Cost Accountant

Role Purpose    

• To own and deliver accurate purchase ledger, payment, banking, month-end and expense-accounting activities, while providing meaningful P&L and expense analysis for designated entities and stakeholders.
• The role combines strong transaction-processing and control ownership with selected management-accounting responsibilities, including journals, reconciliations, reporting, budgeting support, forecasting support and variance commentary.?

Requirements    

Qualification:

• BCom Accounting; BCom Cost and Management; BCom Finance.
• Or equivalent NQF 7. 

Experience and knowledge:

• 3+ years in management accounting.
• Experience in financial services environment.
• Skills in Excel (Intermediate).
• Familiar with systems and tools like: IDU, JDE, Sun Systems, PowerBI, Clickview. 

Duties & Responsibilities    

Purchase ledger, suppliers and payments:

• Own the end-to-end purchase ledger process, including the accurate and timely processing and control of supplier invoices, intercompany invoices and payments, staff expenses and corporate card transactions.
• Ensure invoices and expenses are appropriately supported, coded, verified and authorised in line with applicable policies and delegated authority.
• Prepare payment runs, arrange approval and create or upload payments on the accounting and banking systems.
• Handle supplier queries, reconcile supplier statements and act as a key point of contact for internal and external finance queries.
• Maintain clear purchase ledger, payment and supplier-management procedures.  

Banking, cash and intercompany accounting:? 

• Record bank payments and receipts accurately in the general ledger and maintain appropriate banking support and audit trails.
• Prepare bank reconciliations and investigate and resolve reconciling items promptly.
• Process and reconcile intercompany payments, salary recharges, expense transfers and other group recharges.
• Maintain control over foreign-exchange rates used in the accounting records and related reconciliations. 

Month-end, journals and balance-sheet control:

• Prepare and upload month-end journals, including but not limited to accruals, provisions, prepayments, expense allocations, corrections and recharges.
• Review journal allocations in accordance with policy, delegated authority and role-access controls.
• Correct inaccurate division/cost-centre and general-ledger allocations and ensure corrections are processed completely and accurately.
• Prepare and maintain balance-sheet and trial-balance reconciliations for areas and entities under ownership.
• Maintain and reconcile the fixed-assets register and recommend improvements to fixed-asset management.
• Support the month-end and year-end close, ensuring deadlines are met and issues are escalated appropriately.

Entity ownership, P&L and expense reporting:

• Own the monthly accounting process for designated legal entities or business areas, including journals, reconciliations, close activities and reporting.
• Prepare and analyse monthly P&L and expense reports, identify trends, anomalies, opportunities and risks, and provide clear variance commentary.
• Explain relationships and movements in financial reports and communicate implications to stakeholders to support decision-making.
• Prepare management and controller reporting packs for designated entities and areas.
• Perform expense and margin analysis, including actual versus budget, cost-centre and other relevant views.
• Support revenue verification, recognition and reconciliation processes where required. 

Budgeting, forecasting and business partnering:? 

• Support the annual expense budget and periodic forecast processes through preparation of schedules, historical trend analysis, validation of submissions and stakeholder engagement.
• Prepare accurate monthly expense reporting comparing actual results against budget and forecast, monitor variances and propose appropriate follow-up actions.
• Support budget consolidation and resolve errors or omissions with relevant stakeholders.
• Provide practical finance guidance to budget holders and non-financial stakeholders, particularly on expense management and coding.
• Build productive relationships across business units and deliver finance support within agreed service expectations.
• Controls, systems, audit and process improvement: 
• Maintain effective financial controls over purchase ledger, payments, banking, journals, expenses, reconciliations and areas under ownership.
• Prepare year-end audit files and supporting documentation and respond to audit queries for areas under control.
• Assist with VAT and other tax-related matters within the scope of the role.
• Escalate complex system queries to service providers and manage resolution to closure. 
• Administer relevant platform/system access and authorisation controls, where assigned. 
• Create, maintain and improve finance process documentation and contribute to automation, cost effectiveness and operational efficiency.
• Identify financial risks and control weaknesses and communicate practical recommendations through the appropriate forum.
• Undertake ad hoc finance projects as directed and provide wider team support when required.

Competencies    

Business Acumen  

• Understands how the business operates, what the key issues and risks are that drives business success and how they impact on the commercial viability of potential ventures and the profitability of the Group.

Client/ Stakeholder Commitment  

• Anticipates, meets and exceeds client’s needs by creating long lasting relationships that support the client value proposition, supports their financial requirements and ensures client centricity. 

Drive for Results  

• Drive a sense of urgency, focus, accountability, agility and execution to deliver business results. 

Leads Change and Innovation  

• Actively leads change, does what is right for the business and drives continuous improvement through innovation. 

Collaboration 

• Prioritises the business’ interests and invests in the success of the group by aligning effort across divisions and entities. 

Impact and Influence 

• Persuades, convinces, influences and inspires others, both internally and externally to win support, loyalty and gain commitment to the purpose of the business. 

Self-Awareness and Insight 

• Manages self and relationships with others effectively, deals with ambiguity, uncertainty and pressure, and provides perspective in difficult situations. 

Diversity and Inclusiveness 

• Is sensitive to individual and cultural differences and demonstrates humility and an openness to engage people from diverse backgrounds and cultures to the mutual benefit of all parties concerned. 

Closing Date    

• 2026/10/02