Technical Accounting Specialist

Empowering Africa’s tomorrow, together one story at a time. - With over 100 years of rich history and strongly positioned as a local bank with regional and international expertise, a career with our family offers the opportunity to be part of this exciting growth journey, to reset our future and shape our destiny as a proudly African group. Job Summary The main purpose of the role is to provide technical accounting and regulatory support on complex transactions originating from a variety of businesses. Job Description Key Accountabilities Changes in accounting standards & accounting issue - Stay up to date with accounting guidance and developments by subscribing to International Accounting Standards Board ("IASB"), South African Institute of Chartered Accountants ("SAICA") etc and communication of these upfront to the Business Units. - Assess the impact of new accounting developments on the business unit and manage the implementation thereof by preparing technical accounting opinions; assisting in opening new general ledger (GL) accounts which are appropriately mapped to Exco codes; by getting appropriate approval and signoff from business units managers and external auditors. - Inform the relevant Group Financial Reporting ("GFR") note owner of accounting changes that might affect their notes disclosures in the annual financial statements (AFS) to enable them to critically assess the impact on their notes for accuracy and compliance with IFRS. - Identify possible accounting issues within the business units which may result in inaccurate financial reporting and actively drive the process in resolving these issues by continuous communication with the business units and assisting the business unit in finding practical solutions to address these. - Perform thorough and detailed assessments on any technical accounting matters identified so as to limit the time required from the auditors on investigating transactions potentially incorrectly accounted for in terms of IFRS and group accounting policies. - Communicate proactively and continuously with business to discuss issues and concerns that might arise to ensure potential incorrect accounting for transactions in terms of IFRS and group accounting policies are addressed. - Respond to queries from business in a timely manner on i.e. accounting treatment queries to ensure potential accounting issues are resolved within a reasonable time frame. - Inform business of any International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") related issues that might affect them by staying up to date on any accounting developments by monitoring the communications from the IASB and SAICA to ensure these are appropriately taken into account by business for financial reporting purposes. - Inform GFR of any issues within respective clusters when queries are raised by business. - Resolve any business related issues within respective clusters which note owners/GFR experience. - Minimise any issues that clusters experience for year-end by following up and resolving issues identified on a timely basis and reviewing list of outstanding technical accounting issues as logged on SharePoint. Accounting support including new product developments - Provide guidance to the business unit on completing supplementary schedules required by GFR. Also review these schedules for accuracy and completeness. - Assist business units in drafting separate company financial statements for group subsidiaries and assist in completing and submitting to Group Secretariat within 6 months from the year-end. - Act as point of contact between GFR and the business unit for any reporting related and technical queries. - Inform relevant note owners on any product related developments as part of the New Product Approval process. - Collate information relating to new products, prepare technical accounting opinion and assist the business unit with the implementation thereof - Provide support to note owners on any technical accounting matters encountered. - Provide technical accounting support that is practical by relying on own technical accounting expertise and knowledge. - Keep updated with any developments on new products launched based on products coming through the New Product Approval Process and ensure timeous accounting assessment of new products. - Ensure what is suggested to business in a technical paper is properly implemented by the business units (i.e. reviewing relevant G/L accounts and Exco codes that have been opened and are used accordingly) - Obtain and understanding of how the product /technical issue affects other business units in the bank (i.e. interdivisional entries that should net off on consolidation). - Liaise with the consolidations team and the respective note owners with regards to problems that might occur, so that they are aware of potential issues which should be escalated and resolved. Financial reporting - Review Over The Top journals processed on behalf of the Business Unit on a month