Management Accountant Team Lead at Rand Merchant Bank

Role Purpose 
To provide operational financial direction to business units. The role includes implementing and enhancing the accounting workflow systems and processes within business while ensuring financial controls and procedures are followed and adhered to for various internal and external stakeholders. In addition, the role includes compiling statutory, regulatory and management reporting for Financial Services

Responsibilities 

• Understand the GL structure and maintenance and ensure alignment with the reporting
• Compile and submit timeous monthly financial reports
• Ensure monthly dashboard is accurate and submitted to business
• Adhere to reporting guidelines for FAS and Tax Packs
• Resolve monthly audit and reporting queries
• Ensure that operational counting in terms of processes, restructuring of business,     recoveries, allocation, VAT etc. are dealt with on a monthly basis
• Track and analyse performance across the board (year on year and month on month)
• Compile presentations for relevant stakeholders to present
• Proactively highlight issues (strategic & material) in report by early identification and engagement across finance and business teams
• Critically reviewing reports to streamline and propose report enhancements where possible.
• Compile and reconcile consolidated headcount template on a monthly basis
• Ensure that Essbase numbers reconcile to HFM for both monthly and budget numbers
• Manage ICP’s
• Review bank accounts recons i.e. volunteer bank accounts on a monthly basis
• Compile and present a monthly governance report which focuses on B/S items, highlighting potential issues
• Analyse, review and question the ageing of suspense accounts as well as accounts receivable/payable
• Highlight month on month variances/movements
• Identify the data sources to enable frequent and accurate reporting KPI’s
• Enable dashboard reporting of agreed KPI’s to create visibility
• Agree future targets of KPI’s and drive improvement and recommendations to the other Central Finance areas to enable the achievement of improved KPI’s
• Analyse and compare month-on-month and year-to-year actual versus budgeted results
• Analyse GL listing and identify root cause of negative budgeted variances
• Ensure cost centres are charged correctly based on methodology agreed during budget process
• Monitor, analyse and communicate recoveries and SLA charges
• Provide ongoing communication to stakeholders in order to complete reporting
• Manage expectation of process including improvements and duration
• Provide templates to analyse costs or provide a specific business view on request
• Update rolling monthly forecast in alignment with business expectation
• Ensure that Essbase system is updated accordingly
• Provide input into the generic budget guidelines document with principles
• Ensure all Essbase loads are loaded within deadline
• Submit monthly commentary on budget variances
• Ensure headcount templates updated and consolidated
• Upload budgets onto HFM and ensure alignment with business sign off
• Monitor completeness of budget results throughout process against business expectation–highlight issues and concerns for discussion and resolution
• Review FAS packs and schedules on HFM on a monthly basis
• Review ICP’s on HFM
• Ensure all validations on the schedules are clear and promote HFM packs
• Ensure forecasts are loaded on HFM and promote
• Coordinate business commentary in order to enable team to explain variances.
• Proactively manage deadlines by providing monthly deadlines schedule to finance teams
• Ensure statutory view is always aligned to Management view (reconciled, able to explain    different views)
• Promote BA returns on HFM
• Ensure analysis schedules are input onto returns accurately
• Coordinate and consolidate business commentary in order to explain monthly variances to RMB and FirstRand regulatory
• Complete quarterly reports timeously and accurately
• Complete interim and annual reports timeously and accurately
• Manage external auditors at year end regarding any issues and group queries
• Proactively engage auditors on potential issues to resolve during audit process or escalate to central level for resolution
• Contribute to projects as and when required
• For projects that the role is the lead need to setup meetings, interact with impacted parties and formulate a solution for approval and implementation
• Build and maintain professional working relationships with all stakeholders, displaying excellent abilities to initiate dialogue, listen, advise, influence and negotiate to achieve win-win outcomes
• Initiate meetings with key stakeholders to track progress, manage expectations and ensure stakeholders’ requirements are delivered
• Preserves relationships despite airing conflicting views and seeks mutual gains when addressing conflicts
• Anticipates consequences and adapts problem solving based on continual feedback
• Act speedily to resolve problems, queries and complaints
• Adapt communication styles to meet the needs of different audiences

Additional Requirements 
Takefull responsibility for performance management of all direct reports, managingtheir performance in relation to quality standards and agreed benchmarks andobjectives, focusing on all aspects of sound people management:

1. Recruitment
2. Development
3. Performance Management
4. Remuneration andRewards
5. Career path planning
6. On-the-job training,coaching & mentoring

• Ensure appropriate levels of management and accountability
• Motivate,delegate and empower appropriately, enabling direct reports to takeresponsibility and display appropriate creativity and initiative
• Workwith the team to actively grow their skills and lead them in operationalexcellence
• Defineperformance contracts for staff members
• Monitorstaff performance against agreed service levels and agreed performancecontracts
• Runbi-weekly team meetings to ensure measurable and valuable feedback on dailyoperations and in line with agreed performance contracts

Qualifications and Experience 

• Minimum B. Com Accounting Degree; CA(SA) or CIMA preferable
• 5 years’ experience
• Banking, and financial services exposure beneficial
• Experience in managing teams

Technical Pre-requisite

• Sound accounting principles
• Data Analytics
• KPI and metric creation and reporting

Competencies:
Leadership Capabilities

• Participative Leadership
• Planning & Organizing
• Monitoring & Measuring

Cognitive Capabilities

• Analysis & Attention to detail
• Problem Solving
• Critical thinking
• Creativity & Innovation

Interpersonal Capabilities

• Assertive and Courageous
• Drive & Action Oriented
• Flexibility
• Excellence & Quality Orientation