Senior Financial Accountant

Who are we?Sanlam Life and Savings (SLS) is focused on serving our retail and corporate clients in South Africa and further developing our strategic advantages in the South African market. Sanlam Life and Savings consists of the following business units Retail Mass, Corporate, Risk and Savings, Glacier and various business enabling functions. The Sanlam Life and Savings Office provides strategic direction, coordination and support to the four clusters, as well as performing governance oversight that includes assurance provided by second line of defense functions in SLS, to enable us to meet our business objectives.What will you do?The Sanlam Life and Savings cluster is responsible for Sanlam’s retail business in South Africa. This cluster provides clients across different market segments (entry-level, middle-income, affluent, professional market and business owners) with a comprehensive range of appropriate and competitive financial solutions. These include traditional life insurance risk and savings products, investment, retirement, health and fiduciary services. Designed to facilitate long-term wealth creation, protection and niche financing, these solutions are engineered around client needs.As we Live in Confidence™ we believe in creating and cultivating a positive, energised working environment that gives you every opportunity to achieve success. Sanlam is committed to transformation and embracing diversity. This commitment is what drives us to achieve a diverse workplace with employment equity as a key goal to create an inclusive workforce, representative of the demographics of our society as well as people with disabilities.Job PurposeThis role reports to the Finance Manager in Sanlam Life and Savings cluster : Chief Operating Officer. The role is responsible for business case reviews, managing of and reporting on business expense targets, ensuring ongoing operations are financially sound, gather information for reporting purposes, give management insights on results and ensure operations are within the SLS governance framework. This role also assists with financial accounting, controls, budgeting and reporting of expenses attributable to the SLS COO business area as well as the Consolidated SLS IT Reporting.What will make you successful in this role?Output/Core Tasks Facilitate the business case development process with key stakeholders Formal financial reviews of business cases Custodian of Business Case financial templates Responsible for KPI driven benefit realization reporting for strategic projects Provide financial support to Project Managers, Business Consultants & Business Owners with regards to detail financial analysis & costing for projects, as well as building benefit realization models Custodian of the current & long-term project expense view (Both CAPEX, Once-off Costs as well as ongoing Business as Usual expenses) Engagement with the auditors. Expense management, forecasting & maintaining a long-term view of projects. Drive the 5-10-year views of the projects BAU benefits & ongoing costs and provide as input to BAU Finance managers. Management of the Future Fit Fund by updating key assumptions that impacts funding decisions. Regular financial reporting on Projects and providing input to key reports (QBR, Strategic initiatives, IT report etc). Collaboration and alignment with Financial Heads to ensure that budgets and project expenses are closely monitored and adjusted where necessary Assist with Secretariat duties (documenting decisions and actions) at various Executive level Investment Governance Forums Approval of local and international payments on SAP – SES / PR / PO / FI Pro-active management and control of control Accounts – i.e. GR/IR and Down Payments Play a key finance support role to the project teams by solving financial enquiries and problems in an effective and timely manner. Provide proposals towards continued improvement of current processes. Administration, planning and organising of work to ensure successful and on time delivery. Processing and approval of journals. Create provisions and accruals for transactions not yet processed. Controlling of and reporting on provisions and accruals Support business with SAP 4 Hana. Create awareness in business of the effect of open items on control accounts i.e. GR/IR and Down payments. Budget and Forecasting Monthly preparations / maintaining of reporting file. Compile monthly a condensed reporting file that summarize the expenses in a noticeable view Monthly update of HR file – in time check for any variances Monthly Extract of IT MIS report including Cloud expenses – in time check for any variances and initiate corrections. Communicate required SRS’s to be logged with relevant department Monthly reporting – Budget vs Forecast Monthly connection with Business Heads to discuss Budgets / Forecast adjustments Yearly budget process – preparing input – connect with Business heads to provide any changes to current Forecast Yearly load of new budgets Ad hoc tasks (where required) Monthly Cost Allocations and Capacity recoveries. Monthly controls – CSA for allocated profit centres. MDG Support on creating Inter Company / materials Quarterly compile Functional Costs to Group Quarterly compile the Consolidated SLS IT Expense report Provide inputs when required to Scorecard, TCF & Risk reporting Monthly Review of JIRA reports and compare to PPO billing to ensure accuracy of capacity recoveries / billingRole RequirementsQualifications and experience: Relevant Financial degree/ diploma in Accounting Minimum 3 years’ experience in cost and recovery management Business partnering, analytical thinking, communication, stakeholder management, and problem-solving. Reporting experience to senior stakeholdersKnowledge Strong Excel skills MS Office (Outlook, MS teams) experience Financial Reporting & Cost management SAP S4/HANA experience preferable PPO billing system will be advantageous Exposure to projects and IT finance management JIRA workflow system will be advantageous IT environment will be advantageousCore Competencies Customer focus Cultivates innovation Collaborates Drives results Being resilientPersonal Competencies Strong analytical and conceptual thinking Financial acumen Excellent communication and interpersonal skills for interacting with business stakeholders Ability to work independently and is action orientated Self-motivated / disciplined Manage complexity of information and effectively solve problems Plans & aligns to ensure deadlines are met Takes ownership and accountability for deliverables Optimise work processes Takes ownership to learn and develop self Adapt approach to different demands and situationsBuild a successful career with usWe’re all about building strong, lasting relationships with our employees. We know that you have hopes for your future – your career, your personal development and of achieving great things. We pride ourselves in helping our employees to realise their worth. Through its five business clusters – Sanlam Fintech, Sanlam Life and Savings, Sanlam Investment Group, Sanlam Allianz, Santam, as well as MiWay and the Group Office – the group provides many opportunities for growth and development.Turnaround timeClosing Date: 9 December 2025The shortlisting process will only start once the application due date has been reached. The time taken to complete this process will depend on how far you progress and the availability of managers.Our commitment to transformationThe Sanlam Group is committed to achieving transformation and embraces diversity. This commitment is what drives us to achieve a diverse, inclusive and equitable workplace as we believe that these are key components to ensuring a thriving and sustainable business in South Africa. The Group's Employment Equity plan and targets will be considered as part of the selection process.