Financial Accountant / Manager: NOA Group Trading

About NOA:

Established in 2022, NOA is a leading renewable energy independent power producer (IPP) and energy trader, licensed by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa. We empower commercial and industrial companies to reach their net-zero goals while securing long-term energy savings. Backed by R3.9 billion in equity capital from Old Mutual’s African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), we currently have 600 MW of owned generation capacity under construction, and another 300 MW of capacity under construction by IPPs where we are the off takers. 

At NOA, we believe that energy is life; it is the pulse that powers our industries, empowers our communities, and builds our societies. We are currently at a unique, once-in-a-generation moment in South African history, similar to the birth of the gold industry or the mobile revolution. It is a mission-critical time, and we have the right partners and expertise to shape the creation of an entirely new energy landscape. 

What truly sets us apart is The NOA Way—our intentionally crafted culture and roadmap for excellence. We aren't just a utility; we are a tight, high-functioning team of "all-in" problem solvers who lean into complexity to find original solutions. We speak simply, act big, and step forward to own the changes our nation needs. 

Our impact is immense: we are here to solve the immediate energy crisis, fuel the growth of the South African economy, and create a global blueprint for a decarbonised future. We are building a phenomenal team to do something magnificent together, and we make sure to savour the journey along the way. 

About the role 

NOA Trading is the commercial engine of the group. It procures electrons from NOA-owned generation sites and trusted third-party IPPs, structures customised power purchase agreements with commercial and industrial customers across South Africa, and wheels that energy through the national grid. Our offering ranges from 1- to 25+ year contracts with flexible volumes and security structures — a fast-moving, contract-rich business that sits at the intersection of energy markets, regulation and finance. 

We are looking for a strong finance professional to join NOA Trading and take ownership of the financial function for the trading business. Reporting directly to the Financial Director – NOA Trading, this person will be the technical backbone of trading finance: producing accurate, IFRS-compliant numbers, treasury and cash management, tax, building robust controls around energy purchases and customer billing, and helping the leadership team make commercially sharp decisions in a rapidly evolving market. We are open to appointing this role at either Financial Accountant or Financial Manager level, depending on the experience and leadership readiness of the successful candidate. 

Key accountabilities 

Financial reporting & accounting 

• 
  Own the full accounting cycle for the NOA Trading entity — from transactional processing through to monthly, quarterly and annual financial statements prepared in line with IFRS. 
• 
  Manage month-end and year-end close processes, including journal preparation and review, accruals, prepayments, fixed assets, intercompany balances and reconciliations. 
• 
  Prepare consolidated reporting inputs into the NOA Group reporting pack, ensuring timely and accurate submission to the FD, Trading and Group Finance. 
• 
  Apply and document the appropriate accounting treatment for power purchase agreements, customer PPAs, wheeling arrangements, derivatives, hedge relationships, leases (IFRS 16) and revenue (IFRS 15) — including ‘own-use’ assessments and hedge documentation where relevant. 
• 
  Maintain the integrity of the general ledger, chart of accounts and supporting sub-ledgers, ensuring controls are robust and audit-ready. 
• 
  Key internal stakeholder engagement including trading executive and group executive teams, internal audit, legal, risk, capital, project finance, assets and sales. 
• 
  Key external stakeholder engagement including shareholders, lenders, external audit, appropriate regulators where necessary and South African Revenue Services (SARS). 

Energy trading operations finance 

• 
  Partner with the trading, operations and metering teams to ensure energy purchases from IPPs, wheeling charges and customer sales are accurately captured, reconciled to metered volumes and settled on time. 
• 
  Build and maintain the financial side of the trading book — daily/weekly trading P&L, gross margin per contract, mark-to-market positions and exposure reporting where applicable. 
• 
  Reconcile settlement statements from Eskom, municipalities and counterparties; investigate variances and drive resolution. 
• 
  Support contract abstraction and the financial onboarding of new IPPs and customers, ensuring revenue recognition, billing rules and credit terms are correctly configured in the systems. 

Management reporting & business partnering 

• 
  Produce monthly management accounts and variance analysis for the FD, Trading, with commercially insightful commentary on revenue, cost of energy, margin and operating costs. 
• 
  Support budgeting, reforecasting and long-range planning cycles for the trading business, working closely with commercial and operations leads. 
• 
  Partner with the commercial team on customer pricing reviews, contract margin analysis and bid/tender financial inputs. 
• 
  Help shape the financial KPIs and dashboards that the trading leadership team uses to run the business. 

Controls, governance & compliance 

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  Design, implement and continuously improve the control environment for trading finance, including segregation of duties, authorisation matrices, balance sheet reconciliations and review routines. 
• 
  Manage the external audit for NOA Trading: prepare audit files, respond to queries, resolve findings and own the relationship with auditors on day-to-day matters. 
• 
  Ensure compliance with relevant South African tax legislation, including corporate income tax, VAT on electricity, withholding taxes and renewable energy tax incentives (e.g. Section 12B/12BA where applicable). 
• 
  Support regulatory and NERSA-related reporting requirements that touch the financial records of the trading business. 
• 
  Identify financial, operational and counterparty risks; recommend and implement mitigations in conjunction with the FD, Trading. 

Treasury, working capital, cash, on and off-balance sheet guarantee commitments and facilities 

• 
  Manage day-to-day cash, banking, payments and treasury operations for NOA Trading, including FX exposures where they arise. 
• 
  Drive working capital efficiency — in particular debtors, IPP creditors and wheeling-related cash flows — and maintain rolling short-term cash forecasts. 
• 
  Monitor counterparty credit exposure on customers and IPPs, working with the commercial team to keep risk within agreed limits. 
• 
  Work closely with the capital and project finance teams to understand the various NOA and customer guarantee instruments, its disclosures, recognition, cash ring-fencing requirements and workings of the various facilities. 

Systems, data & continuous improvement 

• 
  Be a power user (and shaper) of the trading and finance systems — ERP, billing/settlement systems and BI tools — driving automation, data quality and reporting improvements. 
• 
  Identify and lead process improvements as the trading business scales, helping turn one-off solutions into repeatable, controlled processes. 

Income Tax, VAT and other tax management 

• 
  Income tax calculations, completion of provisional tax returns and income tax, deferred tax calculations in the monthly management accounts and financial statements. 
• 
  Monthly VAT calculations, submissions and payments. 
• 
  Other taxes, including dividend withholding tax. 

Leadership (where appointed at Manager level) 

• 
  Lead, coach and develop a small finance team supporting the trading business. 
• 
  Deputise for the Financial Director, Trading on selected matters and represent finance in cross-functional forums within the broader trading business and across the broader divisions of the group including sales, assets, risk, legal, capital and project finance. 
• 
  Contribute to the broader NOA Group finance agenda, sharing best practice across business units. 

Role requirements 

Qualifications: 

• 
  CA(SA) qualification preferred. Other recognised professional accounting qualifications (ACCA, CIMA) will be considered for candidates with strongly relevant industry experience. 
• 
  Completed SAICA articles at a reputable audit firm is highly advantageous. 
• 
  A relevant Honours/B.Com (Accounting, Finance or Financial Management) degree from an accredited South African or international university. 
• 
  Additional qualifications in tax, treasury or energy/commodity markets will be viewed favourably. 

Experience: 

• 
  Financial Accountant level: typically 2–5 years of post-qualification experience, with at least 1–2 years in industry following articles. 
• 
  Financial Manager level: typically 6–10 years of post-qualification experience, including demonstrable ownership of a finance function or sub-function and people management exposure. 
• 
  Direct experience in energy, utilities, power, infrastructure or commodity trading is strongly preferred. Adjacent experience in renewables, project finance, mining/resources or financial services with energy clients will also be considered. 
• 
  Hands-on experience preparing full IFRS financial statements and leading external audits. 
• 
  Income Tax and VAT calculations and return submission competency. 
• 
  Experience working with multiple legal entities, intercompany flows and group consolidations. 
• 
  Track record of building or materially improving controls, processes or systems in a growth environment. 

Industry knowledge, technical competence and skills: 

• 
  Strong, current working knowledge of IFRS, with practical application of IFRS 9 (financial instruments and hedge accounting), IFRS 15 (revenue), IFRS 16 (leases) and the relevant disclosure standards. 
• 
  Solid understanding of South African tax — corporate income tax, VAT (including VAT treatment of electricity), withholding taxes and renewable energy incentives such as Section 12B/12BA. 
• 
  Familiarity with the South African energy market: NERSA licensing, the wheeling framework, Eskom and municipal use-of-system charges, IPP power purchase agreements and the C&I customer landscape. 
• 
  Comfort with derivative concepts, mark-to-market and hedge accounting at a level appropriate to a physical energy trading book. 
• 
  Advanced Excel and strong data skills; experience with ERP systems (e.g. SAP, Oracle NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics, Sage X3 or similar) and BI tools (Power BI, Tableau). 
• 
  Accounting software exposure and experience (e.g. Xero) and familiarity with SARS e-filing portal. 
• 
  Working knowledge of treasury, banking and FX operations in a South African corporate context. 
• 
  Strong commercial acumen — able to translate accounting outputs into insights that inform pricing, contracting and capital allocation decisions. 

Who we are looking for 

NOA is a young, ambitious and high-growth business operating in a strategically important sector. We need a finance professional who is technically excellent and commercially curious, comfortable with ambiguity, and energised by the chance to help build something that matters for South Africa’s energy future. 

Behavioural competencies:   

• 
  Ownership and accountability — takes full responsibility for the numbers and the processes that produce them; finishes what they start. 
• 
  Commercial mindset — naturally connects accounting outputs to business decisions; asks “so what?” as well as “how much?”. 
• 
  Rigour and attention to detail — high personal standards for accuracy, reconciliation and documentation; controls instinct. 
• 
  Resilience under pressure — calm, prioritises well and delivers reliably through reporting deadlines, audits and growth-stage volatility. 
• 
  Collaborative and clear communicator — works easily across commercial, operations, legal and finance teams; explains technical issues to non-finance audiences. 
• 
  Learning agility — the SA energy market is evolving fast; we need someone who actively keeps pace with regulation, IFRS developments and market change. 
• 
  Integrity — behaves consistently with NOA’s values, raises issues early and is trusted by colleagues, auditors and counterparties alike. 

Technical & functional competencies:  

• 
  IFRS technical accounting, including financial instruments, revenue, leases and consolidations. 
• 
  Month-end close, management accounts and financial statement preparation. 
• 
  Audit management — planning, file preparation, query resolution and remediation. 
• 
  South African direct and indirect tax, with awareness of renewable energy tax incentives. 
• 
  Energy trading finance — settlement reconciliation, trading P&L, margin and exposure reporting. 
• 
  Treasury, cash management and working capital optimisation. 
• 
  Internal control design and operation in a regulated, contract-heavy environment. 
• 
  Budgeting, forecasting and scenario modelling. 
• 
  Systems and data — advanced Excel, Xero accounting software, ERP, billing and BI tools; comfort interrogating large data sets. 
• 
  People leadership and development (essential at Financial Manager level; emerging at Financial Accountant level). 

Performance metrics & success measures:  

Accuracy and timeliness 

• Monthly close on schedule, no material post-close adjustments.
• Trading P&L and margin reporting on time, variances explained.
• Annual financials signed off with no material findings or restatements.
• Tax returns (Income Tax, VAT, other) filed on time.
  

Control environment 

• Balance sheet accounts reconciled monthly with sign-off.
• Audit findings and control deficiencies trending down.
• No aged reconciling items beyond agreed thresholds. 

Commercial impact 

• Settlement and billing accuracy targets met (customer and IPP).
• Improvement in debtor days, IPP terms and cash conversion.
• Positive leadership feedback on MI quality.
  

Compliance and risk 

• Full, timely SARS, lender, investor and regulatory reporting.
• No material tax or regulatory penalties.
  

Growth and improvement 

• At least one significant process, system or control improvement per year.
• Direct reports developed and retained.
• Active contribution to the NOA Group finance agenda.
  

  

Why join NOA?

A Once-in-a-Career Mission:  

Joining NOA is an invitation to be part of a growing team at the very forefront of the South African renewable energy industry. We are a dynamic, mission-driven organisation with strong financial backing and a deep commitment to unlocking a just energy transition for our nation. This is a unique moment in history—a chance to shape a new industry from its inception.  

The NOA Way: Culture by Design  

We don't leave our culture to chance; we have intentionally crafted a roadmap called The NOA Way to ensure our business is a remarkable place that houses your highest aspirations. We are "all-in" problem solvers who think big and move with speed to make a significant impact. We value "Performance Connections," the belief that through genuine collaboration, we can achieve results far greater than the sum of our individual parts.  

Investment in Your Evolution:  

We provide a world-class environment designed to help you thrive in a demanding sector:  

• 
  The Powerkit: Every new team member participates in a day-long offsite "experience" in Cape Town to master the skills needed to excel within the NOA system.  
• 
  Continuous Growth: You will benefit from a constant feedback loop through our "RAP" (Review, Analyse, Plan) cadence, alongside coaching resources and "lunch and learns" to own your career path. 
• 
  Supportive Wellbeing: We promote true work-life integration with flexible hours, hybrid work-from-home options, and wellness initiatives specifically designed to "refuel your tank".  

Competitive Reward & Equity:  

We recognise and reward exceptional performance with a framework that allows you to participate in our collective success:  

• 
  Market-Leading Compensation: We offer a competitive salary tailored to your experience level.  
• 
  Incentives for Impact: You will be eligible for a performance-related short-term incentive (STI) bonus.  
• 
  Ownership Culture: We offer meaningful equity investment exposure through our staff share scheme, ensuring you are truly invested in the future we are building.