Accountant: Programmes & Agencies

Job Description

The Accountant is responsible for providing end-to-end financial management, reporting, and project accounting support within the infrastructure delivery environment by applying sound financial controls, accurate reporting, and strategic financial insight to enable effective project execution and programme sustainability.

Key Responsibilities

1. Programme and Agency Financial Management

• Conduct detailed reviews of programme budgets and agency agreements to identify recoverable costs and management fees.
• Calculate management fees and programme profitability based on programme type, including time-based and cost-of-work models.
• Prepare management fee calculations covering subsistence, travel disbursements, and recoverable costs for billing purposes.
• Create and maintain programme account codes, cost structures, and budget uploads on the project management system.
• Review and approve project disbursement requests, purchase orders, and payment submissions to confirm correct financial allocation.
• Monitor open commitments by tracking outstanding purchase orders and following up on unresolved items. Prepare project and programme financial reports, cost reports, cash flow statements, and close-out reports.
• Manage project and programme financial close-out processes in line with organisational policies. Authorise transfers of expenses into and out of project-related accounts where required.
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of accounting standards, construction industry practices, project accounting methodologies, and financial systems to support effective financial management.
• Interpret financial and project information to translate technical data into practical insights for operational and programme teams.

2. Budgeting and Forecasting

• Facilitate the development of annual project, programme, and operational budgets aligned to approved business and construction plans.
• Compile forecasts and cash flow projections to support proactive financial planning and funding decisions.
• Analyse actual expenditure against budgets and forecasts to identify variances, cost overruns, or underspending trends.
• Provide variance analysis and financial commentary to support corrective action and strategic decision-making.

3. Transactional Processing and General Ledger Management

• Oversee accounts payable, receivable, payroll-related transactions, and project-related disbursements to support operational continuity and healthy cash flow.
• Maintain accurate general ledger records as the foundation for reliable financial reporting and compliance. Perform monthly reconciliations, journal entries, and balance sheet reviews to maintain data integrity and detect errors or irregularities.
• Review transactional postings to confirm correct allocation to projects, programmes, cost centres, and accounts.

4. Financial Reporting and Compliance

• Prepare accurate and timely inputs to the financial statements in line with IFRS, statutory requirements, and organisational reporting standards.
• Apply regulatory and tax requirements, including SARS compliance, to all financial transactions and reports.
• Maintain audit readiness by compiling supporting documentation and responding to internal and external audit queries.
• Prepare accurate, timely reports on recoveries, variances, and fee income for management and stakeholders.
• Review financial records and supporting schedules to promote transparency, credibility, and consistency in financial reporting.

5. Internal Control and Risk Management

• Implement and monitor financial control processes to safeguard assets and promote data accuracy.
• Identify financial risks related to projects, programmes, and operational activities and recommend mitigation actions.
• Apply governance frameworks, delegated authorities, and compliance standards across all financial activities.
• Review expenditure patterns and financial practices to detect potential control weaknesses or process gaps.

6. Stakeholder Management and Reporting

• Provide programme leads, project managers, and business performance teams with relevant financial information to support planning and control.
• Respond promptly to financial queries from internal stakeholders and management.
• Prepare management reports to support oversight of performance, risks, and opportunities.
• Produce financial and project reports to support informed operational and strategic decision-making.

Key Measurements of Outputs

1. Accuracy, quality and timeliness of quarterly and annual accounts.

2. Effective execution and quarterly updates of financial processes.

3. Budget and forecast accuracy: precision in balance sheet and cash flow projections.

4. Management of client relationships and key internal and external Stakeholders.

5. Timeliness of financial reports (e.g., number of reports submitted on time).

6. Accuracy rate of financial statements (e.g., number of audit adjustments).

7. Variance between actuals and budget (e.g., deviations).

8. Risk mitigation actions implemented.

Expertise & Technical Competencies

a) Financial Acumen

• Possesses sufficient expertise to establish and manage income and expenditure monitoring systems for their own area of the business.
• Understands cost/revenue drivers within own area and can take actions to control resources and expenditure to meet financial targets.
• Understands basic management accounting reports and the processes by which financial resources are identified, obtained, allocated, managed, and accounted for.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to articulate technical accounting positions clearly to both finance and non-finance audiences.

b) Financial Accounting

• Thorough understanding of relevant accounting principles for DBSA and ability to guide others in their application.
• Implements controls for and monitors accounting transactions to ensure legal/regulatory compliance, and accuracy and timeliness of accounting information.
• Ability to apply credit/collection concepts independently, and able to adapt or develop new procedures as needed within DBSA and

professional guidelines.

• Identifies bottlenecks and areas for improvement within the organisation’s Financial Services with respect to efficiency and accuracy of the existing financial systems and processes.

c) Stakeholder Management

• The skills, knowledge, and abilities required to establish, maintain, and enhance effective collaborative relationships between an organisation and its internal or external partners. This is essential for driving strategic alignment, fostering innovation, and achieving mutual goals through synergistic partnerships.

d) Financial Analysis

• Interprets, analyzes and/or evaluates compliance with applicable legislation, sound regulatory practices and procedures, generally accepted accounting principles, and other such rules and regulations.
• Analyses or interprets financial records and develops program procedures, financial models and databases.
• Demonstrates a thorough knowledge and understanding of applicable regulations, rules, entity/company practices, concepts, and industry issues.
• Demonstrates a thorough knowledge or experience working with legal and regulatory issues in their subject area.
• Develops and maintains effective working relationships with regulated industries, government officials, administrators, and civic leaders.

e) Costing and Budgeting

• Sets, maintains and updates the budgeting control process/methodologies.
• Reviews and monitors budget to ensure that the required financial procedures are adhered to and all monies are accounted for.
• Able to verify that monthly close procedures have been followed and identify anomalies.
• Significant experience in the analysis of variance reports to identify underlying operation