CertificationsCMA, Certified Public Accountant, ACCA
Original posting
Job Purpose
To establish, lead and progressively stabilize the Finance & Accounting function from the ground up in a manufacturing environment undergoing financial and systems restructuring. The Finance Manager is responsible for building reliable accounting discipline, ensuring the integrity of the General Ledger and financial records, strengthening documentation and internal controls, producing accurate financial statements and statutory/tax outputs, and developing the finance team and systems in a controlled manner. The role requires a hands-on manager who can work with imperfect legacy information, investigate problems before making conclusions, and build a sustainable finance function rather than merely operate an existing one.
1. Finance Function Establishment & Leadership
• Take ownership of establishing and operating the Finance & Accounting function according to the approved organization structure and transformation plan.
• Set clear responsibilities, work allocation, review levels and accountability across the finance team.
• Lead the controlled review and validation of opening balances and legacy accounting information transferred into the new finance environment.
• Use original documents, reconciliations and reliable source evidence to validate financial data where historical systems or records cannot be fully relied upon.
• Investigate significant differences and identify root causes before deciding whether correction, reconstruction or other action is required.
• Document unresolved historical issues, financial risks and required corrective actions and escalate them appropriately.
• Prevent unverified historical data from contaminating the integrity of the new accounting environment.
5. ERP & Finance Systems Development
• Own Finance requirements and controls during the phased development of the ERP environment.
• Ensure the General Ledger is stabilized before supporting controlled activation and integration of additional ERP modules.
• Participate in ERP rehabilitation, data migration, mapping, testing, module activation and process-improvement projects.
• Validate that new modules and interfaces integrate correctly with the General Ledger and do not create duplication, conflicting records or uncontrolled entries.
• Ensure appropriate finance controls, approvals and audit trails are embedded in system implementation.
6. Internal Controls & Documentation
• Establish and enforce practical financial controls covering documentation, approvals, authorization, recording and reconciliation.
• Ensure financial transactions are supported by complete and valid documentation before accounting treatment is finalized.
• Identify control weaknesses and recurring documentation failures and recommend corrective actions.
• Coordinate with other departments to improve the quality and timeliness of documents and financial inputs received by Finance.
• Maintain appropriate segregation of duties and escalation mechanisms within the available organization structure.
7. Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Banks & Treasury Control
• Oversee accounting and control of customer, supplier and bank transactions and ensure regular reconciliations.
• Monitor significant receivable and payable balances, aging, overdue items and unusual transactions and escalate material risks.
• Maintain visibility over short-term cash requirements, commitments, bank facilities and liquidity risks.
• Support management in improving cash discipline, working-capital visibility and financing decisions.
• Coordinate with banks and relevant external parties within delegated authority.
8. Inventory & Costing Financial Control
• Ensure proper financial control and reconciliation of inventory balances between operational records, supporting documents and the General Ledger.
• Oversee the Inventory & Cost Controller from the Finance/Costing perspective and maintain independent financial control over inventory.
• Ensure inventory valuation, adjustments, write-offs and costing-related accounting treatments are properly supported and authorized.
• Work with Production, Warehouse and relevant functions to investigate material inventory or consumption variances without assuming operational ownership of warehouse activities.
• Support the progressive development of a reliable costing environment as accurate operational data and dedicated costing capability become available.
9. Budgeting & Financial Planning
• Oversee the budgeting and financial-planning process in coordination with the Budget Controller and department managers.
• Challenge assumptions, validate financial logic and ensure consistency between budget figures and operational inputs.
• Review budget-versus-actual results and ensure significant variances are investigated and communicated.
• Support management with financial scenarios, forecasts and decision-relevant analysis where reliable data is available.
• Ensure budgeting develops as a management-control process rather than a stand-
Requirements
10. Tax, Audit & Compliance
• Coordinate tax compliance, statutory filings and supporting documentation with internal staff and external tax advisors as applicable.
• Lead Finance coordination with external auditors and ensure audit requirements and supporting schedules are prepared accurately and on time.
• Track audit and tax findings and ensure agreed corrective actions are followed through.
• Maintain awareness of applicable accounting, tax and statutory requirements relevant to the factory.
11. Cross-Functional Finance Discipline
• Establish clear working interfaces between Finance and Production, Warehouse
Procurement, Sales, HR and other departments.
• Define the financial information and supporting documentation required from operational departments and follow up on compliance.
• Support department managers in understanding the financial impact of operational decisions without taking ownership of their operational responsibilities.
• Escalate recurring cross-functional failures that threaten accounting accuracy, control or reporting reliability.
12. Restructuring, Systems & Improvement Projects
• Participate actively in finance restructuring, ERP rehabilitation, data-integrity, process-improvement and organizational-development projects.
• Provide Finance requirements, accounting logic and control input during process and system design.
• Implement approved finance structures, processes and controls and ensure the finance team adopts them.
• Identify practical gaps after implementation and provide feedback and recommendations for improvement.
• Work effectively with consultants, management and operational teams while maintaining clear ownership of the Finance function.
Critical Role Boundaries
• The Finance Manager owns the Finance & Accounting function, accounting integrity, financial controls, statutory financial reporting and Finance-side implementation of approved systems and processes.
• The Finance Manager participates in restructuring and ERP/system design projects but is not expected to independently replace the organizational restructuring consultant, ERP architect or operational process owner.
• Operational departments remain accountable for the accuracy and completeness of their source documents and operational data; Finance validates financial treatment and control rather than becoming the operational data owner.
• Inventory physical custody remains with Warehouse Management; independent inventory financial control, reconciliation and valuation remain within Finance/Costing.
• During the current build-up stage, the Finance Manager is expected to be hands-on and may directly review work that would later be delegated as the team matures.
Candidate Profile / Hiring Benchmark
• Education: Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance or Commerce with Accounting specialization.
• Professional Qualification: CMA, CPA, ACCA or equivalent is preferred but not mandatory where practical manufacturing finance experience is strong.
• Experience: Approximately 8–12 years of progressive Finance/Accounting experience, including at least 3 years in a supervisory or managerial capacity.
• Manufacturing Experience: Strong preference for candidates with direct factory/manufacturing experience and practical exposure to inventory, costing, production-related accounting and working-capital issues.
• Build/Transformation Experience: Strong preference for experience establishing, restructuring or significantly improving a finance function, accounting system, ERP environment or Chart of Accounts.
• Technical Foundation: Strong General Ledger, closing, financial statements, reconciliations, internal controls, tax/audit coordination and accounting-documentation discipline.
• Systems: Strong Excel and practical ERP experience; ability to understand data migration, mapping, integration and control issues.
• Management Capability: Able to lead old and new team members, objectively assess capability, preserve useful operational knowledge and introduce stronger standards without unnecessary disruption.
• Problem-Solving Style: Evidence-based, investigative and structured; does not rush to rebuild or discard data before understanding root causes.
• Personality: Hands-on, calm under pressure, firm on financial integrity, diplomatic with stakeholders, able to challenge unsupported assumptions and capable of building credibility through evidence rather than authority alone.