Senior Project Accountant

C40 Cities; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 600,000 - 800,000; Full time

Job summary

C40 Cities is seeking a Senior Project Accountant to support financial oversight and reporting for their diverse project portfolio. This role requires strong project accounting skills, including budgeting and financial planning, combined with an ability to communicate complex financial data effectively. The ideal candidate will possess CA(SA) qualification and extensive experience in high-change environments.

Qualifications

• 8-10+ years’ experience in a senior financial role with exposure to project accounting.
• Thorough understanding of financial planning, budgeting, forecasting.
• Proven experience partnering with change management or transformation teams.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with project managers on business cases following internal guidelines.
• Generate detailed multi-year financial reports with the Change team.
• Track and report financial benefits from projects.

Skills

Financial planning

Budgeting

Forecasting

Cost allocation principles

Change management

Interpersonal skills

Attention to detail

Education

CA(SA) or equivalent

Tools

Power BI

Tableau

Digital dashboards

Job description

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Senior Project Accountant to join a leading global private equity and investment advisory firm in Cape Town.

As the Senior Project Accountant sitting at the heart of both Finance and Change, you will have the chance to make a significant impact on financial reporting, oversight and control across a diverse project portfolio.

The Senior Project Accountant will play a pivotal role in enhancing transparency, accuracy and discipline within financial planning and reporting processes, ensuring that business decisions are always underpinned by robust data and clear business cases.

Key qualifications and experience required for the Senior Project Accountant :

• Fully qualified CA(SA) or equivalent
• 8 - 10+ years’ experience in a senior financial role with substantial exposure to project accounting, portfolio reporting or change finance
• Thorough understanding of financial planning, budgeting, forecasting, cost allocation principles and their application in large-scale environments
• Proven experience partnering effectively with change management or transformation teams (including PMO)
• Advanced skills in developing digital dashboards or visualisations using relevant tools (such as Power BI or Tableau) would be advantageous

Key duties of the Senior Project Accountant:

• Collaborate with project managers to create and validate business cases that adhere to internal expenditure guidelines.
• Work with the Change team to generate detailed multi-year financial reports, distinguishing cash flow from profit and loss impacts.
• Serve as a liaison between Change and Finance to ensure project-related operating costs are accurately reflected in annual budgets.
• Develop processes and tools to monitor project spending against forecasts, highlighting significant deviations for timely decisions.
• Lead or support the annual budgeting process for change initiatives, ensuring consistency and transparency across projects.
• Track and report on financial benefits from projects to inform accurate profit and loss planning and monitor benefit realisation.
• Create digital dashboards and visualisations for timely and insightful financial reporting to stakeholders.
• Define and implement standardised financial processes and controls for project accounting to drive improvement.
• Build trust with senior stakeholders by clearly communicating complex financial data for informed decision-making.
• Contribute to policy development to enhance governance around project accounting practices.

Key personal skills:

• Exceptional attention to detail combined with the ability to distil complex financial data into actionable insights for non-financial audiences
• Outstanding interpersonal skills that enable you to build trust-based relationships with senior stakeholders across multiple functions
• Display comfort operating within high-change environments characterised by ambiguity while maintaining composure under pressure
• Demonstrate commitment to continuous improvement through active participation in process development or policy enhancement initiatives

If you are a dynamic finance professional eager to join a prestigious private equity and investment advisory firm, we invite you to explore this impactful role. You will ensure meticulous management of all project accounting aspects while promoting a culture of collaboration and shared success. Please contact us to discuss this exciting opportunity further.