Finance Business Analyst

SUMMARY:
Datonomy Solutions is seeking a seasoned Finance/Accounting Business Analyst to accelerate delivery.

POSITION INFO:

Datonomy Solutions is seeking a seasoned Finance / Accounting Business Analyst to accelerate delivery of a critical finance reporting programme.

The successful candidate will be responsible for analysing, defining, and validating the requirements for complex accounting and finance reports being migrated to a new reporting platform.

This is not a technical BA role.

The core requirement is deep accounting knowledge and the ability to engage confidently with Finance stakeholders, interpret financial logic, and translate business reporting needs into accurate and testable specifications for ETL and reporting developers.

Key Responsibilities

1. Requirements Gathering & Business Engagement

• Engage directly with Finance stakeholders to understand reporting requirements, accounting rules, and business intent.
• Analyse existing financial and management reports to determine underlying accounting logic.
• Identify gaps, inconsistencies, and errors in current reporting outputs.

2. Functional Specification Development

• Translate financial reporting requirements into clear, accurate functional specifications for ETL and report developers.
• Ensure specifications reflect correct accounting treatments, mappings, aggregations, reconciliations, and business rules.
• Provide precise clarification of sources, calculations, and expected results.

3. Accounting Logic Validation

• Apply accounting expertise to validate assumptions and ensure reporting outputs meet financial standards.
• Detect errors in specs, logic, or data interpretation before development begins.
• Act as the “first line of defence” to prevent reporting failures.

4. Testing & UAT

• Conduct first-round UAT on developed reports, verifying outputs using accounting knowledge.
• Identify root causes of issues and guide development teams on required corrections.
• Ensure all 46 reports progress successfully into UAT by the target deadline.

5. Stakeholder Management

• Serve as the central liaison between Finance teams, developers, data teams, and project sponsors.
• Communicate requirements, decisions, and outcomes clearly and professionally.
• Provide ongoing support to the Finance function throughout testing and acceptance.

Required Skills & Experience

Accounting Expertise (Non-Negotiable)

• Strong grounding in core accounting principles (journals, ledgers, reconciliations, trial balance, sub-ledgers, allocations, financial statements).
• Ability to diagnose accounting errors, detect logic issues, and interpret financial data structures.
• Previous experience producing or analysing financial and statutory reports.

Business Analysis Skills

• 5+ years in a Finance BA or Accounting BA role.
• Experienced in extracting, documenting, and validating reporting requirements.
• Strong capability in producing functional specifications for reporting and analytics solutions.

Industry Experience

• Experience in financial services or insurance preferred.
• Familiarity with finance data structures, reporting cycles, and financial controls.

General Competencies

• High attention to detail.
• Strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Ability to work under time pressure and deliver quickly, with minimal ramp-up.
• Confident, analytical problem-solver.

Nice to Have (Not Essential)

• Accounting qualification (BCom Accounting, CIMA, SAICA articles, etc.).
• Experience working with ETL teams or BI/report developers.
• Understanding of data mapping between finance systems.

Success Measures

• Rapid understanding of existing reports and accounting logic.
• Accurate, error-free specifications that prevent rework.
• Successful UAT sign-off of reports by the required deadline.
• Improved confidence from Finance stakeholders in report outputs.
• Reduced rework and fewer report failures in development cycles.