure completeness of relevant financial supporting documentation before capturing detail of contracts and projects;
• Update revenue recognition and process contract invoices or credit notes in alignment with the signed contract agreement and CSIR policies, procedures and relevant financial legislation;
• Monitor contract status and details on the system and provide feedback to the Financial Manager for updating to correctly report on revenue and sales secured for the financial year;
• Process contract amendments of integrated contracts to ensure that the contract value and contract line detail for revenue and billing agrees to the signed contract agreement;
• Ensure record keeping of all contract and projects supporting documentation as per South African Revenue Services (SARS) and CSIR policies, ensuring easy reference for audit purposes or queries;
• Assist the Management Accountant with the follow up of outstanding timesheets and the preparation of reports required on the financial status of contracts and projects;
• Reconcile advances, claims and cash with the petty cash float to ensure discrepancies are detected for immediate action;
• Reconcile advances, claims and cash with petty cash float to ensure discrepancies are detected for timeous action;
• Follow up on the status of open orders and advise the Procurement Unit on orders to be closed to ensure accurate and up to date information for financial reporting and year-end accruals;
• Prepare journals to accurately reflect financial information, cost distribution and bad debt provision for accurate financial month-end results;
• Review debtors age analysis, follow up on outstanding invoices and request payment from customers, update customer record with conversation detail on promise of payment or actions required to clear the record and report to the management accountant;
• Process ad-hoc invoices for services rendered or goods supplied in accordance with the customer order/accepted quotations in order to account for revenue earned to date in compliance with CSIR policies, procedures and relevant financial legislation;
• Provide training and support to operational teams on the process requirements, financial impact of transactions and applications of financial systems;
• Assist and provide the Management Accountant with project-specific audit information and identify opportunities to improve business processes.

Qualifications, skills and experience:

• A BComm degree in accounting or finance or management accounting with at least 3 years working experience including a sound understanding of financial accounting, financial reconciliation and reporting;
• Studying towards a CIMA qualification and a Project Management certification would be an advantage;
• Working knowledge and understanding of an ERP system;
• Sound knowledge and understanding of how contract and project related transactions impact on organisational financial results;
• Good understanding and the ability to implement accounting principles;
• Good working knowledge of the Microsoft Office Suite;
• Numerical and analytical ability and ability to work accurately and pay attention to detail;
• Effective organisational skills;
• Knowledge of statutory requirements, legislation, policies and procedures typically relevant in area of responsibility;
• Outstanding record-keeping skills Effective interpersonal skills;
• Good verbal, written, presentation and listening communication skills;
• Ability to work/function well within teams Sensitive to diverse cultures;
• Sound work ethics;
• Time management skills and ability to manage stress.