Principal Specialist Business Excellence (Asset & Lease Accounting)

Principal Specialist Business Excellence (Asset & Lease Accounting)

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Role Purpose: The Business Excellence team within the Group International Business is responsible for delivering the Africa hub centralisation of the COE for FinOps.

The team's value proposition:

1. Process Excellence: Efficiency and effectiveness of business processes and systems.
2. Governance and Controls: Design and implement risk management and controls to ensure compliance.
3. Innovation: Define and implement strategic and transformational targets leveraging technology and best practices.
4. Financial Value: Support operational and accounting teams, ensuring integrity and compliance of financial reporting.

To be successful, the individual will have a solid understanding of Asset & Lease Accounting systems across an integrated systems landscape, which incorporates several complementary business solutions and their respective interfaces. They will enjoy problem solving and understand performance metrics for world-class organizations and compliance (such as Internal Audit, Sox).

They will support the FinOps International Business team across African Opcos, interacting with Shared Service centres, Corporate Services, Group Financial processes, local markets leadership teams, Internal and External Audit.

Your responsibilities will include:

1. Financial Reporting Assurance: Leadership in risk management, internal controls, and operational efficiency in Asset and Lease Accounting.
2. Strategic oversight, cross-function collaboration, and continuous improvement on assurance frameworks.
3. Drive adherence to IFRS and Vodacom accounting standards.
4. Identify, assess, and mitigate financial risks by ensuring accuracy and integrity of the balance sheet through meticulous reconciliation and verification.
5. Effectively drive action plans on aged/unidentified balances with account owners/head of finance.
6. Develop process compliance frameworks: Follow up on identified control and audit risks and propose changes to relevant policies.
7. Deliver control review activities in accordance with SOX regulations and Vodafone Group policies.
8. Develop and implement risk mitigation strategies, including process improvements and internal control enhancements.
9. Monitor and report on the effectiveness of risk mitigation measures.
10. Coordinate with internal auditors and Group Risk, ensuring smooth audits and timely resolution of findings.
11. Drive the implementation of changes required due to regulations.
12. Manage the execution of strategic projects, ensuring stakeholder buy-in and minimal disruption.
13. Develop and implement communication plans to keep stakeholders informed of progress.
14. Drive business case development and return on investment.
15. Performance Management and Reporting: Enhance financial reporting processes to provide real-time insights.
16. Drive data-driven decision making in financial operations.
17. Regularly monitor and report on performance against KPIs, providing insights and recommendations for improvement.
18. Analyse data to identify trends and opportunities for service optimisation.
19. Champion a data-driven culture within the finance department.
20. Develop and implement dashboards and reporting systems that provide real-time financial visibility.
21. Partner with data analysts to extract valuable insights from financial data.
22. Stakeholder Management: Build strong relationships with key stakeholders across the organisation.
23. Collaborate with stakeholders to identify and drive the development of solutions.
24. Effectively communicate the value and impact of service delivery initiatives.
25. Proactively address stakeholder concerns and ensure satisfaction with service quality.

The ideal candidate for this role will have:

1. Chartered Accountant (Essential)
2. SAP certification (Desirable)
3. Minimum of 10+ years relevant experience in a finance environment (Essential)
4. Performance Management and Reporting experience
5. Experience working across multinational environments

Job Related Skills:

1. SAP ERP knowledge
2. Project Planning
3. System implementation experience
4. Excellent facilitation skills
5. Communication - written or oral
6. Planning
7. Change management
8. Aptitude for fostering positive relationships
9. Problem solving
10. Teamwork
11. Operational excellence and attention to detail
12. Ability to adapt quickly in a new environment
13. Ability to communicate financial information with non-finance employees

Job Knowledge:

1. Knowledge of Finance Operations in a Shared Service centre
2. Knowledge of Key performance indicators used within the organisation
3. SOX & IFRS specifically in Lease and Asset Accounting
4. Excellent SAP & HFM skills
5. Understand business impact of local and global initiatives/projects
6. Technical knowledge/experience of related systems

We make an impact by offering:

1. Enticing incentive programs and competitive benefit packages
2. Retirement funds, risk benefits, and medical aid benefits
3. Cell phone and data benefits, advantages fibre connection discounts, and exclusive staff discounts

The base location for this role is Midrand, Vodacom Campus. The company's approved Employment Equity Plan and Targets will be considered as part of the recruitment process.

As an Equal Opportunities employer, we actively encourage and welcome people with various disabilities to apply. Vodacom is committed to an organisational culture that recognises, appreciates, and values diversity & inclusion.

At Vodacom, you will have access to our excellent flexible benefits programme that you would expect from any global company.