Lead Accounts Payable at PPC Africa

Job Advert Summary    

The Lead Accounts Payable is responsible for the accounts payable cycle from start to finish.  This role manages reconciliations, processes payments to suppliers timeously and ensures that year-end closing is managed and completed efficiently.

Minimum Requirements    

• Postgraduate degree in Accounting or Finance (NQF Level 8)
• Registration as a Chartered Accountant is advantageous but not a requirement
• MBA advantageous
• Relevant experience within an accounts payable role (8-10 years experience)
• People management (5 years experience)
• Experience working with a recognised accounting software platform
• Experience with SAP FI module is advantageous
• Accounts payable experience in a shared services environment is advantageous
• Project management experience is advantageous

Duties and Responsibilities    

Accounts Payable

• Review the vendor invoice process and performance and create efficiencies and identify optimisation opportunities
• Develop accounts payable best practices
• Develop accounts payable service measures, targets, goals and strategy
• Manage the reconciliation of transactions and payments against the general ledger
• Manage the payment reconciliation against purchase orders
• Produce the Creditors Ageing report and analysis
• Draft service level agreements (SLA) and standard operating procedures (SOP) and share with Internal Controls team for review
• Manage all SAP processes including user management and user access
• Process accrual schedule and share with financial accountants for all sites
• Approve supplier payment runs
• Manage monthly closing of financial records and posting of month end information and ensure accuracy of financial statements

Compliance, Governance and Reporting

• Prepare and send VAT reports to the Tax team for review to ensure that the VAT has been accurately processed by the Accounts Payable team
• Process all receipts through the general ledger and goods receipt/invoice receipt (GRIR) system and ensure that it reconciles with the trial balance and general ledger, and share this data with the Accountants and Financial Controllers
• Send remittances to suppliers after payment is executed
• Prepare a monthly report for Mancom and provide status updates, statistics and trends
• Monitor conformance against international Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), shared service centre (SSC) standards and service level agreements (SLA)
• Develop, implement, and maintain systems, procedures, and policies, including accounts payable functions to ensure adherence to company guidelines

Stakeholder Management and Business Partnerships

• Develop, manage, and maintain the relationship between Procurement and sites regarding the procurement of goods and payment of suppliers
• Develop, manage and maintain the relationship with the Financial Accounts
• Develop, manage and maintain the relationship with Group Finance
• Act as a liaison between the company, government and external accountants to meet information needs and to ensure that proper information is maintained for historical purposes

People Management

• Manage the performance of direct reports and monitor adherence to expected standards. 
• Offer guidance and support and if required take appropriate disciplinary action
• Coach and train team members to perform optimally in their roles 
• Provide direct reports with opportunities for growth and development through on-the-job training and feedback 
• Participate in the selection and appointment of new team members
• Support the onboarding of new team members 
• Conduct regular meetings and promote open and ongoing communication with the team
• Approve the leave of direct reports and manage overtime where applicable

Budget Management

• Prepare the annual departmental budget for submission to line manager for review and approval
• Approve expenditure within delegation of authority level
• Monitor expenditure against approved budget, reporting on any deviations to the line manager and Finance Department