Head of Finance & Accounting – Gujarati/Hindi Speaking

Job Title: Head of Finance & Accounting – Gujarati/Hindi Speaking Location: Kiambu County, Kenya Language Requirement: Fluency in Gujarati or Hindi is mandatory due to the communication and stakeholder engagement requirements of the role. 1. Role Purpose To lead the Finance & Accounting function, ensuring accurate financial reporting, robust internal controls, effective cost management, regulatory compliance, efficient working-capital management, and reliable financial insights that support profitability and sustainable business growth. 2. Key Responsibilities • Financial Reporting: Oversee monthly, quarterly, and annual financial closing, general ledger integrity, reconciliations, and financial statements. • Costing & Cost Control: Manage product costing, cost allocation, inventory valuation, operational variances, and cost-reduction initiatives. • Budgeting & Forecasting: Lead annual budgeting, financial planning, forecasting, performance monitoring, and variance analysis. • MIS & Analytics: Develop management reports, financial dashboards, and profitability analyses to support strategic decision-making. • SAP Finance: Oversee SAP Finance and Controlling processes, data accuracy, system controls, and process automation. • Internal Controls & Risk Management: Strengthen financial governance, asset protection, fraud prevention, and risk mitigation. • Working Capital & Cash Flow: Manage cash-flow forecasting, receivables, payables, inventory, and working-capital efficiency. • Tax, Compliance & Audit: Ensure statutory compliance, accurate tax reporting, audit coordination, and timely resolution of audit findings. • Business Partnering: Collaborate with procurement, operations, supply chain, and commercial teams on financial analysis, pricing, margins, and investment decisions. • Team Leadership: Lead, coach, and develop the Finance & Accounting team, promoting accountability, integrity, and operational excellence. Requirements 3. Ideal Candidate Profile Education & Professional Qualifications • Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Commerce, Economics, or a closely related discipline. • Professional accounting qualification such as CPA, ACCA, CA, or equivalent is mandatory. • Master’s degree or MBA is an added advantage. • Active membership in the relevant professional accounting body is preferred. Experience Requirements • Minimum 12–15 years of progressive Finance & Accounting experience, including substantial leadership responsibility. • At least five years in a senior finance leadership role within a large manufacturing or FMCG environment. • Demonstrated experience in financial reporting, costing, budgeting, internal controls, working-capital management, auditing, and business partnering. • Strong hands-on experience with SAP FI/CO and the use of management information systems (MIS) for executive decision-making. • Experience managing multidisciplinary finance teams and partnering with operations, supply chain, procurement, and commercial leadership. • Fluency in Gujarati or Hindi is mandatory. Technical Competencies • Manufacturing accounting, standard costing, and product costing. • Cost-centre and profit-centre accounting. • Material, labour, utility, yield, and overhead variance analysis. • Financial reporting and period-close management. • Budgeting, forecasting, and financial modelling. • SAP FI/CO and integration with Materials Management, Production Planning, and Sales & Distribution. • MIS development, dashboards, and management performance reporting. • Inventory valuation, provisions, and working-capital management. • Internal controls, risk management, and audit. • Taxation and statutory compliance. • Advanced Excel and data-analysis capabilities. • Business-case development, capital expenditure, and profitability analysis. Leadership & Behavioural Competencies • High integrity and sound professional judgement. • Strong commercial and operational business acumen. • Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills. • Ownership, urgency, and attention to detail. • Ability to challenge constructively and influence senior stakeholders. • Strong communication and management presentation skills. • Effective people leadership and capability development. • Process discipline and a continuous-improvement mindset. • Data-driven decision-making. Success Definition: First 12–24 Months • Deliver accurate and timely financial closes and management reports with minimal adjustments. • Establish clear cost visibility across operations, products, and stock-keeping units (SKUs), and address significant cost variances. • Improve the reliability and utilisation of SAP data while reducing manual reconciliations and workarounds. • Strengthen financial controls, account reconciliations, and audit readiness. • Improve budgeting and forecasting accuracy and working-capital visibility. • Deliver actionable MIS that supports margin improvement, cost control, cash-flow management, and operational decisions. • Build finance-team capability in costing, analytics, SAP, and business partnering.