Finance & Accounts Manager

Responsibilities:

Financial Control & Management Accounting (30%):

Own the month-end close process end-to-end: cut-off procedures, accruals and prepayments, depreciation, bank reconciliation completion, trial balance review, and preparation of management accounts. Maintain the general ledger in Odoo ERP, ensuring all transactions are posted accurately, completely, and on time. Prepare monthly management accounts pack P&L, balance sheet, cash flow statement, and variance commentary for the MD by the 5th working day of each month. Reconcile all balance sheet accounts monthly — bank, receivables, payables, inventory, fixed assets, intercompany.

Reconciliation & Audit Readiness (25%):

Clear the current backlog of unrecorded transactions and rebuild the trial balance to a state that supports external audit. Perform daily bank reconciliations across all company bank accounts — investigate and resolve all discrepancies. Reconcile supplier statements to AP balances and customer accounts to AR balances monthly. Prepare and maintain all schedules required for external audit — fixed assets register, loan schedules, provisions, accruals, and prepayments. Coordinate with external auditors — provide documentation, respond to queries, and resolve audit points.

Statutory Compliance (15%):

Ensure all statutory remittances are computed correctly and paid on time — PAYE, pension, WHT, VAT, CIT, NSITF, ITF, and any other applicable levies. Prepare and file all tax returns with LIRS, FIRS, and other regulatory bodies. Maintain a statutory compliance calendar and ensure no filing deadline is missed. Support annual tax audits and regulatory examinations.

Treasury & Cash Management (15%):

Monitor the daily cash position across all bank accounts — forecast short-term cash requirements and flag any shortfalls. Oversee payment processing through the approved Procure-to-Pay workflow — verify all payments against PO, GRN, and IC&A sign-off before disbursement. Manage bank relationships, account documentation, and mandate updates. Support FX transactions related to export proceeds — USD/NGN invoicing, revaluation at month-end, and realised FX gains/losses on receipt.

Team Leadership & Controls (15%):

Directly supervise the finance team, set deliverables, review work, and hold team members accountable for output quality and deadlines. Ensure adherence to the company's pre-payment verification process and internal controls. Flag any irregularities, control weaknesses, or policy breaches to the MD immediately. Build and develop the finance function; recruit, train, and structure the team as the company grows.

Requirements:

ACA, ACCA, or equivalent professional accounting qualification — completed, or final stage with a clear completion timeline. Minimum 7 years of progressive accounting experience with at least 3 years in a management or senior accountant role. Proven hands-on experience reconciling and cleaning up books — has personally untangled a backlog, rebuilt a trial balance, or prepared books for a first or delayed audit. This is not optional. Strong month-end close and management reporting capability has owned the process, not just contributed to it. Experience with accounting ERP systems Odoo preferred; SAP, Sage, Oracle, or similar accepted. Must have lived through at least one ERP implementation or migration. Working knowledge of Nigerian tax legislation: PAYE, WHT, VAT, CIT, pension, and statutory filing requirements. Proficient in Microsoft Excel pivot tables, VLOOKUP, financial modelling, and reconciliation templates.

Strongly Preferred:

Manufacturing or industrial cost accounting experience: inventory (RM/WIP/FG), cost of production, standard vs actual costing. Generic trading-company or services accounting will not transfer well. Experience managing cash under constrained liquidity payment prioritisation, cash forecasting in a tight environment. Experience reporting to external lenders or banks management accounts packs, covenant reporting. Even one full cycle of lender reporting is worth more than years of purely internal reporting. Multi-currency exposure: USD/NGN invoicing, FX translation, letter of credit or trade finance familiarity. Experience working in a lean finance team where you did the work yourself, not a large department where you only reviewed others' output. Experience operating in a turnaround or build-and-improve environment setting up controls, processes, and systems that didn't exist before.

What We Are Not Looking For:

Candidates whose experience is exclusively in large corporate finance departments where they were one of many, with no direct exposure to fixing broken books personally. Candidates who can describe processes they followed but cannot give a specific example of finding and fixing a real accounting problem. Candidates with no manufacturing or inventory costing exposure at all pure trading, services, or retail backgrounds will struggle with this role.

Key Competencies:

Hands-on and operational will get into the ledger and do the work, not wait for a team to be built around them. Accuracy and attention to detail: every number matters, every reconciliation must balance. Ownership takes responsibility for the output, escalates problems with solutions, does not wait to be told. Integrity handles company finances with the highest standard of diligence. Flags errors and irregularities immediately. Proactive communication provides clear, timely financial information to a non-finance MD. Does not hide bad news. Judgment under pressure manages competing priorities, tight deadlines, and constrained resources without cutting corners.