Finance Associate

We are looking for a motivated Finance Associate with exceptional attention to detail, diligence, and experience with VAT, SARS, and PAYE compliance coupled with strong bookkeeping skills. 

As a Finance Associate, you will directly report to our Head of Finance and work closely to support our CEO. You will support financial reporting and analysis of the business, preparations of financials for audit, budgeting and forecast modelling, ensuring compliance, cost analysis and management, tax management, and managing payments to suppliers. 

You will be supported by multiple external accounting firms and a rich Operations team in ensuring the internal systems of a high-growth tech support scale. This is a unique opportunity to join one of the largest education technology startups in Africa and directly support our management team in key decision-making. 

We are looking for team members to join a company that is already recognised as one of the top education technology startups in Europe, Middle East and Africa, with a team size standing at nearly 100. CoGrammar won first prize in Facebook’s Africa Innovation Challenge Award as the top edtech startup in Africa, and is backed by Facebook, Google and the University of Cambridge.

Our team consists of former team members out of top tech startups such as Yoco, GetSmarter, 2U, Google, Amazon and those who have previously built and gone on to sell large businesses. We are looking for team members who are competitive, ambitious, and have a track record of over-achieving and exceeding targets.

RESPONSIBILITIES 

• Bookkeeping
• Reconciling bank accounts, supplier accounts and customer accounts 
• Identifying, recommending and implementing process improvements in bookkeeping
• Reviewing and reconciling balance sheet accounts
• Invoice management and entering financial transactions into Xero
• Maintaining digital and physical financial records
• Banking, Payment and Payroll
• Preparing payroll for approval with inputs with HR as needed
• Preparing monthly payment runs
• Loading payments to bank accounts, ready to release
• Liaising with the business bankers for administrative and other requirements
• Financial Modelling and Reporting
• Modelling expenses and revenues to help forecast the company P&L and cash-in-bank on a monthly and annual basis
• Analysing data for insights to provide feedback to team leads and management for optimising costs and planning revenue growth
• Preparing reports for the management and identifying areas for improvement to make financial reporting more useful and actionable for strategy-setting.
• Financial Audits
• Creating and updating management reports
• Liaising with the company’s external accounting firm on annual accounts
• Participating in quarterly and annual audits.
• Compliance
• Preparing and submitting PAYE, NI and VAT for the UK and SA companies
• Support in preparing for and meeting statutory and regulatory requirements
• Strategic financial support
• Support the management in strategic matters including but not limited to inter-company transactions, fundraising, investor presentations and preparing for due diligence.

REQUIREMENTS  

Minimum

• Must have completed a professional qualification in Accounting, Finance or a relevant field (e.g. CA, CIMA, ACCA)
• At least 3 years of experience in accounting / bookkeeping
• At least 2 years of experience in management accounting and reporting
• Experience and understanding of South African VAT, PAYE, UIF, SDL requirements
• Experience and understanding of applicable financial regulations and compliance requirements
• Experience using Xero or an equivalent accounting system
• Experience using SimplePay or an equivalent payroll system
• Hands-on experience with Google Sheets and Google Suites
• Exceptional attention to detail
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills 
• Excellent time-management, task-management and organizational skills
• Ability to handle sensitive, confidential information.

Preferred

• Chartered Accountants preferred
• Experience with UK accounting practices and relevant laws
• Prior experience in a fast-paced tech startup 
• Experience in exchange control regulations and the South African Reserve Bank
• Experience in equity and debt fundraising for high-growth businesses.

BENEFITS

Flexible & remote working: We are a remote-friendly organisation and offer flexible work options.

Generous annual leave and medical benefits: We provide 20 annual leave days as part of our leave policy, as well as health insurance or medical aid benefits for our staff.

Join the heart of tech in Africa, the US, and Europe: You'll work with the best of the best and rub shoulders with the world leaders in edtech, developer education, and developer assessments. Join one of the most ambitious and highest performing tech companies in the space, with a founding team that draws their former experience from companies such as Google, Amazon, GetSmarter/2U, and Yoco. 

Life-changing work: Solve real problems that make education and tech careers accessible to those who need it most: you're allowed to brag about it.