Senior Accountant Operations Accounting at Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa

Job Description

• Serves as a go-to expert for understanding and managing transaction flows from upstream systems into core financial systems, collaborating effectively with system developers on enhancements and issue resolution.
• The capacity to probe, challenge, and ensure performance metrics are consistently met by Shared Service teams (FBS).
• Ability to provide expert advice to various teams and make informed, impactful decisions that drive operational and financial excellence.

Responsibilities
Revenue and inventory responsibilities:

• Ongoing evaluation of revenue recognition to ensure compliance with IFRS, GAAP, and company policies.
• Accounting for revenue recognition adj entries in iERP.
• Updating invoice/proforma templates for used vehicles
• Facilitating changes to invoice structures and vehicle accounting
• Manage the generation and processing of invoices within the PeopleSoft billing system
• Provide comprehensive support for PeopleSoft-related inquiries and contribute to the successful migration to iERP.
• Management of vehicle suspense in Eurovac, FVA, PeopleSoft
• Managing and overseeing vehicle on time invoicing and suspense clearance.
• In-depth systems investigations on Eurovac, FVA, SAP and PeopleSoft related issues.
• Business partnering with Operations Teams in problem solving and eliminating waste in the invoicing value chain
• Monitoring FVA ageing inventory and partnering with FBS and Operations teams in providing clearance solutions.
• Managing and reconciling CSV stock in Eurovac, AS400 and FVA plus clearing reconciling issues within 7days
• Quarterly analysis of auction profitability.
• Attending and co-hosting monthly accounting inventory ageing reviews with FVA Accounting.
• Managing the accounting and system processes for buyback vehicles, in collaboration with various teams, to ensure inventory accuracy and compliance with financial standards and company policies.

Receivables responsibilities:

• Manage efficient Government and Fleet invoicing and collections processes.
• Initiate, maintain, and continuously improve processes that enhance the company’s cash collection and receivables ageing, driving efficiency and optimising working capital.
• Monthly review credit limits, propose credit limit revisions, and prepare credit limit letters.
• Recalculate interest charges on advanced funding to FMCSA and conduct in-depth, systems-driven investigations into variances to identify root causes, ensure accuracy, and recommend process improvements.
• Process IFRS9 journals to recognise receivables in respect of delivered vehicles at month-end.
• Maintenance of PeopleSoft iERP dealer master data and ensuring changes are authorised and processed in a timely manner.
• Managing monthly clearance and accounting of Eurovac/SAP suspense in 06H02.
• Supporting monthly launch accounting billings (Eurovac and MICS Billing) and inventory clearance
• Recommending correct dealer code and invoicing structure on request form operations teams.
• Creditors and Travel Business Processes
• Ontime settlement and resolving supplier related queries (Production and Non-Production)
• Supporting quarterly global balance substantiation
• Overseeing the management of corporate card and Concur processes.

Intercompany:

• Supervise the accurate and timely execution of intercompany suspense clearance activities, including investigation and clearance of all suspense items across Eurovac, FVA, and PeopleSoft, and processing of necessary intercompany journals.
• Ensure the intercompany sub-ledger is correctly maintained and accurate.
• Oversee daily intercompany reconciliations (Bless vs Eurovac), ensuring the intercompany team proactively drives follow-up and resolution of all reconciling items and system discrepancies. 
• Actively support and provide month-end guidance to the intercompany team for resolving complex queries and balancing clearance.

Accountable documents:

• Manage and maintain up-to-date accountable documents register.

Accounting responsibilities:

• Ensure that monthly routine and non-routine accounting transactions are appropriately accounted for in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards IFRS and Ford Financial Manuals.
• Proficiently account for systems and General Ledger suspense items, requiring a profound understanding of system integrations and data flows.
• Prepare and perform standard monthly journals and sub-ledger and other reconciliations, ensuring all are completed, signed off within deadlines, and accurately reflect clean financial positions.
• Annual review of company's accounting policies for accounts receivable provisions.
• Quarterly preparation of balance sheet payables and receivables flux analysis for reporting to Ford Global.
• Assist auditors with audit requirements for sales, receivables and inventory.
• Provide proactive, insightful financial and accounting solutions and advisory to the business on how to account for transactions in accordance with IFRS and Ford Financial Manuals, leveraging deep system knowledge.
• Preparation of financial statements notes in accordance with IFRS and Companies Act requirements.

Control environment:

• Timely completion of Control testing.
• Proactively raise Internal Control deficiencies where insufficient controls have been identified in our own processes, and drive successful closure, implementation, and monitoring to strengthen the control environment.
• Drive timely OIC implementation and planning.
• Lead efforts to identify and implement accounting process efficiencies and cost-saving opportunities through system optimisation and robust control environments.

Other responsibilities:

• Responding swiftly and efficiently to a high volume of daily queries from various stakeholders, including RAV, Eurovac, FAV, Sales, and FFS, providing clear solutions and decisive directions to resolve issues and advise departments.
• Being readily available for unscheduled walk-in meetings from internal stakeholders and dealers on payment or system-related queries and quickly addressing them with expert guidance.
• Ensuring ad-hoc tasks from various stakeholders are completed in a timely manner.
• Business partnering with all affiliated stakeholders and providing solutions. 
• Supporting the VW Strategic Alliance on operational accounting topics.
• Prepare and review dashboard indicators for monitoring and managing systems.
• Actively review and monitor FBS metrics presented in monthly meetings, analysing performance, ensuring key metrics are met, and proposing innovative improvement points based on system understanding and process analysis to drive efficiency and cost savings.
• Ensure accurate and proactive project planning for new system changes and updates, with a particular focus on the upcoming iERP launch.
• Attending weekly, monthly, quarterly ageing reviews and providing accounting solutions as well as driving clearance action.

Qualifications
Education

• Degree in Accounting or equivalent.
• Professional qualifications like CA(SA), CIMA, or ACCA are an added advantage.                                  

Experience

• At least 2 years’ proven track record and extensive experience in Operations Accounting, with a strong emphasis on system-driven processes and investigations.
• Ability to demonstrate working under pressure and meeting multiple deadlines, particularly in a fast-paced environment with high volumes of system and departmental queries.
• Experience in a role requiring proactive advisory to business units on accounting principles and system usage.

Technical Skills   

• Highly analytical and investigative mindset, with a proven track record of identifying root causes and implementing innovative and effective solutions.
• Demonstrated advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and analytical tools (e.g., Power BI, Alteryx), including pivot tables and complex data manipulation for creating insightful dashboards, analysing complex data, identifying critical trends, and supporting strategic decision-making and reporting. 
• Strong ability to advise departments and stakeholders on accounting, system best practices, and opportunities for efficiency and cost savings.
• Exceptional attention to detail, especially in system reconciliation, sub-ledger maintenance, and ensuring data integrity.
• Ability to embrace and drive system transformations, including the iERP launch, and to continuously improve technical processes.

Soft Skills

• Effective communication, strong listening skills and providing responsive support to all internal and external stakeholders.
• Proactive problem-solving skills, coupled with a strong drive for continuous process and system improvements.
• Self-starter and team player.
• Adaptability, resilience, and the ability to work under pressure, multitask effectively, and prioritise urgent demands in a fast-paced, high-volume environment.
• A change agent mentality, eager to champion and embrace new approaches and technologies.