IT Project Accountant

We are looking for an experienced IT Project Accountant to support a portfolio of technology and business-transformation initiatives within a complex organisation.

This role will provide financial oversight across transformation programmes, ensuring that budgets, forecasts, actual expenditure and commitments are accurately maintained and clearly reported. You will work closely with Technology, Finance, Procurement, Accounts Payable and Transformation teams to provide meaningful financial insight, strengthen controls and support informed decision-making.

The successful candidate will be comfortable working with detailed financial data while also being able to translate that information into clear, commercially relevant insights for senior stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

Financial Management of Transformation Initiatives

• Establish and maintain initiative budgets, forecasts and approved cost baselines.
• Monitor actual expenditure, commitments, accruals and purchase orders against approved budgets, investigating and explaining material variances.
• Partner with initiative owners to develop accurate and reliable monthly forecasts.
• Ensure forecast and budget changes are consistently reflected across finance and programme systems.
• Provide financial insight to support effective management of transformation initiatives.

Actuals, Controls & Reconciliations

• Reconcile actual expenditure across relevant finance and programme systems to supporting invoices and purchase orders.
• Coordinate corrections and resolve discrepancies with cost owners and system owners.
• Maintain robust audit trails covering actuals, accruals, commitments, recharges and manual adjustments.
• Ensure financial information is complete, accurate and supported by appropriate documentation.

Technology Finance & Cost Analysis

• Analyse technology expenditure across suppliers, platforms, applications, licences, cloud services, contractors and internal resources.
• Distinguish between transformation, capital, operating and business-as-usual expenditure.
• Support appropriate accounting treatment for technology-related costs, including software implementation and cloud arrangements.
• Identify cost trends, drivers, risks and opportunities and communicate these clearly to stakeholders.

Reporting, Governance & Stakeholder Management

• Prepare clear and concise financial reporting for business, technology and programme governance forums.
• Provide insightful commentary on budget, actuals, forecasts, commitments, benefits, risks and required management actions.
• Constructively challenge incomplete, inconsistent or unsupported financial information.
• Escalate material financial issues promptly and ensure appropriate follow-up.
• Build effective working relationships across Technology, Finance, Accounts Payable, Procurement and the Transformation Office.

Qualifications & Experience

Essential

• A recognised professional accountancy qualification such as CIMA/CGMA, CA(SA), ACA, ACCA, CPA or a comparable international designation.
• At least five years' relevant finance experience, including significant exposure to project accounting and/or technology finance.
• Experience supporting technology implementations and/or business-transformation programmes within a complex organisation.
• Strong experience in budgeting, forecasting and variance analysis.
• A solid understanding of purchase orders, invoices, accruals, commitments, allocations, recharges and general ledger reconciliations.
• Good knowledge of accounting considerations relating to technology expenditure, including capital versus operating expenditure, software implementation and cloud arrangements.
• Experience working with ERP, planning or portfolio-management systems.
• Advanced Excel and financial-modelling skills.

Advantageous

• Experience with Coupa, Tagetik, Shibumi or similar finance and programme-management platforms.
• Experience using Power BI or comparable reporting and visualisation tools.
• Previous experience working within large-scale technology or transformation environments.

This is an excellent opportunity for a qualified finance professional who enjoys operating at the intersection of finance, technology and transformation and wants to play a meaningful role in ensuring that major initiatives are financially well managed, controlled and delivered.