Other locations: Primary Location Only
Role Summary
As a Manager within Finance Operate, you will be responsible for managing the delivery of high-quality financial reporting and statutory compliance services to clients. The role will include overseeing the preparation and review of Annual Financial Statements, managing engagement delivery, supervising and coaching junior team members, and ensuring outputs are IFRS-compliant, audit-ready and aligned to EY quality standards.
The Manager will act as a key point of contact for clients, auditors and internal stakeholders, supporting the resolution of technical accounting matters, managing timelines and deliverables, and contributing to process improvement initiatives across Finance Operate engagements.
Key Responsibilities
Financial Reporting & Delivery
- Manage the preparation and review of Annual Financial Statements and statutory reports in accordance with IFRS, IFRS for SMEs, applicable local regulations and EY quality standards.
- Oversee delivery across multiple client engagements, ensuring deadlines, quality expectations and engagement milestones are met.
- Review financial reports, disclosures, reconciliations and supporting working papers to ensure audit-ready outputs.
- Liaise with clients and external auditors, including responding to audit queries, resolving reporting issues and ensuring timely closure of deliverables.
- Identify potential reporting risks and escalate complex matters appropriately.
Technical Accounting
- Apply strong technical knowledge of IFRS and IFRS for SMEs in the preparation and review of financial statements.
- Review and validate financial data, disclosures and accounting calculations, including areas such as PPE, leases, tax, provisions and other relevant balances.
- Support the interpretation and application of accounting standards across client engagements.
- Contribute to the resolution of technical accounting and reporting issues, escalating more complex matters where required.
- Ensure financial statements are supported by accurate, complete and defensible documentation.
Engagement Management
- Manage day-to-day execution of client engagements, including planning, delivery tracking, stakeholder coordination and issue management.
- Coordinate engagement timelines, deliverables and team responsibilities to ensure efficient execution.
- Monitor progress against agreed milestones and proactively address delivery risks or delays.
- Support resource planning, utilisation tracking and workflow management across engagements.
- Maintain regular communication with clients, auditors and internal teams to support smooth delivery.
People Leadership & Teaming
- Supervise, coach and review the work of junior team members.
- Provide practical on-the-job training and guidance to support team capability development.
- Allocate work effectively and ensure team members understand delivery expectations.
- Provide timely feedback on performance, quality and areas for improvement.
- Contribute to building a collaborative, high-performing and inclusive team culture.
Client & Stakeholder Management
- Act as a primary day-to-day contact for clients, auditors and internal stakeholders on assigned engagements.
- Build trusted working relationships with client finance teams and audit stakeholders.
- Communicate clearly and professionally on engagement progress, technical matters, risks and required actions.
- Support senior team members in managing more complex client conversations and stakeholder expectations.
- Identify opportunities to improve client service delivery and strengthen the overall client experience.
Process Improvement & Transformation
- Support the standardisation and improvement of financial reporting processes, templates and working papers.
- Identify opportunities to improve efficiency, quality and consistency across engagements.
- Leverage reporting tools and technology such as CaseWare, ERP systems, Power BI or similar platforms to improve delivery.
- Support the implementation of automation, analytics and other transformation initiatives where relevant.
- Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives across Finance Operate.
Risk, Quality & Compliance
- Ensure all deliverables comply with applicable accounting standards, EY quality requirements and engagement governance expectations.
- Maintain strong review discipline over working papers, financial statements and supporting documentation.
- Identify engagement risks, quality concerns and delivery issues, escalating appropriately.
- Support compliance with EY policies relating to quality, independence and governance.
- Promote a culture of accountability, quality and continuous improvement within the team.
Skills and Attributes
- Strong IFRS and statutory reporting capability.
- Strong review skills and attention to detail.
- Ability to manage multiple engagements, priorities and deadlines.
- Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.
- Ability to supervise, coach and develop junior team members.
- Practical problem-solving ability and sound professional judgement.
- Quality-focused with strong accountability for delivery.
- Ability to work effectively in a structured, fast-paced client delivery environment.
- Comfortable using financial reporting tools and technology to improve efficiency.
Qualifications and Experience
- CA(SA), ACCA or equivalent qualification preferred.
- Approximately 5–7 years’ experience in financial reporting, accounting, statutory reporting or audit.
- Proven experience in the preparation and review of Annual Financial Statements.
- Strong IFRS technical accounting experience.
- Experience managing client engagements and supervising junior team members.
- Experience in a professional services or client-facing environment would be advantageous.
- Experience with CaseWare or similar financial reporting tools preferred.
- Exposure to ERP/reporting tools such as SAP, Hyperion or Power BI would be advantageous.
Preferred Candidate Profile
The ideal candidate is a technically strong financial reporting professional with proven experience in preparing and reviewing Annual Financial Statements. Confident in managing multiple deliverables, engaging with clients and auditors, supervising junior team members, and ensuring high-quality, audit-ready outputs.
The candidate should be comfortable working in a structured, fast-paced client delivery environment and should demonstrate a continuous improvement mindset. And should bring strong IFRS knowledge, sound judgement, attention to detail and the ability to balance technical quality with practical delivery requirements.
