MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
Educational Qualifications
- National Diploma or Bachelors Degree in Finance, Accounting (NQF 7).
- Credit Management Diploma (Institute of Credit Management of South Africa highly advantageous).
Experience
- 58 years of progressive experience in credit control or credit management.
- Minimum 5 years in a supervisory or management role.
- Experience in a manufacturing and/or FMCG or sales-driven environment preferred.
- Proven experience in managing large debtor books and trade credit risk.
MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES & DUTIES
Credit Risk Management
- Develop and maintain the companys credit policy and procedures.
- Conduct credit assessments and evaluate new and existing customers.
- Approve or recommend credit limits and terms in line with policy.
- Monitor credit exposure and portfolio risk regularly.
- Maintain updated customer risk ratings and ensure compliance with credit terms.
Accounts Receivable Management
- Oversee daily debtor collections and allocate payments accurately.
- Review the age analysis weekly and take corrective actions for overdue accounts.
- Negotiate and manage payment arrangements where necessary.
- Work closely with the sales team to address disputed invoices.
- Recommend write-offs and provisions as per company policy.
Customer Relationship & Support
- Communicate credit terms clearly to customers.
- Resolve customer account queries promptly.
- Liaise with the sales department to align credit decisions with commercial strategies.
- Support customers with documentation and payment arrangements when required.
- Attend key account review meetings to manage credit-related risks.
Contract Administration
- Oversee and ensure the effective management of the contract administration process, including contract tracking, document control, renewals, and closures.
- Monitor that all contract-related documentation is maintained accurately, securely, and is audit-ready.
- Ensure that key contract milestones, renewals, and closures are tracked and actioned on time and custodians notified.
- Review periodic reports on contract status, compliance, and risks, and ensure that corrective actions are implemented where necessary.
- Ensure compliance with internal policies, legal standards, and regulatory requirements in all contract administration activities.
- Identify process improvements and support training or awareness initiatives for staff involved in contract administration.
- Liaise with internal stakeholders (e.g., legal, procurement, finance) to resolve escalated contract administration issues.
- Hold staff accountable for meeting contract administration KPIs (e.g., document accuracy, compliance rates, timely renewals).
Corporate Governance, Risk & Compliance
- Monitor the operation of controls and procedures in order to ensure integrity.
- Coordinate with external auditors.
- Implement changes based on audit findings.
- Ensure that all action plans are in place to address internal and external audit findings and monitor progress against these plans.
- Ensure compliance with relevant legislation and policy frameworks within functional area to prevent fruitless, wasteful and irregular expenditure.
- Identify and monitor departmental risks and develop and maintain a risk register.
- Provide support to the Internal Auditors and respond to findings.
- Assure compliance with all SHEQ related standards, processes and procedures.
- Observe and ensure all staff comply with the provisions of all labour legislation.
- Ensure adherence to the Company Code of Ethics, Values as well as Unwritten Ground Rules (UGRs).
- Ensure alignment of financial practices and processes to relevant legislation and governance requirements and mitigate potential financial risks.
- Regularly liaise with Leadership on corporate governance, provide advice and contribute toward alignment with legislation and regulations.
- Ensure compliance with the National Credit Act and POPIA.
- Maintain accurate credit records and documentation.
- Implement and monitor internal controls over credit and collections.
- Review and update credit procedures regularly.
Reporting & Analytics
- Prepare monthly credit and debtor reports for management.
- Analyse trends in collections, bad debts, and credit exposure.
- Recommend corrective measures based on data insights.
- Support budgeting and forecasting processes.
- Develop dashboards for credit monitoring where applicable.
Contribution to Business Strategy
- Participate in strategy formulation and policy development.
- Advise management on credit trends and their business impact.
- Support product and market expansion by assessing credit risk exposure.
- Implement credit automation or digital solutions to improve efficiency.
Stakeholder Management
- Identify all potential internal and external stakeholders.
- Work collaboratively with internal and external stakeholders by establishing and maintaining effective working relationships and clear lines of communication.
- Represent the organisation in meetings with internal and external stakeholders.
- Solve problems creatively whilst demonstrating a high level of integrity in line with core values and UGRs.
- Provide advice and guidance on stakeholder-related matters.
- Manage relationships and expectations in accordance with policies, procedures and legal requirements.
People Management
- Ensure successful implementation of all HR policies within the function.
- Recruit and hire the correct calibre of new employees timeously when vacancies arise.
- Provide suitable training and management development to optimise staff potential.
- Ensure ongoing training and development of employees.
- Monitor and measure employee performance through appraisals and performance objectives.
- Identify development areas and implement corrective action plans.
- Address employee relations matters fairly and promptly.
- Manage and improve communication and relationships within the function.
- Act as custodian of company values and organisational culture.
- Ensure compliance with labour legislation.
- Ensure employees have clear job profiles, targets and goals.
- Ensure employees have the necessary resources, skills, tools, and information.
- Proactively align future talent needs through succession planning and capacity building initiatives.
- Align with BBBEE strategy and ensure all targets and deliverables are met.
VALUES
- Honesty and Integrity
Mutual Respect, Trust and Dignity
Openness and Transparency
Participation, Co-operation and Teamwork
Performance and Accountability
Passion and Commitment
ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE & REQUIRED SKILLS
- Strong knowledge of credit risk assessment, credit policy, and collections management.
- Solid understanding of the National Credit Act and POPIA.
- Financial analysis and interpretation of customer financial statements.
- ERP system proficiency (SAP, Syspro, Oracle, or similar).
- Advanced MS Excel and reporting skills.
CORE BEHAVIOURAL COMPETENCIES AND ATTRIBUTES
- Effective problem-solver.
- Strong analytical ability.
- High integrity and ethical standards.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
- Ability to deal with uncertainty.
- Keen eye for detail and results-driven approach.
- Goal-orientated.
- Innovative and creative.
- Team-orientated.
- Able to operate in an uncertain, non-deterministic environment.
- Assertive.
- Resilient.
- Works well under pressure.
- Embodies Company Values and Policies.
- Strong financial acumen.
- Strong general business acumen.
- Strong customer service orientation.
- Strong negotiation and networking skills.
- Ability to be proactive and predict business and market needs.