Commercial Finance Lead (CA/ACMA)

Syndicate Personnel Specialists; Durban; On-site; ZAR 800 000 - 1 200 000; Full time

Job summary

A global multinational consumer goods company is seeking a Finance Category Lead to provide financial support for decision-making and drive profitable growth. This role involves strategy development, budgeting, and financial forecasting, with a critical impact on the organization's success.

Qualifications

• Minimum 10 years of experience in FMCG, consumer goods, or pharmaceutical industries.

Responsibilities

• Analyze and present brand-category performance; challenge decisions.
• Lead the delivery of financial forecasting and budgeting processes.
• Manage the total trade spend budget and tracking.

Skills

Analytical Skills

Financial Forecasting

Budget Management

Education

CA qualification

ACMA

Job description

About the Company

Our client, a global multinational consumer goods company with some of the world's leading brands, is recruiting for a Finance Category Lead to provide all required financial support to inform and enhance decision-making, driving profitable growth.

The role involves strategy development, budgeting, and in-year delivery processes, identifying value creation opportunities through margin, SKU, and spend optimization.

About the Role

• Analyze and present brand-category performance; challenge decisions to ensure result delivery.
• Support innovation business cases by challenging pricing, volumes, and assumptions.
• Provide insights during monthly S&OP cycles and support updates to the executive team.
• Provide insights to sales leadership on commercial and total business unit performance, including analysis against budget, forecast, and prior year.

• Lead the delivery of financial forecasting, including communication, timelines, and data management.
• Manage monthly, quarterly, annual, and 18-month plans through cross-functional collaboration and risk/opportunity analysis.
• Run forecasting and budgeting processes up to GM, ensuring robust, deliverable plans with clear risks and opportunities; ensure smooth audits and internal controls.
• Build and maintain complex models for forecasting, scenario planning, and balance sheet forecasting.

• Manage the total trade spend budget and tracking, working closely with business partners to ensure forecast accuracy. Lead forecasting projects, drive analysis, and optimize within the organization.

Non-Negotiable Requirements

• CA qualification completed or ACMA.

• Minimum 10 years of experience in FMCG, consumer goods, or pharmaceutical industries.

This role is critical for the company, providing strong analytical support and serving as a potential succession role to directorship in the medium term.