Group Finance Manager

The Legends Agency; Wes-Kaap; Hybrid; ZAR 700,000 - 900,000; Full time

Job summary

A dynamic financial services group is seeking a Finance Manager to lead finance functions across multiple entities in South Africa and the UK. This role focuses on multi-currency management and requires strong technical accounting skills, as well as experience in financial compliance across the two jurisdictions. The successful candidate will oversee a small, high-performing team and ensure timely delivery of financial reports. Hybrid working is available with 3 days required at the Cape Town office.

Qualifications

• Proven experience managing finance for multiple businesses or clients.
• Familiar with financial requirements in the UK and South Africa.
• Strong experience with multi-currency accounting (GBP, ZAR, USD, EUR).

Responsibilities

• Manage day-to-day finance functions for multiple entities.
• Prepare management accounts and oversee month-end processes.
• Ensure accurate invoicing and credit control.

Skills

Strong technical accounting knowledge

Team management and motivation

High proficiency in Xero and Excel

Education

Fully qualified in Finance

Tools

Xero

Job description

Working Pattern: Office-based 3 days per week

Location: Cape Town, South Africa (Hybrid)

Group Structure & Scope

The successful candidate will oversee the day to day finance function for five distinct entities across the UK and South Africa. This is a fast growing group that has grown over 300% in the last 12 months and will be close to R500m turnover in 2026.

The Role

Our client is seeking a robust and commercially minded Finance Manager to take ownership of the finance function across our group. Reporting directly to the Head of department. You will manage the books for the Holding companies (UK & SA) while acting as the operational controller for operating companies.

This is a quite complex, multi‑currency role. We operate with GBP, ZAR, USD, and EUR, so experience of managing intercompany loans, recharges, and FX exposures will be important. We need a hands‑on problem solver who can drive tight internal processes, remain calm under time pressure and drive a team to hit tight deadlines.

Key Objectives

• The “1st of the Month” Deadline: Ensure management accounts are finalised and delivered by COB on the 1st working day of the month for the previous month across all five entities.
• Intercompany Mastery: Maintain accurately reconciled intercompany balances between the UK and SA entities.
• Team Management: Actively manage the team to ensure the transactional engine (Bank Recon/AP/AR/Payroll) runs without delays or error.

Core Responsibilities

1. Group Financial Reporting

• Monthly Close: Oversee the preparation of Management Accounts for all entities.
• Mid‑Month Discipline: Implement strict mid‑month reconciliation procedures to ensure the month‑end close is a final review rather than a scramble.
• Consolidation & Intercompany: Manage the intercompany balances and intercompany billing. Ensure loans and recharges between our entities are accurately recorded and eliminated.

2. Operational Finance

• International Invoicing: Ensure accurate invoicing for clients paying in USD and EUR, alongside standard GBP/ZAR operations.
• Process Design and Optimisation: You must work with the operations and technical team to ensure the financial processes are robust, automated and scalable enough to handle the volume of customer invoices and payroll.
• Credit Control: Take ultimate responsibility for the Accounts Receivable ledger. Ensure the team is actively chasing invoices to minimise debtor days.

3. Team Management

• Manage a lean, high performing team: Ensure the team are supported, nurtured and encouraged to maintain high performance levels alongside achieving their personal development and growth objectives.
• Accountability: Ensure deadlines are hit.
• Continuous Accounting: Mentor the team to move away from "month‑end panic" to a workflow where books are kept up to date as we go.

Requirements

Essential:

• Qualifications: Fully qualified.
• Working Pattern: Must be willing to work from the Cape Town office 3 days per week.

Experience:

• Proven experience managing the finance function for a Group of businesses (multi‑entity experience is essential), or in practice with multiple clients.
• Has worked across clients in the UK and South Africa and/or within a business with entities in both jurisdictions, and therefore a working knowledge of financial requirements in both the UK and South Africa.
• Strong experience with multi‑currency accounting (GBP, ZAR, USD, EUR exposure is a strong plus).

Skills:

• Strong technical accounting knowledge.
• Desire and ability to manage and motivate a team.
• High proficiency in accounting software (we use Xero) and Excel.

Highly Advantageous

• SA Compliance: Strong working knowledge of South African compliance requirements, including but not limited to VAT, PAYE, and other SARS filing obligations.