Strategy and Transactions, Valuations Manager at Ernst & Young

The opportunity:

Our focus is to recruit and develop a talented team through investment in technical and commercial training and knowledge transfer. Within the team you’d have the opportunity to work on complex valuation issues and work directly with management. Within the team you’d have the opportunity to manage smaller projects and be an integral part of large projects, often involving multi-disciplinary teams. For the right candidate there is potential for excellent career progression. Although you would be based out of Nairobi, we operate as a regional East African team, and you will be involved in engagements across the region involving multi-national clients. You may be required to travel within the region from time to time.

As part of your role, you would work across a varied portfolio of valuations (see below) and get involved with the wider team on project work.

• Commercial valuations –the team regularly advise businesses on valuations issues with regards to fund valuation, acquisition or divestitures of controlling or minority stakes and broader SaT projects involving lead advisory and the restructuring teams.
• Regulatory and accounting valuations– the team works with management as part of an acquisition or an impairment process to understand how the value of acquired assets (intangible, tangible and financial) will impact the accounts under IFRS or relevant GAAP, as well as performing valuations for Companies Act purposes or in respect of regulatory bodies.
• Tax valuations and Intellectual Property (“IP”) transfer – the team undertakes valuations for fiscal purposes in East Africa and is ideally placed to advise on all aspects of tax valuation issues. In addition, the team regularly perform the valuation of IP as part of a tax reorganisation. IP assets include trademarks, brand names, core deposit intangibles, customer relationships, banking and other licenses, patents, technology and know-how.
• Dispute resolution – the Valuations team are recognised specialists within the field of dispute resolution, litigation support and expert valuations, and can also act as independent experts.

Key responsibilities:

As a Manager within Valuations, you will be responsible for the execution of projects and have the opportunity to lead EY teams and manage interactions with client management and senior members of the EY team. You will undertake valuations in East Africa and internationally for various purposes including, M&A, tax, financial reporting and litigation. You will gain insights into complex valuation issues and structures and will be tested on the application of valuation theories and techniques to practical, real-life situations. You will also be responsible for training of junior team members (on the job and in formal training sessions) and ensuring that projects are delivered on time and to the highest standards of quality.

Our projects typically involve managing multiple stakeholders and thus requires you to give the best advice using your knowledge and experience to provide the best outcomes.

Skills And Attributes For Success

• Managing clients’ expectations in relation to deliverables
• Building and sustaining relationships with colleagues across the business, supporting them and promoting a collaborative culture
• Continuously improving business processes and incident response methodologies
• Developing a risk management governance structure and ensuring compliance across organizations in diverse environment
• Helping develop our practice and leading business development activities on strategic and global priority accounts

To qualify for the role, you must have

• Proven experience of providing or contributing to valuation projects in a client-facing role.
• Previous valuation experience in professional services/Big 4 Firm or an experience in investment banking (i.e., analyst roles, etc.) of between 3-5 years.
• Strong project management and organisation skills – as a manager in the team you would be in a charge of projects, discuss directly with clients and mentor junior resources in the team
• The ability to demonstrate intellectual rigor, curiosity and commercial awareness, combined with first-class numeracy and analytical skills.
• Excellent report writing, communication skills and attention to detail.
• Strong interpersonal skills: ability to work as part of a diverse team and handle multiple responsibilities.
• CFA/CPA/CA/ACA/ACCA or similar financial qualification
• Bachelor’s degree with a minimum of second-class upper honours or equivalent in any relevant fields of study, including but not limited to; - Commerce, Accounting or Finance, Economics, Mathematics, Statistics, Engineering or International Business.
• A minimum overall grade of a B+ in KCSE and B+ in both English & Mathematics

Ideally, you’ll also have

• Financial modelling experience
• MBA, Master in finance or other relevant masters degree
• Specific industry expertise (financial services, consumer products, energy, telecoms, healthcare etc.) or Asset/valuation expertise (intellectual property, complex securities, experience in tax or fund valuation)
• Excellent spoken and written language skills

What We Look For

We are looking for candidates who are highly motivated, numerate, logical thinkers with a passion for valuations and have a very strong attention to detail. Being a strong team player is also important as well as someone who is happy to work flexibly over a variety of different assignments and industries. Ability to learn and train others and capacity to adapt in evolving regulatory environments is also a key element to our work.