Assistant Finance Manager

Department: Finance

Location: Johannesburg

As an Assistant Finance Manager, you will play a crucial role in managing and maintaining the financial records of a Hub withing the Sumer Group. Working closely with the internal finance team based in the UK - you will be responsible for the preparation of management accounts, supporting budgeting, forecasting and variance analysis, assist with group reporting and consolidation activities, support the preparation of annual statutory accounts and audit requirements, and manage a finance team. You'll also provide insightful financial analysis to support the firm’s leadership in decision-making.

This is an excellent opportunity for someone who enjoys understanding how businesses operate, is naturally curious, and likes turning financial data into meaningful insight. You are comfortable working in a fast-moving environment, enjoys improving processes, and are confident in building relationships with stakeholders across different teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Assist with the preparation of monthly management accounts
• Prepare monthly journals, including accruals, prepayments and adjustments.
• Perform balance sheet reconciliations and investigate reconciling items.
• Support month-end and year-end close processes to ensure accurate and timely reporting.
• Produce monthly KPI reports and performance dashboards using financial and operational data.
• Analyse financial performance, identify trends and provide meaningful commentary to support decision-making.
• Support budgeting, forecasting and variance analysis.
• Assist with group reporting and consolidation activities.
• Work closely with operational stakeholders to understand business performance and provide financial insight.
• Support the preparation of annual statutory accounts and audit requirements.
• Identify opportunities to improve finance processes, controls and reporting efficiencies.
• Assist with financial modelling and ad hoc commercial analysis as required.
• Contribute to finance transformation initiatives, including reporting automation and continuous improvement projects.

Skills, Knowledge & Expertise

• Qualified Accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA, SAICA CA(SA), SAIPA or equivalent)
• Approximately 2–4 years' post-qualification experience.
• Experience preparing monthly management accounts.
• Strong understanding of month-end accounting processes.
• Experience with balance sheet reconciliations, journals and financial reporting.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills.
• Experience using cloud accounting systems such as Xero.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Highly organised with strong attention to detail.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and meet deadlines.

Additional

• Experience within professional services.
• Group consolidation experience.
• Experience with budgeting and forecasting
• Power BI or other data visualisation tools.
• Experience supporting finance process improvement initiatives.