Senior Specialist: Cost​ at Absa

Job Summary

To provide advice and support in financial practice formulation and associated best practice improvement tactics; enabling the provision of specialist expertise.

Job Description

Overall Job Purpose:

• To provide financial and commercial support and insights to the respective Business Heads (of mainly enabling business areas) through meaningful management accounts, well-coordinated planning process with a focus on efficiency improvement. Large focus on KPI definition and tracking. Helping the respective business environments to improve the cost and efficiency through a thorough understanding of the processes involved.
• This role supports the CFO: ARO RBB in providing finance and commercial support and insights through meaningful management accounts, well-coordinated planning process with a focus on efficiency improvement. Large focus on KPI definition and tracking. The role will help operations; collections; support functions and processing environments on improving the cost and efficiencies through a thorough understanding of the processes involved.
• The Cost Management Specialist provides tactical and practice leadership in the end-to-end financial management of business, including deep dive analytics, generating management reports, statutory compliance, scaling automated financial processes to crafting financial solutions aligned to business financial health and growth objectives within his/her function of the BU. 
• The Cost Management Specialist of the business enables achieving the operational objectives of the business by building an agile finance enablement to transform, to bring stewardship, financial integrity & insights to the current state of the business & its future possibilities to deliver on the new operating model and to achieve the business strategy objectives set by the group. 

Key responsibilities:

Commercial Finance Execution Accountabilities

• Responsible for tactical and practical finance operations relevant to optimize the function to enable business to achieve growth and profitability objectives.
• Ensure that the CFO is appraised of key financial issues that need to be raised with executive leadership to enable integrity and timely management the BU.
• Creating unprecedented, seamless customer experiences via finance BU enablement.
• Embrace our distinctive brand aspiration and infuse in business.
• Identification and innovating global best operating practices to optimize the function.
• Drive continuous process efficiency, financial rigor and controls. Pioneer and implement Finance best practices, digital solutions and effective change enablement. Contribute to building a scalable, digitally led business.
• Deliver on tactical solutions to achieve cost management objectives.
• Adopt what’s ‘best for Absa’ approach in finance practices.
• Take an eco-system view of business, that is, geography, customer, channel and product in consulting with business.
• Book of work contribution: Build innovative finance business case and benefits tracking’s’ solutions to ensure alignment of core business with future business objectives to appropriately inform management decisions.
• Influence optimal and compliant control environment within business unit that appropriately balances risk appetites and customer demand with the need to grow to achieve the financial ambitions and balance sheet aspirations of RBB.
• Contribute to the effectiveness of the core finance processes for RBB Finance (annual planning, forecasting, spend trajectory and reporting).
• Contribute to innovative performance measurement solutions and partner with the business leaders to evaluate their productivity, enable wise resource allocation, and drive intelligent scenario planning.
• Influence a commercial leadership context by presenting business performance in the context of profitability analysis and markets/segments/customers/products to help drive financial growth. Drive the themes of customer value and revenue.
• Influence integration of Treasury, Risk, and Finance from a BU perspective.
• Influence the build of a leading global payments hub, where applicable.
• Maintain stewardship and excellence which drives performance and sustainable growth through preservation of financial integrity.
• Be an active force for good in society through business execution.
• Contribute to BCM & cybersecurity processes relevant to the BU and finance execution.
• Build trust in the finance function through the creation of a single source of financial information which is corroborated by related management information sources.
• Develop innovative easy to comprehend progress reports for leaders on their strategic agenda, short-term and long-term plans and investments, operational success metrics, efficiencies, risks and mitigations.
• Embed the correct governance and control frameworks across the Finance team, as well as for proactively addressing any deficiencies and exceptions.
• Critically assess underlying operational and financial performance in the context of key underlying business drivers and provide leadership with commercial insight into performance.
• Seek advanced modelling and analysis capability to provide actionable intelligence, beyond data within the function.
• Develop finance narratives and insights driving business; and build pioneering new propositions.
• Ensure appropriate, quality and timeous delivery of accurate financial and non-financial management information to support business objectives and expectations, including appropriate financial and non-financial metrics, valid and insightful comments and packaging the information in a relevant and appropriate manner.
• Deliver reporting reflecting deep commercial, holistic understanding, coherency, clarity, and contextualization. Tell the story with passion and conviction.
• Provide thought-leadership, insight, influence and challenge on evolving stakeholder information requirements and reporting processes to deliver analytics.
• Align to processes around month-end, year-end and planning cycles across the RBB finance community and BU based on the requirements from Group. Prepare for all cycles in advance and ensure adequate engagement with the relevant finance and BU teams.
• Manage the production of regular, high quality, standardized financial and non-financial reporting and analytics to Business and Finance; and focus on effective collaborative stakeholder hand-offs in the production.
• Have regular feedback review sessions with key stakeholders to obtain feedback on current outputs produced and to understand requirements for any new requirements.
• Regularly review all outputs produced by the team to ensure that they are still relevant and consistent with stakeholder requirements.
• Proactively challenge the team to identify areas in which the content, presentation or delivery of the outputs delivered by the team can be improved or made more efficient.

Education

• Minimum B-degree (NQF level no.7) Desired Post Graduate Degree (NQF level no.8+), CA (SA) or CIMA or MBA qualification preferred.
• 4+ years professional financial management experience ;4+ years Banking Experience at a management level 

Education

Postgraduate Degrees and Professional Qualifications: Financial Sciences (Required)

Absa Bank Limited is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. In compliance with the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998, preference will be given to suitable candidates from designated groups whose appointments will contribute towards achievement of equitable demographic representation of our workforce profile and add to the diversity of the Bank.

Absa Bank Limited reserves the right not to make an appointment to the post as advertised