SAP S/4HANA CO/FPA Specialist at Salt South Africa

Role Overview

• We are seeking an experienced SAP S/4HANA CO / FP&A Functional Specialist to join a SAP Centre of Excellence team. The role will focus on SAP Controlling, Management Accounting and Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), combining hands-on system configuration and support with process improvement and business engagement.
• The successful candidate will have strong functional knowledge of SAP CO and its integration with Finance, with practical experience across budgeting, forecasting, allocations, controlling master data, management reporting and period-end processes.

Key Responsibilities

• Perform hands-on SAP S/4HANA configuration, functional support, testing and BAU activities across CO-CCA, CO-PCA, Internal Orders and CO-PA.
• Configure and maintain cost allocations, distribution/assessment cycles, overhead structures, cost element hierarchies and statistical key figures.
• Support budgeting, rolling forecasts, variance analysis and integrated financial planning processes.
• Analyse and resolve CO/FP&A incidents, service requests, allocation errors, master data issues and recurring operational problems.
• Provide incident triage, root-cause analysis, configuration fixes, testing, resolution documentation and knowledge transfer.
• Support SAP FI/CO integration, including GL postings, cost/profit centres, intercompany allocations, sub-ledger touchpoints and period-end close.
• Identify opportunities to simplify processes, reduce manual workarounds and improve or automate allocation and planning activities.
• Engage with Finance, FP&A and business stakeholders to understand requirements and support solution delivery.
• Prepare functional specifications, test cases, process documentation, change impact assessments and knowledge articles.
• Execute configuration changes, testing, transports, UAT and post-implementation stabilisation.
• Support workshops relating to controlling master data, budgeting, financial planning and management reporting.
• Work within established governance, transport and support procedures, escalating complex or high-risk configuration and cross-module matters appropriately.
• Use tools such as JIRA, SAP Solution Manager, Confluence and SAP Fiori within the support and change environment.
• Exposure to SAP Joule, SAP Business AI or AI-assisted SAP delivery would be advantageous.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Commerce, Accounting, Financial Management, Information Systems or IT.
• 3-6 years’ experience in SAP CO, Management Accounting, FP&A or a related functional role.
• Strong hands-on SAP S/4HANA configuration and support experience.
• Practical experience across CO-CCA, CO-PCA, CO-IO, CO-PA, allocation cycles, budgeting, forecasting and month-end close.
• Experience with controlling master data, management reporting and financial planning integration.
• Strong understanding of SAP FI/CO integration and associated configuration dependencies.
• MDG or controlling master data knowledge is mandatory.
• Ability to interpret business requirements, produce functional specifications, configure solutions and create test evidence/documentation.
• Experience working in a BAU/Run environment, preferably using JIRA and SAP Solution Manager for incident and change management.
• SAP CO/S/4HANA Finance certification or CIMA/ACCA qualification is advantageous but not essential where strong practical experience is demonstrated.
• Exposure to SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC), BPC or integrated planning solutions would be beneficial.

Technical Knowledge
The ideal candidate should demonstrate:

• Strong SAP S/4HANA Controlling knowledge.
• Cost centre and profit centre accounting.
• Internal orders and profitability analysis.
• Allocation cycles, cost summarisation and variance analysis.
• Cost element hierarchies and controlling master data.
• Budgeting, forecasting and integrated financial planning.
• FI/CO integration, GL and period-end close processes.
• Management reporting and planning layouts.
• Functional testing, configuration debugging and change management.

Key Skills & Attributes

• Strong analytical and problem-solving ability.
• Excellent configuration and troubleshooting skills.
• Process improvement and continuous improvement mindset.
• Strong organisation and prioritisation skills.
• Comfortable working independently and managing competing operational priorities.
• Resilient and able to work effectively under time-sensitive Finance and month-end deadlines.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Able to engage confidently with Finance, FP&A, business users and SAP stakeholders.
• Proficient in MS Office, Excel, Word and Visio.