Manager - General Accounts

Pinnacle Packaging Systems is seeking a highly skilled Manager - General Accounts to lead and manage the financial accounting functions within the organization. This role requires overseeing the general accounts operations, including financial reporting, accounts payable and receivable, month-end closing processes, and ensuring compliance with tax and regulatory standards. The ideal candidate will have deep expertise in SAP S4HANA finance modules along with solid experience in IFRS standards and tax compliance. As a Manager, you will also be responsible for managing a dedicated team of five professionals, driving efficiency and accuracy in all financial activities to support business growth and operational excellence. The ideal candidate must have a Chartered Accountant qualification or be an Inter-CA and a strong background in financial accounting and management, ideally within manufacturing, FMCG, or industrial sectors. You will collaborate closely with other departments to establish robust financial processes, controls, and reporting frameworks within a dynamic and rapidly growing environment. Experience with ERP systems, especially SAP S4HANA, and involvement in ERP implementation projects will be critical to success in this role. Strong analytical skills and proficiency in Microsoft Excel will support your ability to generate insightful financial reports and improve ongoing accounting operations.
Responsibilities

About the company:

This is a greenfield project. The company will commence operations in Q4 2026.

The Company is part of a Graphic Systems Group which has been operating in Africa for over 40 years, and currently employs over 1,500 employees across 5 African countries.

3.1 Financial Accounting and Reporting

• Establish and maintain the company’s accounting systems, policies, procedures, and internal controls.
• Post and record all accounting transactions in SAP ensuring accuracy, completeness and compliance with the financial reporting standards and company’s policies.
• Handle petty cash and maintain petty cash register on a daily basis.
• Initiate bank payment processing and perform reconciliations on a periodic basis in SAP.
• Manage fixed assets register within SAP, ensuring register is reconciled and real-time up-to-date with all acquisitions, retirements/disposals, and transfers.
• Perform month-end activities before the 5th of the following month ensuring cross-modular balances are reconciled and execute closing process in SAP public cloud.
• Coordinate with sales and production managers to ensure all relevant documents are posted before the closure of the period in SAP.
• Generate and review analytical reports from SAP to monitor trial balance integrity and identify anomalies in records.
• Prepare monthly, quarterly, and annual financial statements and management reports, including any reporting required by the Group/Head Office.
• Monitor working capital, liquidity requirements, and foreign exchange exposure on imported materials and equipment.
• Develop and manage budgets, forecasts, and financial planning processes.
• Conduct variance analysis and provide recommendations to management.
• Coordinate annual audits and respond to auditor requirements.
• Support business decision-making through financial analysis and reporting.
• Establish cost accounting and profitability analysis systems for manufacturing operations.
• Oversee payroll processing and reconciliation, ensuring accurate and timely salary payments and statutory deductions.
• Track and report capital expenditure (Capex) for the factory construction project against the approved budget.
• Monitor expenditure trends and identify opportunities for cost savings where possible.

3.2 Taxation and Regulatory Compliance

• Ensure timely preparation and submission of tax returns including but not exclusive to VAT, withholding, PAYE, and corporate income tax.
• Ensure revisions in taxes are continuously monitored and tax codes are updated in SAP on time, as and when required.
• Ensure all transactions and SOPs are in compliance with the applicable taxes and legal & regulatory framework.
• Implement adherence to legal & regulatory requirements including maintenance of records, in a manner and format required by law.
• Coordinate and liaise with tax and regulatory authorities and engage third-party advisors as and when required.
• Ensure supporting documents and records are maintained and placed securely for a period required by law.

3.3 Invoicing and Collections Management

• Generate customer invoices from SAP, ensuring values and quantities match with the delivery note, customer’s purchase order, and sales order.
• Post billing documents into the SAP, ensuring invoices are posted on-time.
• Monitor customer balances, perform sub-ledger reconciliations with the control account on a monthly basis.
• Perform clearing and post incoming payments from customers against outstanding invoices.
• Review any disputes with the customers on payments and coordinate with the sales manager on resolution.
• Review overdue balances and perform dunning mechanisms within the SAP in coordination with the sales manager, ensuring receivables are collected on time.
• Maintain credit terms for customers within the SAP and review customers with exceeded limits and one-off exceptions.

3.4 Materials Management

• Periodically review levels of inventory and plan for timely procurement of raw materials, consumables, spare parts, and administrative supplies, with inputs from production and sales managers.
• Ensure inventory level optimization to free up working capital.
• Review and identify any slow/non-moving/expired items and propose timely action.
• Establish controls (both physical and system based) for inventory storage locations, handling and movement including inward, outward and within the plant.
• Perform periodic physical stock counts on a cyclic basis to ensure stocks are reconciled.
• Investigate variances during stock count activity, post approved stock adjustments in SAP Public Cloud, and implement preventive/corrective actions.
• Supervise Stores Controller and provide training and support in resolution of errors.

3.5 Administration

• Manage office administration activities and service providers.
• Oversee utility contracts, office supplies, facility maintenance, and general administrative support.
• Maintain company records, contracts, and documentation.
• Support recruitment administration and employee record management as required.
• Coordinate insurance policies and renewals.

3.6 SAP Super User

• Act as the key business owner and super-user for SAP Financial Accounting (FI), Controlling (CO), and Materials Management (MM) modules.
• Lead ERP implementation activities for areas of responsibility.
• Provide relevant input for accurate configuration of processes between sales, production, material management, and finance.
• Coordinate with implementation partners and internal stakeholders on system enhancements and issue resolution.
• Train end users, new recruits and drive adoption of SAP best practices.
• Develop and maintain master data governance standards.
• Provide transactional support to subordinates, including assistance in correct transaction processing, error identification, and first-level resolution guidance.
• Continuously improve workflows, reporting, controls, and system utilization.
• Escalate system issues to SAP support team in case of issues requiring support.
• Utilise SAP reporting and analytical tools to generate real-time reporting— minimising reliance on manual spreadsheets.

4.1 Professional Qualification

• Chartered Accountant (strongly preferred) or Inter-CA

4.2 Technical Qualification

• Direct experience with FI & CO modules of SAP S4HANA, Oracle Fusion, Oracle NET Suite or equivalent is a must.
• Direct experience with month-end closing on SAP S4HANA or equivalent is strongly preferred.
• Strong proficiency in Microsoft Excel and financial reporting tools.
• Knowledge of material management and cost accounting principles.
• Understanding of tax and regulatory compliance requirements.

4.3 Required Experience

• Minimum 5–8 years of progressive accounting and finance experience.
• Strong understanding of financial accounting, management accounting, inventory management, and compliance requirements.
• Experience operating finance, and/or inventory modules in a live ERP environment, preferably SAP; prior exposure to an ERP implementation project (e.g., UAT or data migration) is an added advantage.
• Experience in manufacturing, printing, packaging, FMCG, or industrial environments preferred.
• Experience establishing finance processes and controls in a startup, greenfield, or rapidly growing business is highly desirable.