Current Vacancies at Ernst & Young Global Limited (EY)

The opportunity

We are looking for an experienced individual who has a broad understanding of internal risk and governance processes and can actively support a rapidly growing business to consistently deliver exceptional client service to our clients across Africa. You will be motivated to keep up with the fast pace of the professional services industry, and as such, be able to assist staff and senior management to deliver solutions that align with business objectives whilst ensuring quality is always maintained.

Your role will focus on further strengthening and innovating our existing processes, whilst enabling sustainable growth and consistent high-quality service delivery to our clients.

You will be required to:

• Engage with leaders across our Africa business.
• Provide consultation support for pursuit governance and engagement quality controls.
• Support quality, independence and risk management programmes and processes.
• Innovate existing processes, in response to our rapidly changing environment.
• Team with a wide stakeholder group across service lines, competencies, functions and geographies.
• Guide teams on best practice service delivery methods, tools and practices.
• Interpret and apply EY Service Quality policies.

Your key responsibilities

The responsibilities listed in this document are not exhaustive and are flexible to accommodate the needs of the business, Africa Quality Projects and overall Firm requirements.

Amongst other things your role will include:

• Managing business risk through driving compliance to firm risk management policies and procedures, whilst achieving an appropriate balance between risk and control.
• Designing and implementing effective processes for the monitoring and management of compliance with the firm risk and quality management processes in the business.
• Enhancing and innovating the Africa Tax Service Line's current processes, promoting sustainable growth and ensuring clients consistently receive high-quality services.
• Acts as the Tax Quality Leader’s second in charge.
• Consults with the leaders of business in Africa.
• Provides teams with best practices methodologies, tools and practices for service delivery.
• Monitor governance and engagement quality controls.
• Spearheads key quality and risk management programmes and procedures.
• Improves existing procedures considering the continually changing environment.
• Collaborates with diverse stakeholders across service lines, competencies, functions and locations.
• Develops controls and governance and identifies, evaluates and manages tax-related risk.
• Advises engagement teams on tax quality-related issues.
• Aids in the creation of local policies and the implementation of global policies.
• Creates routine Tax Quality alerts and similar publications.
• Facilitates periodic internal quality reviews.
• Supports the maintenance of Tax Quality databases.
• Assist in supporting the near shore Regional Delivery Centre based in Mauritius.
• Serve as the Africa Business Enablement Lead for EY InterAct the Global Tax Document Repository.
• Acts as the Africa Tax Technology Tool Approver, validating considerations before tools are deployed in the Tax business in Africa to ensure consistency with global firm technology policies.
• Supports strategic projects aimed at simplification of the firm’s quality and risk management policies and processes.
• Undertakes annual portfolio risk management through the Partner Portfolio Risk Survey (PPRS) designed to obtain and use feedback regarding clients’ challenges and potential risks to tailor learning for the engagement teams, enhance risk management practices, and assess client and engagement continuance decisions.
• Supports the Tax Managing Country Partner and Tax Quality Leader perform continuous tasks related to compliance with the International System of Quality Management (ISQM).

Skills and attributes for success 

• Effective  and organizational skills.
• Use business knowledge to make recommendations that facilitate embedding processes and programs.
• Confident in identifying and raising concerns to the Regional Tax Quality Leader, regarding risks and exceptions.
• Ability to execute to plan.
• Knowledgeable on how professional services firms operate.
• Strong presentation skills.
• Strong problem-solving skills.
• Comfortable with change and being a strong change agent.
• Skilled at handling multiple projects concurrently and prioritizing appropriately.
• Ability to work in a team to achieve a common goal in the interest of the EY Global organisation.
• Ability to remain objective and independent in all risk related matters.
• Not easily influenced by domineering personalities so that the interests of EY Global is always maintained.
• Comfortable working with individuals at all levels and creating a network of relationships built on trust.
• Ability to teach others new skills.
• Ability to perform under pressure.
• Competent at interpreting, comprehending, and applying Ernst & Young policies, giving accurate and consistent guidance to others.
• Strong listening skills.
• A strong focus on quality, risk management and efficiency.

To qualify for the role, you must have.

• Minimum 8 years’ work experience in a large professional services firm environment.
• Should be a confident and dynamic individual with excellent written and verbal business communication skills.
• Be able to learn, innovate and take initiative to better enable the business.
• Initiative-taking, high-energy levels, enthusiastic
• Strong managerial and organisational skills
• High levels of integrity and confidentiality.
• High levels of assertiveness and resilience.
• Diligence and commitment to following a process with care.
• Analytical thinker
• Be proficient in MS Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook.

Ideally, you will also have

• Experience in working in a Big 4 Quality and Risk Management environment.
• Have a suitable degree/certification aligned to risk management, project management or business management.

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Your key responsibilities

 As an Assistant Manager, you will be required to support in executing the financial due diligence procedures on the Target company which includes understanding and analysing profit drivers and trends, challenge assumptions of future financial performance, analyse working capital and cash flow drivers of the Target and analyse the balance sheet in the context of a transaction. You will gain exposure to identifying deal risks and upsides and issues impacting deal valuation. Our TD teams assist clients throughout the entire transaction process.

Skills and attributes for success

•  Analyse financial/operational results of targets through reviewing accounting records and conducting interviews with management
• Participate in due diligence engagements related to acquisitions by private equity investor groups and strategic corporate buyers
• Prepare/evaluate pro forma financial information
• Identify issues for purchase price reductions, deal structuring or deal termination
• Identify post-acquisition action steps to achieve anticipated earnings/cash flow improvements
• Evaluate effects of seasonality on cash flow requirements. Perform industry and company research
• Correlate due diligence findings with client valuations.
• Manage expectations of service. 

To qualify for the role, you must have

• Bachelor's or Master's Degree in Accounting and/or related major.
• CA(SA) or equivalent
• Minimum 3 years of accounting experience
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Strong computer skills
• Project management skills
• People management skills

Ideally, you’ll also have

• Strong analytical and interpersonal skills
• Dedication to teamwork
• Strong work initiative and the ability to adapt to new challenges and ideas
• Willingness to team and learn.
• A self-starter and results-oriented mindset

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Job purpose

Responsible for driving legal projects and activities relating to the General Counsel’s Office function, servicing  South Africa and assisting the General Counsel with servicing Africa with special emphasis on reviewing and negotiating various contracts and providing internal legal advice to other teams across service lines while adhering to EY’s internal policies (both locally and internationally).

Duties and responsibilities will include the following:  

General Counsel Office (GCO):

• The Commercial Lawyer (Senior Manager) will assist the GCO with the following tasks across the Africa Region of EY, and across all service lines in the EY Africa Region with an initial focus on the Tax Service Line -
• General Drafting and negotiating various agreements across audit and advisory service lines, including global framework agreements, local implementation agreements, service level agreements, technology agreements, intellectual property agreements, procurement agreements, confidentiality agreements and data usage agreements;
• Ability to advise leadership team and engagement teams on all current commercial contracts( eg. Structuring, development of templates);
• Reviewing and contributing to drafting firm policies including authority and delegations framework;
• Supporting the Assurance service line on all legal matters;
• Acquisitions – current legal work on local acquisitions including working with external counsel on deal structure and acquisition agreements, coordination with other members of Legal for cross-border acquisitions;
• Corporate law – Advise regional cluster leader and manage co-sec legal compliance work on all legal entities;
• Litigation – Coordination of litigation matters in close relationship with Africa Regional General Counsel and relevant Quality Service Line Leader (including risks and prospects analysis and briefing external legal counsel);
• Providing advice to business units on potential claims as well as forming part of special ad hoc panels to manage the risk of potential claims;
•  Providing input/reporting to legal risk committee;
• Assist the GCO in the rendering services of the following to the service lines:
  • Reviewing and negotiating Engagement letters suggested clients changes to of amendments to EY’s standard terms and conditions,
  • Terms of Business, Reviewing, negotiating and drafting various agreements across various service lines (including Advisory, Tax, Transactions, and Assurance) including but not limited to – Hold harmless letters,
  • Confidentiality and Request for Tenders, Bid submissions or Request for Proposal,
  • Reviewing various agreements inclusive of the following type of agreements:
  • Sponsorship Agreements
  • Non-disclosure agreements
  • Service level agreements
  • Global framework agreements
  • Responses to requests for proposals/bids 
  • Teaming agreements
  • Consortium agreements
  • Subcontractor agreements
  • Service provider Agreement
  • Secondment Agreements
  • Memorandum of Understanding
  • Any other bespoke agreement required by the service lines
• Consider the legal risks in the agreements inclusive of Limitation of Liability – request to exceed normal limit;
• Provision of internal legal opinions to as requested by the service lines or the General Counsel negotiation, drafting/reviewing of agreements and other legal documentation;
• Assistance dealing  with managing disputes and litigation matters(commercial) , and compliance, legislative and regulatory requirements as requested by the General Counsel;
• Consultations and drafting of all types of contracts and agreements but specifically those in respect of business relationships, consortia, subcontracting arrangements, alliances and secondments;
• Dealing with subpoenas and claims brought against the firm;
• Manage the Master Template Database of contract and other legal precedents;
• Assist in the maintenance of a register of legal work done;
• Assist in the maintenance of register of deviations from standard contract terms;
• Drafting and research for legal opinions. Research on matters as required by the General Counsel;
• Assistance with Projects as undertaken by the GCO;
• Assistance with the notification of claims and circumstances project (which happens twice a year);
• Liaison with external legal practitioners, and Ernst & Young (EMIA) and Global (EYG), where appropriate;
  •  Attending to data privacy review of EY applications;
  • Assistance with selected areas of compliance issues; 
  • Assist with legal support to the Africa EY practices on various legal matters;

Qualifications

• Minimum bachelor of laws degree         
• Solid commercial drafting, reviewing and negotiating skills
• Extensive experience in the audit industry, with detailed knowledge of audit rules and regulations
• Business acumen
•  Experience within a similar industry sector and/or financial services
•  Exposure across the African continent would be beneficial
• Top administration skills with a high proficiency in the use of Microsoft office programmes
• Excellent relationship skills which sometimes may be tested when dealing with pressure      
• Assertive, proactive and energetic
• Willingness to work overtime when necessary
• Strong team player
• Strong organisational and project management skills
• Well rounded corporate and commercial experience
• Experience in an auditing firm and with compliance and company secretarial matters will be an advantage
• Adaptive and ability to think on your feet
• Decision making capabilities
• Ability to manage with matters with little or no assistance
• Flexibility to travel if required

Key Requirements

• Qualified to practice law in South Africa.
• At least 7 years of post-qualification legal experience, preferably with an international law firm and/or multi-national corporation with at least a significant portion of such experience occurring in South Africa.
• Ideally, in-depth experience of the professional services industry.
• Developed commercial awareness with an outcome orientated approach and the ability to apply legal principles pragmatically.

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Your key responsibilities

• Analyze business, financial and IT systems, and other data processing problems to identify risks and improvements in computer systems and IT-enabled business processes.
• Leading and supporting the on-site coordination during engagements by planning and briefing teams on the client's IT environment as well as industry IT trends, communicating with the clients and completing audit engagements.
• Assist clients in strengthening internal controls and improve IT and business performance. Collaborate with other members of the engagement team to plan the engagement and develop work program timelines, risk assessments, and other planning documents.
• Ensure high quality in client service by directing daily progress of fieldwork, informing supervisors of engagement status, and managing staff performance.
• Demonstrate and apply strong project management skills, inspire teamwork and responsibility with engagement team members, and use current technology and tools to enhance the effectiveness of deliverables and services.
• Maintain long-term client relationships and networks. Cultivate business development opportunities.
• Demonstrating the ability to discuss and resolve audit issues and recommendations with client management.
• Demonstrating thorough understanding of complex information systems and applications to client situations

Skills and attributes for success

• Strong skills in project management and engagement closure
• Strong analytical, interpersonal and communication skills and a strong desire to work in a team environment
• Demonstrated integrity, values, principles, and work ethic

To qualify for the role you must have

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, computer science, information systems, business and/or other related major.
• A minimum of 4 years of experience in managing and/or leading projects, information technology operations, internal audit or internal controls; experience with the financial services sector is mandatory.
• Application control testing and/or implementation experience.
• Program and project delivery skills, including design, management and reporting.
• Possession of, or be actively pursuing, information systems auditing certifications or accounting designations such as Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), Certified Management Accountant (CIMA), and Certified General Accountant (CGA).
• 5 years of experience in the field of IT auditing, IT Security, information technology operations or internal audit.

Ideally, you’ll also have

• Experience with the following topics would be considered a strong asset:
• Cyber Program Management; Cyber Threat Management; Identity and Access Management; Data Protection and Privacy; Business Resilience; Data Analytics or Business Intelligence (design and/or execution); SAP and/or Oracle

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Essential Functions of the Job:

• Being the Main Point of Contact for all Finance related matters for the Service Line (SL)
• Preparation, Analysis and Distribution of Financial Information,
• Presenting results at Sector/SSL meetings to the Partners, Executive Directors and Manager group
• Managing of Indirect expenses to Plan i.e. allocations, recoveries, code control etc.
• Act as point of escalation between the business/Client servers and the Functional Leads of Finance ,i.e. Debtors, Accounts Payable, Staff expenses, Work-in-progress etc.
• Approval of exception expenditure i.e. Travel costs
• Preparing and submitting Budget, Planning and Forecast information. 
• Review working capital and flag any risks identified to leadership
• Review profitability on accounts and flag areas of concern to Operations team for action
• Proactively analyse business KPI’s and consult with client servers with the goal of increasing profitability on our accounts by using the correct levers i.e. Leveraging, GDS, Utilisation, and Pricing.
• Processing of journals as and when required
• Be able to train the client server community on Finance best practice, new systems and tools
• Act as the primary driver of change for SL and Finance activities and initiatives
• Provide insights into financial performance for the relevant service line and holds a view on the performance and outlook for forecast/ planning periods

Analytical/Decision Making Responsibilities:

• Critical thinking and a desire to get to the root cause of an issue
• A project manager mind-set, being able to handle numerous projects at one time and being flexible with the type work you are involved in.  
• Ability to identify and investigate issues and provide insights for continuous improvements
• Acting as a trusted business advisor including providing a clear point of view, demonstrating forward thinking, risk analysis and challenging existing ways of doing things
• Basic awareness of different cultures and working practices across the regions
• Be able to interpret EY Policies and implement them without fear or favour
• Identify areas of improvement by uncovering the root cause and developing processes to ensure continuous improvement and overall effectiveness

Supervision Responsibilities:

• Individual must be a self-starter and able to work independently with limited oversight
• Individual must be a team player recognizing when the task/project at hand requires them to lead and when to contribute

Other Requirements:

• Ability and flexibility to work in a virtual environment across multiple time zones
• Limited travel, but able to travel when required

Job Requirements:

• CGMA/CIMA qualification or other relevant finance qualification
• Experience working for a professional service or consultancy environment
• Be innovative, confident and creative thinker with ability to make quick decisions
• Worked in a large Global organization
• Proven ability to influence and build collaborative relationships with a wide range of stakeholders
• Extremely proficient in Excel and Microsoft applications including PowerPoint
• SAP preferable