Head of MI & Central FDs job at Absa Bank

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Job Summary

The Head of MI & Central FDS – Finance Business Support leads the Management Information (MI) and Central Financial Decision Support. Providing high-quality financial and non-financial information to support business decision-making, reporting, and planning. This role is responsible for ensuring accurate management financials, forecasting, and analytics, while driving process improvement, automation, and visualization initiatives.

Job Description

Management Financial Reporting Systems Integration & Data Flow Assurance (30%)

• Serve as the primary liaison for systems‑related finance matters across countries.
• Lead end‑to‑end reviews of data movement from the core banking system to finance and reporting systems.
• Monitor data accuracy, completeness, and reconciliation across interfaces.
• Identify data integrity issues and work with technical teams to design corrective solutions.
• Develop and maintain documentation on data flow architecture and financial systems integrations.
• Preparation and consolidation of management financials, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and adherence to reporting standards.
• Support month-end, quarter-end, and year-end processes, including variance analysis and executive reporting.

Forecasting & Planning (30%)

• Oversee all forecasting activities, including Flash, RAF (Risk Adjusted Forecast), STP (Short-Term Planning), and MTP (Medium-Term Planning).
• Provide scenario analysis and forward-looking insights to support strategic and operational decisions.

Process Improvement, Automation & Visualization (30%)

• Identify manual or inefficient finance processes and lead automation initiatives (e.g., reconciliations, reports, uploads, extracts).
• Design, build, or oversee automation using tools such as Power Automate, Python, SQL, or other applicable technologies.
• Ensure automation solutions are properly documented, tested, and embedded into BAU operations.
• Identify opportunities to streamline MI and central FDS processes, including automation of repetitive tasks and visualization of key metrics.
• Develop dashboards and visualizations to support business performance, financial reporting, and analytics.
• Work with business stakeholders to translate reporting needs into scalable visualization solutions (Power BI)
• Maintain automated reporting pipelines to ensure timely and accurate data availability.
• Implement tools and best practices that improve efficiency, accuracy, and transparency of reporting.

Stakeholder Engagement & Governance (5%)

• Act as a key partner to business units, senior management, on MI support matters.
• Ensure adherence to governance, compliance, and internal control standards.
• Maintain high-quality data governance and documentation of MI processes.

Team Leadership & Contribution (5%)

• Lead and develop the MI team delivering financial and non-financial information
• Drive capability development, mentorship, and succession planning within the teams.
• Foster a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and collaboration.

Preferred Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Finance or a related field from an accredited University
• Full Professional qualification in accounting such as ACCA or CPA

Preferred Experience

• 3–5 years’ experience in Finance Systems, Financial Data Analytics, or Financial Reporting Technology roles preferably in Financial Institutions
• Involvement in system upgrade or implementation projects.
• Experience leading cross‑functional initiatives.

Knowledge

• In depth understanding of short-, medium- and long-term strategies, goals and objectives
• Detailed knowledge of Management Accounting
• Detailed understanding of Managing for Value reporting
• Financial Management Control and Analysis
• Comprehensive understanding of product set and services of Corporate, Retail, Business Banking, Markets, and Treasury portfolios
• An appreciation of the external economic, political, legal and regulatory environment and their impact to the business.
• Up to date knowledge of all applicable tax laws and some considerable understanding of accounting technical issues (International Accounting Standards/IFRS, etc)

Skills

• Excellent comprehension skills to understand and interpret financial data and economic trends.
• Highly numeric/strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Competency in SQL, data modelling, or database querying.
• Experience with automation tools (Power Automate, scripting languages, or RPA tools).
• Strong Power BI (or equivalent) visualization skills.
• Very strong communication skills, both verbal and written
• Excellent planning & organization skills
• Strong ability to view issues from a risk & control perspective
• Ability to work well under pressure, working accurately with attention to detail, and meeting deadlines

Education

Bachelor`s Degrees and Advanced Diplomas: Financial Sciences (Required)

• Serve as the primary liaison for systems‑related finance matters across countries.
• Lead end‑to‑end reviews of data movement from the core banking system to finance and reporting systems.
• Monitor data accuracy, completeness, and reconciliation across interfaces.
• Identify data integrity issues and work with technical teams to design corrective solutions.
• Develop and maintain documentation on data flow architecture and financial systems integrations.
• Preparation and consolidation of management financials, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and adherence to reporting standards.
• Support month-end, quarter-end, and year-end processes, including variance analysis and executive reporting.
• Oversee all forecasting activities, including Flash, RAF (Risk Adjusted Forecast), STP (Short-Term Planning), and MTP (Medium-Term Planning).
• Provide scenario analysis and forward-looking insights to support strategic and operational decisions.
• Identify manual or inefficient finance processes and lead automation initiatives (e.g., reconciliations, reports, uploads, extracts).
• Design, build, or oversee automation using tools such as Power Automate, Python, SQL, or other applicable technologies.
• Ensure automation solutions are properly documented, tested, and embedded into BAU operations.
• Identify opportunities to streamline MI and central FDS processes, including automation of repetitive tasks and visualization of key metrics.
• Develop dashboards and visualizations to support business performance, financial reporting, and analytics.
• Work with business stakeholders to translate reporting needs into scalable visualization solutions (Power BI)
• Maintain automated reporting pipelines to ensure timely and accurate data availability.
• Implement tools and best practices that improve efficiency, accuracy, and transparency of reporting.
• Act as a key partner to business units, senior management, on MI support matters.
• Ensure adherence to governance, compliance, and internal control standards.
• Maintain high-quality data governance and documentation of MI processes.
• Lead and develop the MI team delivering financial and non-financial information
• Drive capability development, mentorship, and succession planning within the teams.
• Foster a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and collaboration.

• Excellent comprehension skills to understand and interpret financial data and economic trends.
• Highly numeric/strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Competency in SQL, data modelling, or database querying.
• Experience with automation tools (Power Automate, scripting languages, or RPA tools).
• Strong Power BI (or equivalent) visualization skills.
• Very strong communication skills, both verbal and written
• Excellent planning & organization skills
• Strong ability to view issues from a risk & control perspective
• Ability to work well under pressure, working accurately with attention to detail, and meeting deadlines

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Finance or a related field from an accredited University
• Full Professional qualification in accounting such as ACCA or CPA
• 3–5 years’ experience in Finance Systems, Financial Data Analytics, or Financial Reporting Technology roles preferably in Financial Institutions
• Involvement in system upgrade or implementation projects.
• Experience leading cross‑functional initiatives.
• In depth understanding of short-, medium- and long-term strategies, goals and objectives
• Detailed knowledge of Management Accounting
• Detailed understanding of Managing for Value reporting
• Financial Management Control and Analysis
• Comprehensive understanding of product set and services of Corporate, Retail, Business Banking, Markets, and Treasury portfolios
• An appreciation of the external economic, political, legal and regulatory environment and their impact to the business.
• Up to date knowledge of all applicable tax laws and some considerable understanding of accounting technical issues (International Accounting Standards/IFRS, etc)