Head of Finance   Personal skills

Job description

MAIN PURPOSE

To lead the finance department and monitor all the financial activities of the company ensuring timely and accurate accounting, reporting, Group and IAS compliance, and continuous process improvement.

 

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

 

Strategy and Leadership

·  Advise the COO in making sound financial decisions in accordance with Group & IAS-accepted practices.
·  Be an effective and reliable business partner to the Brands and other local Richemont departments.
·  As a member of the Executive Committee, participate in the development and implementation of Company goals, policies, priorities, and procedures.
·  Proactively provide financial advice, direction, and leadership, with the objective to improve the performance and contribute to the achievement of the brands’, Richemont departments, and the company’s targets.
·  Keep abreast of changes in financial regulations and legislation.
·  Assist in the formulation of local strategic and tactical business plans.

 

Budgets

·  Drive the annual budget process and discussions and deploy key decisions.
·  Responsible for the on-time and accurate preparation, analysis and submission of Brand and Richemont departments budgets and re-estimates.

 

Management

·  Manage the treasury function including accurate cash flow forecasting, monthly cash report submissions, recommend most appropriate loan agreements and other bank facilities, optimize tax conditions, together with Group Treasury effectively cooperate and negotiate with the Banks to receive most preferable conditions and attractive services
·  Responsible for the production of relevant documents, as per Brand or Richemont department heads requests (if necessary, in compliance with Group policies), e.g. boutique investment request, three-year country development plans, duties follow-up, boutique closing exit costs forecast, etc.
·  Responsible for continuously improving existing systems by taking into account Brand requests, time-consuming tasks, etc. to identify areas of improvements and leading projects to deliver these improvements.
·  Participate in wider Company projects (e.g. Brand integrations) and be responsible for the finance part of these projects.
·  Maintain regular contacts with Regional, Brands’ and Group Finance teams
·  Continuously improve existing systems, organization and processes to ensure optimum efficiency
·  Manage and control the Finance department team (Accounting, Retail Back-Office and Controlling)

 

Control

·  Responsible for the compliance of the Company with, Group Finance policies and procedures / IFRS / IAS standards.
·  Responsible for obtaining a clean audit opinion from both PWC and the Richemont Internal Audit Team (after their respective audits).
·  Taxation: Complete annual statutory tax declaration together with the assistance of PWC; monitor taxation (VAT, customs etc.) and accounting issues on a regular basis.
·  Liaise with Group Finance team (Group Controlling) and other key Brand and Group personnel.
·  Responsible for liaising with Group Internal Auditors, during their audits of finance controls.

 

Reporting

·  Ensure all financial activities and transactions of the company are reflected in the financial records accurately and in a timely manner.
·  Responsible for the on-time and accurate preparation, analysis and submission of monthly financial statements, management information and other reports, as per Group and Brand requirements.
·  Responsible for producing the year-end statutory Financial Statements of the company.
·  Responsible for the accurate on-time production of monthly reports to Brands and the Richemont Department heads e.g. Capex monitoring, detailed P&Ls, etc.

 

DIMENSION:

·  Geographical area under responsibility: South Africa HQ for Sub-Saharan Africa
·  Company Scope: 10 Brands, 3 Boutiques and Richemont Departments
·  Headcount supervised: 7

 

Key Competencies

·  Ability to build solid relationships and foster trust
·  Ability to engage, motivate and influence people;
·  Effective team player;
·  Ability to manage ambiguity, risk and changing direction of projects and strategies;
·  Ability to work in high-pressure situations that require sound decision making and may involve confidential or sensitive matters;
·  Excellent problem-solving, critical thinking, deductive reasoning and analytical skills;
·  Good project management skills, particularly with respect to organisation, prioritization and time management;
·  Ability to reach agreements and consensus despite differing goals and priorities;
·  Capacity to understand problems and issues in the context of the bigger picture and understand relationships among different business units.
·  Clear, comprehensive understanding of the link between Security and business strategy;
·  Ability to identify new ways for Security to support the business strategy;
·  Demonstrate strong written and oral communication skills;

 

Personal skills

·  Excellent Team & People Management skills.
·  Strong Analytical and Decision Making skills.
·  Ability to work well under pressure.
·  Ability to influence others / put across his/her views in a respectful and professional manner.
·  Work well in group problem-solving situations.
·  Exhibit objectivity and openness to other views.
·  Understand the business implications of decisions.
·  Display orientation to profitability.
·  Be able to operate within (and check compliance with) Company policies and procedures.
·  Ability to support organizational goals and values