Finance Manager

Swire Shipping Malaysia; Kuala Selangor; On-site; MYR 240,000 - 360,000; Full time

Job summary

Swire Shipping Malaysia is seeking a Country Finance Manager to lead the Finance function for our Malaysian shipping-agency operation. Based in Malaysia, you will partner with the Singapore-based ship owner and operator, overseeing financial stewardship, controls, reporting and business support.

You will manage revenue, vessel-call costs, intercompany balances, tax compliance and statutory reporting, while coordinating with Head Office, shared services and external advisers.

Qualifications

• ACCA/CPA/CIMA qualification is mandatory.
• Membership in Malaysian Institute of Accountants strongly preferred.
• University degree in accounting, finance or equivalent is advantageous.
• 10–15 years of progressive finance experience, ideally in shipping agency, maritime, logistics, or transportation.
• Strong knowledge of shipping-agency accounting, vessel disbursements, tax, payroll and financial controls.
• Fluent English with working Bahasa Malaysia; Excel and SAP experience beneficial.

Responsibilities

• Lead the country Finance agenda and partner with Head Office and external advisers.
• Oversee financial stewardship, statutory compliance and reporting for the Malaysian operation.
• Manage revenue, vessel-call costs, intercompany balances and cash flow forecasting.
• Coordinate monthly/annual close, prepare P&L, balance sheet and cash flow statements.
• Ensure compliance with Malaysia tax rules, payroll, and regulatory requirements.

Skills

Stakeholder management

Financial reporting

Budgeting & forecasting

Cash flow management

Education

ACCA/CPA/CIMA qualification

University degree in accounting/finance

Tools

SAP

Power BI

Excel

Job description

As Country Finance Manager, Malaysia, you will lead the Finance agenda for the Group's Malaysian shipping-agency operation and serve as the key finance partner to the Singapore-based ship owner and operator. You will oversee financial stewardship, statutory compliance, financial control, reporting and business support, ensuring agency revenue, vessel-call costs, principal balances, recoverable expenditure, collections, cash and local operating costs are accurately recorded, appropriately taxed, controlled and reported. Based in Malaysia, this permanent full-time role requires sound professional judgement, strong stakeholder management and the ability to operate independently while partnering with the Country Management Team, Singapore Head Office, shared service teams and external advisers.

Key responsibilities

Independently manage the day-to-day Finance agenda and provide insight, constructive challenge and recommendations on revenue, vessel activity, operating costs, working capital, cash, receivables and business risks.

Maintain clear accounting distinctions between local agency revenue, principal monies, vessel-call disbursements, recoverable expenditure, customer receipts, local operating costs and intercompany balances.

Review agency disbursement accounts, principal advances and supporting documentation, resolving unused advances, shortfalls and aged balances.

Oversee port dues, pilotage, line handling, tug charges, wharf charges, husbandry, local transport and other vessel-call supplier costs.

Validate supplier invoices, prevent duplicates or misallocations, accrue outstanding material costs and analyse expected versus actual vessel-call expenditure.

Ensure customer invoices reflect approved contractual and agency arrangements, including freight, agency fees, local charges, recoveries, reimbursements and other billable services.

Monitor receivables, supplier liabilities, principal advances and intercompany balances, supporting timely collection and dispute resolution.

Maintain short-term cash-flow forecasts covering vessel calls, payroll, tax, suppliers and local overhead, and communicate funding requirements to Singapore Treasury.

Lead the monthly and annual close, reviewing accruals, prepayments, intercompany entries, balances and manual journals.

Prepare or review profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow and working-capital reporting, reconciling local records with approved source systems and Head Office records.

Coordinate annual budgets, periodic forecasts and cash-flow forecasts, and explain actual-versus-budget and actual-versus-forecast performance.

Ensure compliance with Malaysian Financial Reporting Standards, the Companies Act 2016 and applicable statutory reporting requirements, coordinating audits and statutory financial statements.

Coordinate corporate income tax estimates, instalments, computations, returns and supporting schedules with Group Tax and external advisers.

Maintain transfer-pricing support and assess tax, permanent-establishment, treaty and withholding-tax implications of new activities.

Own Sales and Service Tax and Malaysia e-Invoice compliance, including reconciliation of MyInvois data with SAP, billing, revenue and tax records.

Monitor changes to Malaysian accounting, tax, corporate, payroll and regulatory requirements and communicate impacts and recommended actions to stakeholders.

Review payroll journals and provisions, and ensure accurate and timely remittance of Employees Provident Fund, Social Security Organisation, Employment Insurance System and Monthly Tax Deduction obligations.

Monitor service-provider timeliness, quality, backlogs, rejected transactions, reconciliation exceptions and master-data errors.

Support the migration of suitable Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, journal, reconciliation, master-data and reporting activities while retaining work requiring local law, professional judgement, certification or analysis.

Own local Finance data quality and coordinate sustainable fixes for recurring manual journals, spreadsheets and interface failures.

Operate and certify local Finance controls, ensuring compliance with delegated authorities, segregation of duties, documentation and record-retention requirements.

Escalate suspected fraud, misconduct, material control breaches, critical deadlines, funding requirements and continuity risks, and support remediation of audit findings.

Maintain finance systems, procedures, risk management and business continuity arrangements.

Promote safety leadership, challenge unsafe acts or conditions and comply with global safety standards, policies and operating procedures.

What we're looking for

A recognised professional accountancy qualification such as ACCA, CPA, CA, CIMA, MICPA or equivalent is mandatory.

Membership of, or eligibility for membership in, the Malaysian Institute of Accountants is strongly preferred.

A university degree in accounting, finance or an equivalent discipline is advantageous.

10 to 15 years of progressive Finance experience, ideally within shipping agency, maritime, logistics, freight forwarding or transportation.

Strong knowledge of shipping-agency accounting, vessel disbursements, principal balances, recoveries, Malaysian tax, payroll, cash forecasting, working capital and financial controls.

Strong General Ledger, reconciliation, budgeting, forecasting and audit capability.

Ability to independently lead a country Finance agenda and advocate sound financial stewardship, statutory compliance and control.

Ability to influence senior stakeholders, service providers and local partners without formal authority.

Sound professional judgement and the ability to identify when local legal or tax advice is required.

Fluent written and spoken English, with working proficiency in Bahasa Malaysia.

Highly organised, deadline-driven and capable of maintaining resilient processes as an independent contributor.

Proficiency in Microsoft Excel and accounting systems; SAP and Power BI experience is advantageous.

Working familiarity with MyTax, MyInvois, MySST and other relevant Malaysian portals.

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