To own the financial close and reporting cycle, safeguard margin and inventory integrity, bring income tax in-house, lead the external audit, and provide commercial insight into trading and logistics performance while reviewing and developing the junior finance team.
Key responsibilities
Financial reporting & close:
Manage the full month-end and year-end close process.
Prepare and review monthly management accounts and annual financial statements (IFRS / IFRS for SMEs).
Review reconciliations and journals prepared by the accountants, and absorb the defined reviews shifted from the Financial Manager.
Inventory & margin management
Oversee inventory valuation, landed-cost accuracy, and stock provisioning.
Analyse gross margin by entity / route / customer and report variances.
Monitor logistics and operating costs against budget.
Tax & statutory (income tax in-house)
Oversee VAT and provisional tax compliance and submissions.
Prepare income tax / ITR14 in-house, with an external tax advisor engaged for complex matters and ITR14 review only.
Manage forex accounting and import-related tax matters.
Audit
Lead the external audit and act as primary liaison with the external auditors (Meyers Tennier).
Prepare audit files and resolve audit queries.
Budgeting & forecasting
Support annual budgets, reforecasts, and cash flow management.
Controls, process & team
Strengthen internal controls and drive process improvements.
Supervise, review, and mentor the Accountant (Zarbon) and Junior Accountant.
Qualifications
Minimum
BCom Accounting or equivalent, with completed articles (SAICA / SAIPA).
Professional designation: SAIPA (Professional Accountant), AGA(SA), or CIMA.
5+ years' relevant experience post-articles, including review / supervisory experience.
Preferred
BCom Honours.
CA(SA) advantageous, but not required.
Experience in trading, logistics, distribution, or mining.
Experience with multi-currency and import / export accounting, and in-house income tax.
Technical skills
Strong technical knowledge of IFRS, inventory / costing, and South African tax legislation (including income tax / ITR14).
Advanced proficiency in [Sage / Pastel / SAP / Syspro] and Excel.