Junior Specialist: Fund Accounting at Absa Group Limited (Absa)

Job Summary

• To provide specialist advise and support in the preparation of financial statements which are accurate and complete and in line with relevant legislative requirements, through the execution of predefined objectives as per agreed SOPs.

Job Description

Statutory & Regulatory Reporting:

• Produce various financial and non-financial reports for regulatory bodies on a annual and quarterly basis i.e. Statutory (Annual Financial Statements FSB returns, AIMS trustee packs, SARB returns, tax returns PAYE, ITA88, IT88 and EMP201/501)
• Ensure compliance with Financial Reporting Standards (Pension Fund Act), Financial Services Board (FSB), South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and tax regulations by reviewing policies, practices and procedures and comparing to relevant act or standard.
• Produce various financial reports as required by Business i.e. Statutory (Annual Financial Statements, FSB returns, and SARB returns, tax returns PAYE, ITA88 and EMP201/501) and Management accounts which includes balance sheets and income statements as required by AIMS Nominees.
• Prepare annual financial statements for AIMS Nominees in terms of Pension fund Act and FSB requirements for approval by the AIMS Board of Trustees.
• Prepare monthly and annual tax returns of AIMS Nominees for approval by Financial Manager and submission to South African Revenue Services.
• Prepare monthly returns and reconciliation for ITA88 and DWT (Dividend withholding tax) paid to SARS.
• Update process documents on regulatory changes and reporting changes in advance and assist in compliance of changes by providing technical knowledge and expertise.
• Maintain up to date knowledge of Pension fund Act and tax act by attending conferences and seminars or from the staff within Absa/AIMS dealing with the party’s i.e. principal officer or legal/compliance officer or Absa Group tax.
• Provide input on Principal Officer Initiatives and projects relating to regulatory requirements including Tax, SARS, SARB and Pension fund Act.
• Follow up and ensure on journals processed to ensure that all discrepancies are cleared on time within the agreed turnaround times.
• Analyse and identify root cause of any discrepancies detected in the financial accounts of AIMS Nominees and the resolution thereof.
• Complete all monthly reconciliations within the set deadlines by Group Finance so that reconciliations and Journals are correctly prepared for monthly reporting and audit purposes.
• Authorise daily operational payments (internal and externally) on the Absa global payments system.

Trustee Reporting and Financials for Retirement Funds:

• Prepare Trustee packs quarterly during the year (Trial Balance (TB) ,income and all the notes as per the financials)
• Prepare the complete pack of Annual Financial Statements for each retirement and pension fund as per the FSB and Pension Fund Act guidelines and requirements.
• Work with the audit team by preparing accurate year- end file containing all relevant reports and information required by the audit manager.
• Collate requests received from the external auditors, manage the requirements in conjunction with the relevant internal staff in the operations team.
• Ensure the budgeted time line of the auditors is not exceeded by handling and resolving all queries promptly and efficiently.
• Distribute the signed annual financial statements as per the distribution list and submit to FSB yearly.
• Answer e-mails or request from the FSB that they may have or refer to the relevant party/person for resolving feedback.
• Prepare D427 reports quarterly that we will be sent to SARB as per the report guidelines.
• Provide and/or prepare any ad-hoc information as requested by the trustees and management regarding the trustee packs and the annual financial statements.

Accounting Retirement Funds, AIMS Nominees, SARS, FSB and SARB:

• Create processes that are accounting related to create awareness and emphasis on regulations/ accounting principles to be adhered to.
• Prepare reports from AIMS admin system new business, repurchases, switch and fees all of this is normal daily business to calculate the value of all the assets within AIMS Nominees this will include Nominees funds and Retirement funds.
• Put proper governance in place to ensure that monthly reconciliation is done timeously by the Line Managers.
• Reconcile SAP reports to the Retirement cost centre’s and Nominees cost centre 3 so that the SAP reports tie back to the TB or Assets Under Management (AUM) reports.
• Prepare monthly, half yearly and yearly recons/reports to SARS for payments made that reconciles back to reports we will use the report.
• Compare system information to the information received from IT and I-tax consisting of the directives, monthly living annuity payment amount adhoc withdrawals from clients with retirement investments – this will all be part of the monthly EMP201 balance and later the EMP 501 for the yearly and half yearly submission to SARS.
• Prepare and reconcile the monthly recon and payments to SARS for EMP201, IT88, ITA88 and Dividend withholding Tax.
• Prepare on a yearly and half yearly IRP5 and dividend withholding tax recon submissions as required by SARS for PAYE (EMP501) and the dividend withholding tax.
• Prepare quarterly SARB reports by use of the AUM or TB reports that are prepared on a monthly basis and consolidate the data.

Education

• Bachelor`s Degrees and Advanced Diplomas: Business, Commerce and Management Studies (Required)