Senior Financial Analyst - Refinery

Astron Energy (Pty) Ltd.; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 600 000 - 900 000; Full time

Job summary

A leading petroleum supplier in South Africa is seeking a Senior Financial Analyst - Refinery to join their finance team in Cape Town. This key role involves preparing annual budgets, monthly forecasts, and financial assessments while ensuring gross margin reporting accuracy. The ideal candidate will have a CA (SA) or CIMA qualification, with at least 3 years of accounting experience, preferably within the oil and gas industry. Strong analytical, interpersonal, and problem-solving skills are essential. This position also supports team members and leads special projects as needed.

Qualifications

• Minimum 3 years post-qualification accounting experience; preference for 5+ years.
• External auditing experience preferred.
• Oil and gas or manufacturing experience preferred.

Responsibilities

• Prepare annual budgeting and forecasting for refinery performance.
• Perform monthly financial analysis of gross margin.
• Ensure accuracy of reporting in SAP.
• Support special finance projects and initiatives.
• Guide and mentor finance analysts.

Skills

Analytical skills

Interpersonal skills

Presentation skills

Problem-solving skills

Initiative

Education

Fully qualified CA (SA) or CIMA

Job description

Senior Financial Analyst - Refinery is a key member of the Refinery Finance Team with responsibilities for the preparation of the annual budgeting, monthly forecasting, and monthly reporting of refinery's business performance. The incumbent is also responsible for monthly financial analysis of refinery's gross margin, performing in-depth price and volume variance analysis of actuals vs budget/forecast. This role requires close collaboration with the refinery's gross margin planner in Business Excellence who prepares the gross margin budget/forecast. The incumbent supports special projects as they arise, performs deep‑diving analysis into various focus areas, leads continuous improvement initiatives obo Finance, provides training / guidance on finance matters to the various refinery departments and is the back‑up for the Refinery Finance Manager. The position interacts with all levels of staff at the Refinery and needs to be able to build collaborative relationships quickly, influence outcomes and drive for results.

Financial Perspective

• Gross Margin Analysis
  • Prepares monthly Gross Margin analysis of refinery production income vs business plan and reforecast expectations, including price and volume variance analysis with related commentaries.
  • Ensures accuracy of refinery transfer pricing entries in SAP through comparison to gross margin calculations.
  • Collates Availability and Utilisation and other KPIs from Commercial department for inclusion in monthly reporting and validates explanations provided for reasonability.
  • Responsible for ensuring accuracy of gross margin reporting in SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) system.
  • Coordinates the annual business plan and monthly reforecasting of refinery's gross margin.
  • Works side by side with refinery's gross margin planner to ensure deadlines are met and validates the inputs received from the gross margin planner to ensure accuracy.
  • When required, acts as interface between Oils Accounting and Refinery Commercial departments during month‑end, assisting in resolving discrepancies on product yields and driving month‑end to a close.
• Financial and Management Reporting
  • Prepares all required monthly, quarterly, and annual financial reports and variance analysis of actual results vs business plan/forecast for the refinery for submission to the FP&A.
  • Collates, validates, and reports on various refinery Key Performance Indicators monthly.
• Business Planning, Forecasting and Performance Reporting
  • Coordinates, consolidates, and prepares the presentation deck supporting the annual business plan for the refinery business unit.
  • Ensure the business plan is reasonable by conducting analysis and facilitating discussions with department heads and challenging their proposed business plans.
  • Coordinates, consolidates, and prepares the presentation deck supporting the monthly reforecast for the refinery business unit.
  • Responsible for the submission of the annual business plan/monthly forecast into SAP Analytics Cloud system and validation of accuracy of final product.
  • Attends monthly Business Teams' performance meetings as Finance representative responsible for explaining gross margin and fuel cost KPIs.
• CAPEX reporting
  • Reviews capex reporting prepared by the Refinery Capex planner for reasonability and supports Refinery Capex planner with guidance to ensure that reporting requirements to stakeholders are met.
• Customer Perspective
  • Supports the reporting requirements to shareholders, EXCO, RLT and other refinery stakeholders.
  • Leads the finance presentation at the monthly business performance governance meeting.
  • Represents Finance in the Extended Leadership Team at Refinery.
  • Will be sought out to support Refinery initiatives and priorities from a financial perspective from time to time.
• Internal Processes
  • Special Projects
    • Participate in special projects as directed by Refinery Finance Manager.
    • Projects may require economic/decision analysis, guidance on accounting policy, and internal control assessments and guidance.
    • Projects are generally focused on continuous improvement initiatives.
  • Month‑end Coordination
    • Prepare, distribute, and coordinate/manage the refinery's monthly reporting schedule to ensure all deadlines are met.
  • Ad‑hoc queries
    • Support the business in resolution of complex vendor/payment queries and act as interface between refinery business unit and Procurement and Accounts Payable departments.
    • Assist the business with SAP data requests.
    • Support the Refinery Finance Manager with resolving queries from CoCT, ESKOM, TNPA and other bills that are sent directly to Refinery Finance team.
    • Support the Refinery Finance Manager in providing oversight over the Refinery Warehouse's adherence to internal controls for warehouse inventory, ensuring compliance is achieved with UKCR and AE's accounting policy.
  • People Management
    • As senior member of the refinery finance team this role is expected to guide, coach, and support the analysts in the team and assist them with the resolution of any complex queries.
    • Actively influence the Refinery Leadership Team (RLT) and Extended Leadership Team (ELT) at the refinery on finance‑related initiatives and objectives.
    • Stand‑in for the Refinery Finance Manager as and when required.
    • May be required to review manual journals and account reconciliations of opex analysts on ad‑hoc basis.

Minimum Qualifications and Experience required

Fully qualified CA (SA) or CIMA
Minimum of 3 years' post qualification accounting experience essential.
Preference will be given to candidates with 5+ years.
External auditing experience strongly preferred.
Oil and gas industry or similar manufacturing experience strongly preferred.
Strong analytical and problem‑solving skills.
Strong interpersonal and presentation skills.
Ability to take initiative and grow with the business.

Application Details

Application deadline: 04 January
Astron Energy is a leading supplier of petroleum products in South Africa, with a vast network of Caltex‑branded service stations that make us one of the country's top two petroleum brands.
We are strongly committed to being a responsible corporate citizen, promoting education, health and economic development in an effort to build stronger communities and drive sustainable economic growth.
We own and operate the country's third‑largest crude oil refinery in Cape Town, which has a capacity of , barrels a day, and a lubricants manufacturing plant in Durban.
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