Head of Finance and Administration - Ernst & Young

As Practice Head of Finance and Administration, you’ll work with the leadership team to develop and execute the strategic plans for all finance-related and other admin matters for the business. You’ll also review, prepare, and consolidate the annual forecast and outlooks, carry out variance analysis, and financial reporting on revenue, expenses, and profitability.

You’ll also help with inventory management and control. Acting as a leader for Practice Finance, you’ll work closely with Financial Management associate leaders and associates. You’ll be the primary financial counsel and business advisor to the organization and the managing partner.In this role, you’ll work independently, with little direct supervision.

Responsibilities

The responsibilities you will perform include:

• Leadership of the finance and admin team
• Lead and mentor the finance and admin team, fostering a culture of continuous improvement, accountability, and professional development.
• Provide guidance and support to team members to enhance their skills and capabilities
• Ensuring financial reporting and regulatory compliance including:
• Supervising the preparation and presentation of accurate and timely financial reports, including income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements.

• Ensuring compliance with relevant accounting standards, regulatory requirements, and internal policies.
• Ensuring compliance with relevant tax, financial reporting and other regulations affecting the organization’s financial reporting requirements.
• Coordinating and managing annual financial statements audit and relationships with external auditors to ensure audited financial statements are produced and filed timely
• Staying abreast with changes in financial regulations and industry best practices and ensuring the organization adhere to these changing regulatory requirements.
• Operations management
• Collaborate with the leadership team to develop and execute financial strategies aligned with the organization’s growth objectives.
• Oversee and coordinate the process for budgeting, monitoring of budget to actual performances, preparing variance reports and driving implementation of remedial action plans. Prepare, review, and consolidate annual budgets and outlooks for a sub-service line
• Take charge of the day-to-day financial operations, including accounting, billing, collections, and financial transactions and ensuring the accuracy and integrity of financial data and records.
• Supervise month-end profit and loss (P&L) close
• Oversee daily accounting and reporting functions that take place within the organization
• Oversee the implementation risk management strategies to safeguard the company’s financial assets and mitigate potential risks. Assess and manage financial risks, including credit risk, market risk, and liquidity risk
• Oversee the payment process including payroll, ensuring expenditure items are adequately supported and duly approved

Other Responsibilities

• Help drive key organizational initiatives that involve process or procedural change
• Produce ad hoc reports to help monitor key performance measures for the practice
• Maintain high employee morale, by encouraging teamwork and building strong internal and external client relationships
• Create and implement leading practices for improving processes
• Help prepare and analyze confidential information
• Act as the primary contact for client service personnel in resolving problems or issues for assigned practices

Knowledge And Skills Requirements

• Previous experience managing the end-to-end finance function including financial statements close process, tax compliance and annual financial statements audits
• Ability to determine the root cause for variances in actual results versus budget and previous year, and to communicate these reasons clearly
• Adept at using business knowledge to make recommendations, and suggest ways to improve or change financial results
• Confident in identifying and raising concerns to leaders, regarding variances or situations with a material threshold
• Good aptitude for solving complex financial and analytical issues
• Ability to develop accurate financial budgets
• Competent at preparing and presenting accurate statements or pro-forma analysis, as business needs change
• Knowledgeable on how professional services firms generate and recognize revenue, measure utilization and productivity of resources, and accurately calculate the value of unbilled client receivables
• Excellent software skills, including Microsoft Excel, Word, Access, PowerPoint, Internet Explorer and Lotus Notes
• Strong leadership, presentation, and problem-solving skills
• Comfortable with change that results from frequent business re-organizations
• Skilled at handling multiple projects concurrently, and prioritizing appropriately
• Ability to gain the respect of both the finance community and client-serving teams
• Comfortable working with individuals at all levels within the organization
• Competent at interpreting and applying Ernst & Young policies, giving accurate and consistent guidance to others
• A strong focus on quality and efficiency
• English language skills – excellent written and verbal communication

Experience

• 6 or more years of experience in leading a finance and admin function
• At least 3 years of experience preferred in the following: supervisory, forecasting and budgeting, financial management, financial analyst and/or financial assistant roles
• Experience in professional services environment in a finance/business capacity is highly desirable

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field
• Professional accounting certification such as ICA, ACCA
• Professional qualification in taxation such as CIT will be an added advantage