Finance Lead

Professional Recruitment Network; Wes-Kaap; On-site; ZAR 1,000,000 - 1,400,000; Full time

Job summary

Professional Recruitment Network is seeking a Finance Lead (Inventory & Stock Optimisation) in Cape Town CBD to own the full financial oversight of inventory across the business. The role requires deep IFRS/IAS 2 knowledge and a strong blend of technical accounting with strategic, AI-driven thinking.

You will drive automation, manage stock integrations, and partner with commercial heads to optimise stock value and cost. A strong background in inventory finance is essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field.
• CA (SA) or CIMA advantageous.
• Strong working knowledge of inventory management at scale.
• Experience with stock and ERP system integrations and reconciliations.
• Experience as a Finance business partner to commercial or operational teams.
• Advanced data analytics: SQL, Python, Power BI / Looker / Tableau.
• Familiarity with AI tools and their application in finance workflows.
• Strong Excel and Google Sheets modelling skills.
• Understanding of IFRS and IAS 2.

Responsibilities

• Own full financial oversight of inventory across warehouses and in-transit nodes.
• Maintain accurate stock valuations and reconciled positions.
• Oversee WACP calculations and automation projects end-to-end.
• Manage stock integrations between operational and accounting systems.
• Lead month-end inventory close and IFRS IAS 2 reporting.
• Develop and maintain inventory finance dashboards and reports.
• Support budgeting and forecasting with inventory assumptions.
• Drive automation and process improvements in inventory finance.
• Partner with Commercial heads as Finance Business Partner.

Education

Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field

CA (SA) or CIMA advantageous

Tools

ERP systems

Power BI

Looker

Tableau

SQL

Python

Job description

Finance Lead (Inventory & Stock Optimisation)

Cape Town CBD

Reporting to the Head of Finance, the successful candidate will be responsible for the full financial ownership of inventory across the businesses. This includes maintaining accurate stock valuations and reconciled positions, managing system integrations into the accounting environment, driving automation and process overhauls and acting as the primary Finance Business Partner to the commercial heads. This position requires an equal balance of deep technical accounting rigour and commercial, AI-driven strategic thinking.

Responsibilities:

• Full financial ownership of inventory
• Maintaining accurate, timely, and reconciled stock positions across all warehouses, fulfilment centres and in-transit nodes
• Managing and reporting on stock cost — including landed cost, cost of sales, provisions and write-downs
• Owning the month-end inventory close process
• Ensuring correct accounting treatment of all inventory movements and associated costs in line with IFRS, with specific application of IAS 2 (Inventories)
• Maintaining and continuously improving on internal controls over the full inventory cycle

WACP Management and Valuation:

• Managing, maintaining and updating Weighted Average Cost Price (WACP) calculations to ensure inventory is accurately valued at all times
• Owning the WACP automation project end-to-end: design, development, testing, and implementation of automated WACP calculation processes
• Investigating and resolving WACP discrepancies and ensuring alignment between operational stock systems and the accounting ledger
• Maintaining fully documented WACP calculation models with audit-ready supporting workings
• Owning fully landed cost prices and associated costs related to imported goods

System Integrations and Reconciliations:

• Managing and overseeing the stock integration between operational systems and the accounting system, ensuring accurate and timely posting of all stock transactions
• Investigating and resolving failed or erroneous stock integrations
• Working with IT, Data, and Operations teams to improve data quality and system integration architecture across all inventory touchpoints
• Building and maintaining automated reconciliation frameworks that flag exceptions in real time, without reliance on a fully integrated ERP

Stock Loss and Shrinkage:

• Identifying, quantifying and investigating stock losses across the fulfilment network
• Building robust loss-attribution frameworks — distinguish between theft, damage, system error and process failure
• Performing and reviewing shrinkage and obsolescence provision calculations; ensure all provisions are adequately supported, documented, and correctly recorded
• Partnering with Operations and Logistics to drive root cause resolution and financial recovery
• Tracking shrinkage trends and surface financial risk to leadership
• Providing support with the financial implications of stock positioning decisions — open-to-buy, liquidation, aged inventory and excess stock
• Providing financial modelling and scenario analysis to guide stock optimisation trade-offs: holding cost vs. markdown risk vs. stockout cost
• Monitoring and reporting on slow-moving, aged, and excess inventory — drive commercial conversations with Buyers and Category Managers
• Supporting budgeting and forecasting processes with robust inventory assumptions and cost modelling

Cost Management:

• Tracking and analysing all inventory-related costs: storage fees, inbound logistics, fulfilment costs allocated to inventory, write-offs and provisions
• Challenging cost structures and identifying savings opportunities
• Ensuring correct IFRS treatment of all inventory-related costs and movements

Reporting and Analytics:

• Designing and owning the inventory finance reporting suite — dashboards, KPI scorecards, exception reports, and executive-level summaries
• Building reporting infrastructure that works in the absence of a fully integrated ERP — using data pipelines and BI tools to connect fragmented data sources into coherent financial views
• Providing weekly, monthly, and ad hoc stock reporting to the Head of Finance, CFO and Commercial leadership
• Developing and maintaining comprehensive inventory health reporting: stock levels, movement, ageing, and risk

Audit and Compliance:

• Leading and managing the year-end stock count process: planning, coordination with operational teams, counting supervision, and full reconciliation of count results to accounting records
• Managing and responding to external and internal audit queries related to inventory — maintain audit-ready working papers and supporting documentation at all times
• Ensuring all inventory accounting policies and procedures are compliant and consistently applied
• Owning the inventory controls environment; designing and enforcing policies that prevent loss, misstatement and system error

Process Overhaul and Automation:

• Conducting a full audit of existing inventory finance processes — identifying manual, duplicated or high-risk steps
• Designing and implementing automated replacements: reconciliation bots, automated exception alerts, scheduled reporting pipelines, AI-assisted anomaly detection
• Championing a culture of continuous improvement
• Leading automation projects within the finance context from design through to implementation and handover
• Accurate and timely stock integration reconciliations between operational and accounting systems
• Fully documented and automated WACP calculation model
• IAS 2-compliant inventory accounting policies and procedures
• Monthly and year-end inventory financial reports
• Completed and fully reconciled stock count files
• Audit-ready working papers and responses to all audit queries
• Automated month-end inventory reporting packs
• Support and document shrinkage and obsolescence provision calculations
• Live inventory health dashboards and KPI scorecards for management and CFO

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field
• CA (SA) or CIMA advantageous
• Strong working knowledge of inventory management at scale-essential
• 4 to 7 years' experience in e-commerce, retail, FMCG, or a data-intensive commercial environment
• Demonstrable experience in inventory accounting, cost accounting, or supply chain finance
• Hands-on experience with stock and ERP system integrations and reconciliations
• Proven track record of working in environments without fully integrated ERP systems — you know how to build financial rigour from imperfect data
• Experience designing or managing automation projects within a finance context
• Experience as a Finance business partner to commercial or operational teams
• Advanced data analytics: SQL, Python (highly advantageous), Power BI / Looker / Tableau
• Experience building or working with data pipelines, API integrations, or automated reporting tools
• Familiarity with AI tools and their application in finance workflows: AI-assisted forecasting, anomaly detection, process automation
• Strong Excel and Google Sheets modelling skills
• Understanding of ERP and WMS integrations and data architecture is a strong advantage
• Solid understanding of inventory management principles