Detail of services and skills provided

• Hold weekly meetings with debtor’s staff.
• Interact with debtor’s clerks on a daily basis and assist in chasing higher-level debts.
• Approve all new accounts.
• Ensure all the reference checking is done and for debts over R 10 K, do an ITC check.
• Ensure that the debtor’s recon is done between the general ledger and debtor’s module.
• Inform the debtor’s staff of debt collection targets.
• Continue to find innovative ways of reducing overdue debt as lower debtors means more profit.

Creditors:

• Authorize payments.
• Ensure that payments agree to creditor’s ledger and have been authorized.
• Do spot checks to ensure that all payments have the relevant order/invoice and proof of delivery.
• Ensure that quotes are obtained for capital purchases.
• Oversee the purchasing and ensure that the creditor’s clerk is checking each expense twice a year to see that we are buying at the best prices.
• Create awareness of purchasing at the lowest value amongst all staff, without trying to control what they spend, and instead ensuring that it is obtained at the best price.

Stock and Warehousing:

• Monitor stock levels on a monthly basis.
• Send out a quarterly stock report to all managers and highlight slow moving stock.
• Manage obsolete stock with additional holding costs.
• Ensure that the accounting software program is correctly recording stock costs by doing spot checks and also checking the gross margin report on a regular basis.
• Manage performance - asking customer services to keep record of poor service performance.
• Checking the monthly expenses to ensure that the business we do not get overcharged.
• Overseeing the annual stock take and investigating variances.
• To set a variance limit and do a detailed investigation of variances outside that limit.

Cash Flow:

• Monitor cash flows weekly by checking on bank balances and deciding on what strategy to take.
• Ensure that all bank recons are done.

Yearly Audit:

• Prepare all the year-end schedules for the auditors.
• Ensure all the prep work is done prior to the auditors arriving.
• Liaise with the auditors throughout the year.
• Ensure that there is an unqualified audit report and, if required, perform internal audits.
• Ensure that all issues on the Audit Management report are resolved timorously.
• Focused time dedicated to the two-week and answering/investigating all queries.
• Review the audit plan on a regular basis and perform internal control checks.

Gross Margin Report:

• Generate this report on a monthly basis.
• The reports are generated in the following ways: by title, 1 by region, 1 by category.
• The Financial Manager investigates the reports and highlight variances to management.

Monthly Local Accounts:

• Ensure that the monthly management accounts are prepared prior to the board meetings and accuracy of the data is checked.
• Inform the board of the reasons for variances to budget and advice on measures to be taken.

Board Responsibilities:

• Advise the board on all financial issues and advise on financial strategy regarding future profitability and working capital issues.
• Advise the board on external influences affecting the business from a financial perspective.
• Take an interest in future sales and assist in creating awareness of future forecasting.
• Drive the 3-year business plan and track progress against this plan.
• Involvement in overall branch strategy and advice on the financial impact of the strategies.
• Perform project evaluations for asset purchases and future projects.
• Business valuations
• Responsible for drafting contracts, for example, when the branch purchases new businesses.
• Responsible for ensuring that all statutory returns are accurate and timeously submitted.
• The tax return in particular is very important

General Ledger Recons:

• Ensure that all general ledger recons are completed monthly by the accounting staff. The FD needs to keep the MD informed of accruals and provisions as this assists the MD in decision-making.

Staff:

• Ensure that staff files are kept updated.
• Staff strategy, salary surveys, succession planning and ensuring that staff remains motivated.
• Keep all staff informed of the financial progress of the Branch as well as all projects that the branch is undertaking.
• Assist in assessing the training requirements of all staff.
• Assist staff on Pension, Medical Aid, and tax issues.
• Innovate by coming up with staff initiatives and projects.
• Ensure that the Staff Policy guide is updated annually or whenever there are major external or internal changes.

Budgeting and Forecasting:

• Responsible for the entire budgeting process
• Driving all the involved staff to submit information that is as accurate as possible.
• Ensuring that the budget does not restrict growth
• Sharing insight into business in order to advise on budget progress

• Continuously innovating to ensure that new projects are undertaken to increase profitability and sustain long-term growth of the business.
• Finding new ways of saving on costs, doing things more efficiently to grow revenues.
• Taking the role of a company secretary and ensuring that the company complies with the Companies Act.
• Ensuring that the business acts in a responsible manner.
• Keeping good relationships with third parties including debtors, creditors, bankers, and insurance providers, SARS, auditors and any other parties where there are contractual responsibilities.