Experience

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  Standard Bank South Africa

  • South Africa
  • Financial Services
  • 700 & Above Employee

  • Finance Head: SA Tech Planning, Reporting and Insights

    • May 2020 - Present

    • Successfully implemented and now leading the SA Tech reporting and insights function, reporting to the SA Technology Chief Financial Officer (CFO).• Co-ordination of all SA Tech finance processes and deliverables through Agile standup meetings and digital platforms.• Streamline processes and reduce mundane work.• Created and published SA Tech monthly finance dashboard on Power BI.• Member of the Finance Cloud Custodian Group to upskill on the Bank’s Cloud strategy and the financial impact, including the Cloud FinOps implementation.• Member of the Salesforce finance workgroup to embed the Salesforce strategy, attending the SA Salesforce Steerco and work closely with CFO’s on metrics and effort estimations.• Act as a value advisor and report on SBSA Tech’s monthly, quarterly and annual financial results with forward looking insights for decision making to the SA Chief Engineering Officer, SA Tech Exco, Group Tech Reporting and SA Reporting that supports the SBSA CFO.• Report on the SA Tech delivery against the Tech strategy and the benefits thereof to the organisation on a cyclical basis. This includes reporting on SA Cloud, Salesforce, decommissioning, key metrics and capital and other change the bank initiatives. • Perform deep dives and analyse key items on an ad hoc basis.• Implementation of controls and reconciliations to enhance the accounting control environment, and drive financial hygiene across SA Tech Finance.• Work closely with the SA Tech FMs to gain a better understanding of the Tech business in order to provide meaningful insights for decision making.• Understand the Group, SBSA and SA Tech strategy, recovery model to front office, services bought from and delivered to Group Tech, cost drivers and cost savings initiatives to support and inform the monthly reporting.• Number of staff supervised: 1 employee. Development and coaching of new direct report.

  • Finance Manager (FM): IT Infrastructure and Operations (including Cloud)

    • Dec 2019 - Apr 2020

    • Five months stand-in as the FM supporting IT Infrastructure and Operations (I&O) and Cloud, the largest IT portfolio (R2.3bn). • Assisted in driving the Cloud strategy from a finance perspective with a sound knowledge of cloud principals and governance to upskill the IT finance team via weekly meetings. Implemented a Jira digital dashboard to track activities.• Acted as the finance partner on the I&O Management Committee (Manco) and responsibilities included business partnering to gain understanding of IT Infrastructure and Operations to support various stakeholders. • Managed the implementation of a full contract database to monitor contracts to support and influence financial strategic outcomes.• Co-ordination of monthly financial reporting with forward looking insights, including forecasts and a list of opportunities to reduce the Covid-19 financial impact.• Supervised 4 to 5 employees.

  • Finance Manager: Group IT Reporting, Planning and Insights

    • Jul 2015 - Nov 2019

    • Acted as a central function for the Group IT CFO to coordinate processes and outcomes through the IT finance team.• Implementation of Agile ways of work in IT finance as the Agile champion to co-ordinate outcomes, remove blockers and deliver results faster, setting the benchmark for Agile in finance across the Bank.• Co-ordination of IT finance processes such as month-end, monthly forecasting, budget and other through Agile standup meetings and digital platforms, and drafted guidance documents where applicable.• Streamlined processes and reduce mundane work.• Member of the Finance Cloud Custodian Group to upskill on the Bank’s Cloud strategy.• Automation and implementation of a forecast model by using existing tools.• Acted as a value advisor and report on Group IT’s monthly, quarterly and annual financial results, including the 3 year strategic financial forecast and forward looking insights for decision making to the Group CIO, Group Manco, IT Exco, IT Board and Group Reporting.• Drove financial hygiene across IT Finance and provided guidance and support to FMs on accounting discipline and principles, bank policies, accounting standards and applicable taxonomies. • Implementation of controls and reconciliations to enhance the accounting control environment.• Worked closely with the IT Finance FMs to gain a better understanding of the IT business in order to provide meaningful insights for decision making.• Understand the Group and IT strategy, recovery model to front office, cost drivers and cost savings initiatives to support and inform the monthly reporting.• Perform deep dives on key items and analyse expenditure as well as capital projects on a cyclical and on an ad hoc basis.• Preparation of the IT financial information pack for the auditors and assisting with auditors queries. • Three month secondment as an FM supporting ‘Wealth and Investments’ and ‘Data Management’ IT.• Developed of staff members including, an intern and two ACCA graduates.

• 

  South African Reserve Bank

  • Pretoria Area, South Africa

  • Accountant (Section Head)

    • Feb 2012 - Jun 2015
    • Pretoria Area, South Africa

    • Oversight of accounting and reporting function of the Bank’s two subsidiaries (Corporation for Public Deposits (CPD) and South African Reserve Bank Captive Insurance Company (SARBCIC). • Preparation of annual financial statements, as well as subsidiary packs, for CPD and SARBCIC. • Liaison with auditors to finalise audit of annual financial statements.• Managed the monthly and quarterly management reporting financial packs.• Preparation of the annual presentations to parliament and the audit committee.• Implementation of controls and reconciliations to enhance the accounting control environment.• Preparation and submission of annual income and provisional tax returns, as well as indirect taxes (VAT, PAYE and STC).• Reviewed financial input to the quarterly FSB and annual ST return.• Budget representative of the Financial Services Department (FSD). The function includes the preparation of the annual budget, monthly variance explanations to senior management and analyses of accounts through interrogation and liaison with different section managers.• Approval of payments.• Documented and coordinated the section’s business process mapping and the operational risk framework.• Coached and reviewed work of junior staff members.

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  Bateman Engineering Projects

  • Johannesburg Area, South Africa

  • Temporary Assistant Accountant

    • Apr 2011 - Jan 2012
    • Johannesburg Area, South Africa

    ACCOUNTING FUNCTION:• Preparation of annual financial statements for various group companies.• Liaison with different departments to gather information required in the preparation of the financial statements.• Liaison with the auditors to finalise the financial statements.TREASURY FUNCTION:• Weekly consolidation of cash balances of the group. Liaison and follow up with cost centres in various countries to finalise weekly cash reporting.• Compilation and improvement on the monthly group guarantee reporting.• Assistance with the administration of bank accounts: opening of new bank accounts, changes in signatories and follow up of bank queries.ASSITANCE WITH RESTRUCTURING:• Collection, preparation and summarised information for management during a due diligence.• Assistance in the restructuring of the group in order to simplify the group structure. The function included the deregistration of companies, settlement of loan accounts, finalisation of outstanding tax matters, liaising with foreign employees to consider the impact of decisions, etc.

• 

  PwC

  • Stellenbosch

  • Trainee Accountant (Audit clerk)

    • Mar 2008 - Feb 2011
    • Stellenbosch

    MAJOR AUDIT CLIENTS:• Remgro Limited - Investment Holding Company (Listed on the JSE)• Betafence Holdings SA (Pty) Limited - Manufacturing• Blaauwklippen Agricultural Estates Stellenbosch (Pty) Ltd - Wine agriculture• L’Ormarins (Pty) Ltd and related entities - Wine agriculture and produce • Graaff Fruit (Pty) Ltd - Agricultural as well as packing and marketing of fruit• Subsidiaries of Karsten Group Holdings (Pty) Ltd - Agricultural produce• Afriland Property Solutions (Pty) Ltd and its subsidiaries - Property developmentKEY ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:• Leading audit teams effectively on a managerial level.• Liaison with various lines of services within PwC to express an opinion on technical accounting treatments, taxation and the operating effectiveness of general controls.• Audit of separate and consolidated financial statements (substantive testing) – all areas/cycles, with specific emphasis on: Inventory, Property, Plant and Equipment, Investment Property, Non-current assets held for sale; Financial instruments; Income and Deferred taxation as well as VAT; Consolidation process and consolidation journals and Payroll and revenue functions.• Controls testing audit procedures on the following business processes: treasury, debtors, accounts payable, inventory (including stock count), VAT and payroll. • Reported to management on internal control improvement recommendations.• Evaluation of work performed by the internal auditors.• Audit of companies’ compliance with statutory requirements.• Research and technical reading in order to conclude on accounting treatment of complex/ significant transactions.• Accounting services: Compilation of deferred and income tax calculations; Completion of income tax returns for companies, trusts and individuals; and Compilation of consolidated and separate annual financial statements in accordance with IFRS, SA GAAP and IFRS for SMEs.• Coaching and review work of junior engagement team members.