Financial Manager (Costing)

Authentic Life Connections; Gauteng; On-site; ZAR 1,100,000 - 1,200,000; Full time

Job summary

Authentic Life Connections in Gauteng seeks a seasoned Costing & Payables Lead to own the South African cost base across all units. You will interrogate the general ledger monthly, ensure correct classifications, and sign off major cost categories.

Responsibilities include running end-to-end AP, maintaining three-way matches, and driving cost discipline across the business. The role requires strong costing, ledger, and people-management skills in a high-volume environment.

Qualifications

• CA(SA), CIMA, or a BCom Honours graduate with proven costing/payables experience.
• 3+ years in a senior costing/payables role with ability to challenge senior managers.

Responsibilities

• Own SA cost base across all cost centres and business units; ensure accurate attribution.
• Interrogate general ledger monthly to correct misclassifications and align costs to periods and accounts.
• Sign off major cost categories (fuel, fleet, linehaul, subcontractor).
• Turn monthly cost reviews into narratives for each business unit, not just spreadsheets.
• Develop and refine costing models; propose improvements where needed.
• Advise other international divisions on costing approach and practice.
• Run end-to-end accounts payable processes; ensure three-way matching and reconciliations.
• Manage creditor reconciliations and keep AP ageing under control.
• Oversee payment runs with proper approvals and segregation of duties.
• Ensure accrual accuracy at month-end and avoid double counting.
• Push back on budget overruns and drive cost discipline across units.
• Step in for CFO on cost and payables; lead and grow AP/creditors team.

Skills

Costing

Payables

General ledger

Month-end close

Costing models

Team leadership

Budget discipline

Excel

ERP systems

Education

CA(SA) / CIMA / BCom(Hons)

Tools

Excel

ERP systems

Job description

Duties and Responsibilities

• Take full ownership of the South African cost base, working across every cost centre and business unit to keep spend accurate, complete and correctly attributed.
• Interrogate the general ledger each month, catching and correcting misclassifications so costs land in the right period and account.
• Sign off the major cost categories personally, from fuel and fleet through to linehaul, subcontractor and other significant spend lines.
• Turn the monthly cost review into a story for each business unit rather than a spreadsheet: what moved, and why.
• Build, challenge and refine the costing models used across the business, and put forward changes where the current approach falls short.
• Advise finance teams in the group's other international divisions on costing approach and practice.
• Run accounts payable from end to end, from the moment an invoice arrives to the day it's paid.
• Hold the line on three way matching between purchase orders, receipts and invoices.
• Keep creditor and supplier reconciliations current, chasing down and closing out differences before they become a problem.
• Control the AP ageing and payment runs, with proper approvals and segregation of duties built in.
• Get month-end accruals right: nothing missed, nothing double counted, everything reconciled back to source.
• Push back on the business when spend runs off budget, and make cost discipline stick across every unit.
• Step in for the CFO on cost and payables matters whenever needed, and lead and grow the accounts payable and creditors team already in place.

Desired Experience and Qualifications

• CA(SA), CIMA, or a BCom Honours graduate with a proven track record in costing and payables.
• 3+ years experience in a senior position and can challenge other senior managers on costing.
• Substantial hands‑on experience in accounts payable and creditors, covering reconciliations, matching controls and payment processes in a high transaction volume setting.
• Solid cost and management accounting skills, with a track record of genuinely owning a cost base rather than simply processing transactions within it.
• Confident building and interrogating costing models, with the judgement to challenge and improve what's already in place rather than just maintain it.
• Rigorous general ledger and month‑end habits, covering accrual completeness, cut‑off accuracy and reconciliations.
• Experience managing a team, ideally one already established and functioning.
• The confidence and credibility to push back on operational cost owners and hold business units accountable for what they spend.
• Advantageous: experience in a high volume, multi‑site operational cost environment; exposure to costing across multiple countries or divisions; comfort working with subcontractor and owner driver cost structures; strong systems know‑how and advanced Excel skills.
• Preferred industry exposure is manufacturing, FMCG, Logistics, Construction, industry that has extensive contract costing.

Remuneration

R1 100 000 to R1 200 000 per annum, cost to company.