Finance Business Operations Manager at Diageo

About of the Role

Business operations manager is a senior business partner to group functions including centres of excellence operating above the market agencies such as Tax and Finance Controller. This position is a core member of EABL Finance leadership team.

This role is required to interact with and manage inputs and outputs of numerous people across a matrix organization within EABL group and Diageo as well as maximize finance processes, efficiencies, and effectiveness in the following areas: General ledgers management, quality of data reconciliations, SLA’s/ KPI’s within market team and above the market agencies.

Purpose of the role 

1. To partner with EABL executive Leadership to drive business performance through end to end strategic and tactical management of finance processes and assurance.
2. To lead finance compliance checks agenda and service delivery by shared services and centres of excellence.
3. To Leverage global finance standard processes, data automation, systems, and COE structure to drive efficiency and effectiveness. To Identify improvement areas and process changes through insights and foresights.
4. To embed governance and control environment with an effective risk management structure through monthly controls day.

Key Accountabilities 

1. Implement and drive weekly and monthly reviews of quality of reconciliations carried out by BPO’s and COEs.
2. Institute robust review structures to ensure regulatory compliance across the value chain.
3. Monthly reporting of finance processes compliance status, potential risks and ongoing developments to the FD
4. Develop strong working relationships with business partners and above the market agencies.
5. Review relevant tax filings for completeness and technical accuracy including proper disclosures.
6. Check accuracy and completeness of monthly GL reconciliation- aging and variance
7. Ensure adherence of journal’s backup and supporting documentation policy.
8. Develop balance sheet trends, quantitative and qualitative analysis, insights, and foresights.
9. Attend balance sheet reviews conducted by FCs.
10. Review of contracts and legal agreements to ensure that tax/accounting requirements and compliance are met across the value chains.
11. Actively track, manage, and drive closure of open reconciling items.
12. Review compliance of group accounting policy
13. Implement regular checks of master data maintained in SAP.
14. Develop data quality metrics and league of table.
15. Track SLAs with tax service providers i.e., decision support business partners, shared services and COEs
16. Liaise with business integrity to test CARM and SOX controls

Experience and Qualifications 

1. Business or Finance related Degree.
2. Qualified Professional Accountant- CPA(K)/ACCA/ACMA
3. Audit experience with 5+ years in management level.
4. Minimum of 10 years’ experience in finance and tax, with 5+ years in pure tax capacity, preferably in a FMCG
5. Strong overall tax knowledge, specifically in East Africa,
6. Experience in application of IFRS guidelines and regulations in a multinational environment
7. Excellent business acumen and finance (including accounting and treasury) knowledge
8. Experienced in managing relationships and in engaging / advocating with internal and external stakeholders.
9. Strong experience in financial modelling, analysis and business case presentation preparation
10. Strategic thinking: The ability to demonstrate business acumen and think how the business/market could/should be different in the future. The ability to utilise internal and external information to understand the operating environment and implications for the business. The ability to utilise the wider business perspective to understand the impact of strategic choices and resource allocation decisions across the value chain (from supply to point of sale)
11. Risk Management: The ability to identify, capture and manage risks at appropriate levels.
12. Process Transformation: A positive problem-solving mindset that champions the use of standard, simple, automated end to end processes, and respective controls.
13. Vast experience in SAP and reconciliation systems.
14. MS applications PowerPoint, Excel, Access, Word, etc
15. Strong track record of successfully managing balance sheet with multiple subsidiaries across Africa
16. Strong leadership and organizational skills