About Finergi
Finergi is a Dubai-based fintech and part of Optasia Group. We provide prepaid electricity advances and mobile financial services across sub-Saharan Africa. We work with utilities, mobile network operators, banks and payment providers.
We operate through several legal entities, in many markets, with different tax regimes and regulated partners. That makes accounting at Finergi more complex than our size suggests.
Why this role matters
This role makes Finergi's numbers right, on time and audit-ready.
You will own month-end close, reporting, statutory accounts and controls across all our entities. You will take over day-to-day accounting from the Commercial Finance team, so they can focus on forecasting and deals.
We are looking for someone who can pick up our accounting framework and run it without daily direction. We want a person who develops and executes solutions, not one who waits for instructions.
You will also lead an important change: making SAP our single system of record, and moving off Xero.
Key responsibilities
Month-end close and reporting
- Own the monthly close calendar and checklist, with fixed working-day deadlines aligned to Group.
- Prepare month-end entries, journals, accruals, deferrals and prepayments, including the edge cases.
- Reconcile every balance sheet account monthly, including bank accounts.
- Produce the management accounts and the consolidation across entities.
- Prepare the monthly Group reporting pack and respond to Group requests.
- Book revenue correctly across both transaction legs (voucher principal and service fee), in line with our accounting policy and commercial framework.
SAP and systems
- Own SAP for Finergi as it goes live, including posting files, master data and period close.
- Lead the move from Xero to SAP as our single system of record.
- Bring SAP postings fully in-house from Optasia, once the process is stable.
- Run quarterly reviews of SAP user access.
Revenue review
- Review Optasia's revenue assurance and related workings, and make sure they are correctly brought into SAP.
- Maintain the revenue and commission workbooks.
- Run or review the reconciliations between our loan management system and partner wallets.
- Raise partner invoices from validated data, and track receivables and collections.
Payables and payroll accounting
- Process supplier and contractor invoices, matched to a signed, current agreement or PO.
- Manage the payables mailbox, supplier queries and missing documents.
- Keep a register of supplier and contractor agreements, with expiry dates flagged early.
- Prepare payment runs. Treasury initiates and the CFO approves.
- Record vendor bank detail changes, which Treasury verifies independently.
- Account for payroll across entities, including statutory deductions, journals and liability reconciliations.
Intercompany, funding and FX
- Account for intercompany balances and Optasia recharges.
- Account for intercompany funding, wallet deposits and FX.
Statutory, audit and tax
- Prepare statutory accounts for all entities, on one calendar.
- Coordinate the external audit and manage the audit request list.
- Coordinate tax compliance with in-country specialists, including UAE corporate tax and VAT, South African tax, and withholding taxes and tax clearance certificates across African markets.
- Manage DMCC filings and the annual licence cycle, working with Company Secretarial.
- Keep one compliance tracker for all filings, certificates and deadlines.
Controls
- Run our finance controls in practice, including segregation of duties.
- Check payments monthly against the Delegation of Authority.
- Draft finance policies and technical accounting memos for CFO approval.
What success looks like
First 3 months
- You have run one close alongside Commercial Finance, then owned the next one end to end.
- Supplier and contractor invoices, the payables mailbox and payment run preparation are fully with you.
- The review of Optasia's revenue output is in place every month.
- A single compliance calendar covers all statutory, tax and DMCC deadlines.
By 12 months
- The close is delivered on a fixed working-day deadline, every month.
- SAP is the single system of record, and Xero is switched off.
- SAP postings are fully in-house.
- The external audit closes on time, with no significant findings.
- Every filing and tax certificate is current. No deadlines are missed.
What this role does not cover
- Budgeting, forecasting and business cases. These sit with Commercial Finance.
- Bank relationships, funding, payment initiation and FSP partners. These sit with Treasury and FSP.
- Revenue assurance itself. This is carried out by Optasia. This role reviews the output.
- Filing tax returns. In-country specialists file. This role coordinates and reviews.
Key relationships
Internal
- CFO (reports to)
- VP Commercial Finance
- Treasury and FSP Manager
- Optasia Finance (Group reporting and SAP)
- Optasia Revenue Assurance
- Optasia Company Secretarial and HR
- Budget holders across the business
External
- External auditors
- In-country tax specialists
- Banks and payment partners, for reconciliations
- DMCC
- Suppliers and contractors
What we are looking for
Essential
- Chartered Accountant, CA(SA) strongly preferred. ACCA or an equivalent qualification considered for UAE candidates.
- 6 or more years after qualifying, including at least 2 years running a month-end close as a controller or reporting accountant.
- Strong IFRS knowledge, including revenue recognition and consolidation.
- Experience across several legal entities and more than one country.
- Hands-on experience with an ERP, ideally SAP.
- Experience coordinating statutory audits and tax compliance with external advisors.
- Able to work independently, and to set up processes where none exist.
Desirable
- Fintech, payments, mobile money or digital lending background.
- SAP implementation or go-live experience.
- Exposure to UAE corporate tax and VAT, or to tax in other African markets.
- Experience moving a business from Xero or another small-business system to an ERP.
- Experience working inside a larger group, with shared services and Group reporting deadlines.
The kind of person who will do well here
- Owner, not follower. You see a gap, propose a fix and deliver it.
- High standards on controls. You do not let a missing invoice or an unreconciled balance slide.
- Comfortable with complexity. Many entities, markets and partners do not unsettle you.
- Clear communicator. You can explain an accounting issue to a non-accountant in plain words.
- Works well remotely, with a team in Dubai and colleagues across Africa.
