Johannesburg: Management and Cost Accountant posted by Palesa Mbali Group

Purpose of the Role

The Management & Cost Accountant is responsible for producing accurate management accounts and financial reports, analysing costs and margins, and supporting budgeting and forecasting processes. The role provides meaningful financial insights to senior management to support decision-making and drives cost optimisation initiatives to improve operational and production efficiency and overall business performance.

Key Responsibilities

• Prepare monthly management accounts, management reports and KPI dashboards, including detailed variance analysis.
• Perform detailed variance analysis, interpreting financial and operational drivers and providing clear commentary to senior management.
• Process month-end journals, accruals and provisions to ensure accurate and complete financial records.
• Prepare and review monthly reconciliations for the general ledger, bank and cashbook, suppliers, customers, inventory and fixed assets.
• Support group reporting requirements, including alignment to IFRS and Italian GAAP where applicable.
• Lead and support month-end and year-end close processes, including stock takes and inventory valuations.
• Prepare monthly expense reports, annual OPEX budgets, rolling forecasts and long-term financial plans.
• Monitor operational, production and cost centre expenditure against budget; analyse variances and recommend corrective actions.
• Perform detailed cost and margin analysis, including standard costing, BOM accuracy, labour costs, production variances and cost optimisation initiatives.
• Analyse machinery utilisation, cycle times, throughput and downtime, translating operational performance into financial insight.
• Partner with production and engineering teams to understand manufacturing processes, identify inefficiencies and recommend cost optimisation initiatives.
• Support and lead stock takes, inventory valuation and work-in-progress (WIP) analysis within a complex production environment.
• Coordinate annual budgeting, forecasting and five-year planning processes in line with strategic objectives.
• Prepare, review and process payment runs and review supplier reconciliations prior to payment approval.
• Maintain and manage the Fixed Asset Register, including acquisitions, capitalisation, depreciation, disposals and CAPEX tracking.
• Prepare and submit VAT returns, manage SARS queries, and support PAYE, UIF, SDL and provisional tax processes where required.
• Support foreign exchange and multi-currency transactions, including exchange rate variance analysis and assessment of FX impact on pricing, margins and forecasts.
• Review and update pricing structures across business units to reflect cost, margin, market and exchange rate movements.
• Prepare business cases, tender submissions and funding proposals to support short- and long-term financing decisions.
• Liaise with internal and external auditors, prepare audit files and support statutory, compliance and governance requirements.
• Ensure adherence to internal controls, accounting policies, procedures and risk management frameworks.
• Review, develop and improve finance processes and systems to enhance efficiency, accuracy and compliance.
• Partner with operational, production and sales teams to provide financial insight and decision support.
• Perform ad hoc finance-related duties as required by the Financial Manager

Minimum Requirements

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Commerce or Diploma in Financial Management, Management Accounting or Cost Management.
• Completed CIMA articles (advantageous).

Experience

• Minimum 5 years relevant experience, with strong exposure to management accounting, cost analysis and budgeting.
• Exposure to foreign exchange and multi-currency accounting (advantageous).
• ERP system experience (advantageous).

Technical Skills

• Advanced Excel proficiency.
• Strong understanding of financial, management and cost accounting principles.
• Working knowledge of budgeting, forecasting, cash flow management and cost control.
• Sound knowledge of tax, accounting standards and compliance requirements.

Competencies and Attributes

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to interpret financial data in a business context.
• Proven ability to perform accurate reconciliations across multiple accounts.
• High attention to detail, accuracy and sound professional judgement.
• Ability to monitor financial performance and investigate variances
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to engage confidently with finance and non-finance stakeholders.
• Proactive, deadline-driven and able to work independently while collaborating effectively within a team.