Senior Specialist: Intercompany at Vodacom

Role purpose:

• A Senior Specialist: Intercompany will be responsible to perform the End to End Intercompany (ICO) function (including processing, dispute & query resolution, accounting, planning for Budget, Forecasts and Long Range Plans as well as reporting) for a specific Intercompany stream (VSA Group) in a timely and accurate manner, in accordance with defined operating procedures, accounting standards, Vodafone & Vodacom policies, SOX, compliance and business partner service level agreements. 
• A culture of continuous process improvement will be essential to ensure world class operational performance.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Interact with the Vodafone Finance Shared Services Centre (VOIS) performing activities on behalf of the Vodacom Group to ensure completeness and accuracy of Intercompany related accounting
• Support the rest of all relevant stakeholders with requests and queries submitted to the VOIS
• Manage the local ICO team and be responsible for team performance
• Advise stakeholers and assist in providing guidance related to exchange control requirements for related parties
• Financial statements disclosure including related party disclosure
• Establish a close relationship with the other team leaders across Finance Operations, Finance Business Partners, local finance teams of Vodacom Group Subsidiaries and cost centre owners in the business
• Interact with the Global Process leaders and peers in the European and Indian Shared Service centre ICO process team leaders/managers
• Advise all relevant stakeholders on Intercompany related transactions, accounting, processes and reporting
• Manage the entire Budget and Planning process for the specific Intercompany stream which includes the budget roll out, confirmation with partners, loading of intercompany confirmations and clearing validations.
• Management Reporting on actuals, explaining variances compared to prior periods and budgets, etc.
• Identify opportunities to optimize intercompany related cash flows and managing receivables and payables to ensure payments and receipt of cash on time.
• Past achievements will demonstrate an expertise with sub processes, a capacity to work well with people and enjoys solving issues and striving for best practice

Essence of Role – Key Accountabilities

Leadership (people and stakeholders)

• Contribute to achieving World Class ICO processes
• Lead a team in operating ICO, working closely with other team leaders other key stakeholders
• Strive to achieve and exceed financial objectives set for the year
• Contribute to planning for the ICO processes 
• Maintain a strong control environment, ensuring compliance to all relevant Group policies. 
• Establishing, the key deliverables are met by the ICO team
• Establish and manage relationships with the members of the VOIS ICO team
• Establish relationships with the Finance and Management teams of the Vodacom Group and VSA subsidiaries and provide support if and when required in respect of  the ICO process
• As a key member of the wider leadership team for Intercompany, Cash Flow, TCM & Forex, ensure your involvement in driving the successes of the process

Performance management 

• Provide regular updates on performance of the sub process(es)
• Identify and maintain performance measures for the VOIS team
• Follow the escalation process and path for VOIS related issues
• Follow the escalation path and non-surprise management philosophy
• Identify promote and implement initiatives to improve the P2P sub process in line with Global performance metric; Driving CPI practices within the team
• Support the credit & risk team with Intercompany related collections
• Support the team in resolving operational process and control issues
• Managing the disputes arising from ICO process, e.g. overdue payments, Price/quantity variances, etc.
• Supervision of the monthly ICO closing activities, review and approval of ICO balance sheet reconciliations, identify gaps and steps to be taken to correct incorrect entries
• Perform call over sessions with team members as required by the Performance Dialogue process and provide call over minutes for review by the Manager: Forex, Cash Flow, Opex & Intercompany

Compliance and control

• Establishing adherence to the relevant Group policies; Address breaches in the ICO and P2P Policies
• Ensure that all Vodacom and Vodafone compliance requirements are met: SOX, Internal Audit, External Audit, Key control questionnaires, Certifications, Statutory reporting and disclosures
• Work with other departments to ensure all cross department issues are resolved.  Such as tax (VAT) compliance, Treasury and cash management for FX rates, R2R for GL coding, FP&A for HFM and SAP mapping, SCM and Master Data to ensure accuracy and completeness in respect of related party transactions, etc.

The ideal candidate for this role will have:

• Matric
• BCom graduate, in Accountancy or business-related field
• 5+ years of relevant financial experience
• Ideally working across multinational environments and stakeholders.
• End-to-end knowledge of Intercompany in a Shared Service centre, supporting multiple companies and countries.
• Management accountancy, P&L, Balance Sheet and cash flows.  Knowledge of how period end information is used within the organisation drive business decisions
• ICO operational knowledge
• Strong Microsoft Excel skills, use spreadsheets efficiently, and perform calculations and automation to process large volumes of data
• SOX, IFRS and local GAAP knowledge
• Ability to adapt quickly in a new environment and work on multiple systems/platforms
• Ability to communicate ICO information with non-finance employees
• Ability to  effectively communicate across all levels of FinOps

Desired

• Qualified Chartered Accountant or CIMA
• Studying towards Chartered Accountant qualification or CIMA