Financial Planning and Optimization Manager

We are recruiting a Financial Planning and Optimization Manager to join our team in Sandton.

Reporting to the Executive of Financial Planning and Analytics, your role will focus on assuming collaborative responsibility for the budgeting, forecasting, and reporting for the Group.

Role Objective: Collaborate with strategy team to gather information and data regarding the outlook for the business. Collaborate in driving the improvement of FPA processes with the teamâ??s data scientist.

This role will not only benefit from interacting with individuals within the business to improve insights and create efficiencies but also working with the Group Executive Committee to understand how they look at the business from a holistic level and what detail/insights they require to make informed strategic decisions to grow the Group.

Qualifications Required:

• CA (SA)/CIMA

Experience required:

• 2 or more years post article experience
• Previous FPA experience or due diligence experience
• High level of proficiency in MS Excel
• Willingness to continuously develop skills and embrace new technology

 

Duties/Responsibilities:

 

Forecasting/Budgeting

• Collaborate with strategy team to gather information and data regarding the outlook for the business
• Support business in preparation of the budgets
• Challenge and question inputs submitted to drive meaningful discussion and ensure strong forecast accuracy
• Ensure business adherence to timelines and completion of high-quality budget reports and other related packs on time for respective Executive committee meetings
• Track and manage risk and opportunities in the budgeting process

Reporting

• Collate and analyze monthly financial results and report to business and Executive Committee members with a high level of quality and within agreed monthly deadlines
• Critically assess variances in actuals vs forecast/budget/prior year and investigate reasoning through data analysis as well as collaboration with business
• Take ownership of reporting/developing reports for other functional areas of the business including but not limited to Treasury, Shared Services and Human Capital. An example would include liquidity and cash flow reporting, as well as working capital management to give detailed insight on the Groups management of its cash and ensuring it is being deployed to the areas with the greatest ROI.

Continuous Process Improvement

• Self-driven to continuously assess reporting for areas of improvement
• Lead projects to implement improvements identified
• Work with the divisions data scientist to move to the next level of business insights, embracing predictive analytics, machine learning and AI.

• Attention to detail
• Ability to work with minor supervision, under pressure and meet strict deadlines
• Have a strong level of general business acumen, and thinks conceptually and identifies and addresses future challenges and opportunities, often in an ambiguous environment
• Excellent communication skills with all levels of Management including Executives
• Excellent written and spoken English