Senior Specialist: Financial Decision Support at Liberty Group South Africa

Purpose

• To ensure that the business is fully supported with quality (MI and Financial) analysis for both routine reporting and any ad hoc initiatives (new products and strategic opportunities) as they occur.

Minimum Experience

• 3 - 5 years experience in a similar environment, of which 1 -2 years at a junior specialist level

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor`s Degrees and Advanced Diplomas [NQF Level 07] in Finance Economics and Accounting

Additional Minimum Qualifications

Outputs

Process

• Understand and apply existing best practice frameworks to assist in the implementation of identified subject matter processes and standards.
• Contribute to and assist in the effective execution of internal and external audits, financial statement generation and regulatory submissions.
• Ensure accurate reconciliation of financial transaction records to supporting documentation to enable verification of the validity of transactions.
• Coordinate financial planning activities through the preparation of resource scheduling, physical planning, monitoring and control of financial design according to clients needs.
• Delivers comprehensive monthly management reporting within tight timelines.
• Develops innovative routine and adhoc MI to challenge and support the business.
• Develop fit-for-purpose monthly business and performance analytics, summarized into reports and dashboards that enable heads of business and executives to make decisions in pursuit of enhanced business performance and risk management requirements.
• Participates in evaluation of proposed new products and strategic initiatives ito expected performance metrics and impact on existing business requiring development of new and sometimes temporary analytics and reports to be distributed to existing and new
• Accountable for the improvement of quality, service and work outputs, continuously recommending improvements.
• Plan for the organisation of work outputs and process improvement activities in light of a specific situational context related to the area of specialisation.
• Proactively identify area of specialisation related problems, determine cause and effect and recommend the best option to implement corrective action based on previous experience.

Customer

• Provide sound consulting services and recommendations based on customer and client needs, current information and trends analyses.
• Provide specialist expertise and advice to internal/external customers, that builds strong relationships and creates a favourable impression aligned to Treating the Customer Fairly (TCF) principles.

Finance

• Management of the planning and forecasting process based on historical trends, recent actuals and full consultation with the business;
• Delivers quarterly business reviews and dynamic quarterly forecasts and provides technical accounting (IFRS) to support economic evaluation of proposed new products and solutions.
• Prepares detailed accounting opinions for proposed transactions or solutions in support of Liberty's product development team incorporating a view of applications of relevant laws and regulations.
• Initiate and drive compilation of robust annual budget and medium term strategic plans working with relevant Front Office unit, Product Control, Financial Control, Portfolio Optimisation and Liberty's Customer Facing Units to produce fully documented plan.
• Adhere to financial controls, governance and compliance policies and processes throughout an area of specialisation, contributing to cost efficiency.

Learning and Growth

• Contribute positively to human capability improvement, related to knowledge optimisation and associated with area of specialisation.

Governance

• Ensure that established accounting standards, procedures and processes are adhered to, in compliance with legislative regulations.
• Comply to risk and governance policies, implement and provide subject matter input to the development of related processes, applicable to the area of specialisation.

Competencies

Liberty Values

Technical Competencies

• Planning, Forecasting and Budgeting (Proficient)
• Financial Management (Intermediate)
• Financial Acumen (Intermediate)
• Financial Planning (Proficient)
• Research and Information Gathering (Intermediate)
• Data Analysis (Proficient)

Behavioural Competencies

• Organisation and Attention to Detail (Intermediate)
• Relationship Management and Networking (Intermediate)
• Problem Solving and Analysis (Intermediate)
• Professional/Technical learning (Intermediate)