Management Accountant at Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)

About the job:

The CSIR has a vacancy for a Management Accountant in the Finance portfolio. The incumbent will perform management accounting functions to ensure accurate and complete accounting, analysis and reporting in compliance with contractual and legislative requirements. This position is based in Pretoria.

Key responsibilities:

• Prepare weekly, monthly and annual CSIR Consolidated and Finance Portfolio management reporting and analysis within the required time frames to provide feedback on performance and support management decision making;
• Prepare the CSIR Consolidated monthly financial reporting pack;
• Investigate budget variances, obtain explanations and ensure corrective action is taken to address variances;
• Ensure the accuracy and completeness of financial information:
• Prepare, plan, communicate and monitor the progress of month-end, year-end and ad-hoc processes required to ensure accurate financial results;
• Drive budget and forecast processes for portfolios;
• Provide the financial information required for budgeting and forecasting purposes and assist with the preparation and consolidation of budgets and forecasts;
• Prepare for and assist with provision of financial information, project-specific information, internal audit requests/reports and annual external audits for compliance;
• Provide financial results and information required for disclosure in the CSIR Annual Financial Statements;
• Review processes and financial reporting requirements and recommend improvements to enhance the effectiveness of the financial support;

Other responsibilities:

• Ensure the accuracy and completeness of contract accounting and reporting in terms of stakeholder, contractual and legislative requirements and in compliance with CSIR policies and procedures;
• Ensure accuracy and completeness of monthly PG and levy declaration;
• Review financial reports on contracts and projects, monitor spending on projects and communicate GAPs or potential over/ or underspend pro-actively;
• Ensure accuracy and completeness of direct and indirect cost recoveries, monthly PG declarations, reconciliations, cleaning of accounts, interest calculations and general financial query support;
• Report on outstanding debt, and ensure effective debt collection through engagement with clients and operational staff;
• Review the status of open orders and ensure follow up actions are effected;
• Review, verify and validate local employee reimbursement claims prior to submission for processing;
• Ensure accurate accounting of all costs in compliance with contractual requirements, CSIR policies and procedures and relevant legislative requirements;
• Review and approve journals and supporting documentation for validity, accuracy and correctness;
• Ensure accurate and timely processing of overhead cost and recovery journals to distribute costs and recoveries to various departments;
• Ensure that general ledger and control accounts are regularly reconciled and reviewed and that reconciling items are cleared on a timely basis;
• Review and recommend costing models for all shared portfolios and clusters;
• Provide ABC costing for budget purposes;
• Supervise and mentor junior finance team members to ensure high quality financial support and a culture of delivering professional, responsive service in a customer orientated fashion.

Qualifications, skills and experience:

• A Bachelor’s degree in accounting, cost accounting or finance with at least five years’ experience, of which three years’ must be in management accounting in a medium to large business; OR
• An Honours degree or CIMA qualification with at least three years’ experience in management accounting in a medium to large business;
• Working experience in a state owned enterprise will be advantageous;
• Skilled in financial management, budgeting, forecasting, internal controls and auditing requirements;
• Knowledge and application of contract and project management principles as well as accounting requirements;
• Excellent computer skills and a solid understanding of accounting systems and dependencies on other systems/modules;
• Ability to analyse, interpret and present financial information in a simplified format;
• Ability to work independently with limited or no supervision;
• Ability to work under pressure while ensuring accuracy and paying attention to detail;
• Ability to apply checks and balances to transactions and procedures to ensure data integrity;
• Ability to work with senior management, excellent problem solving and planning skills;
• Good  supervisory, mentoring, interpersonal and communication skills;
• Knowledge and application of contract and project administration principles and accounting requirements;
• Solid understanding of VAT, good working knowledge of exchange control requirement and accounting framework;
• Good understanding of the applicable legal and statutory requirements of a State Owned Enterprise.

Closing date: 21 November 2023