Financial Controller

Financial Controller

Benguela Cove Lagoon Wine Estate | Cape Town (occasional visits to the estate in Hermanus) | Full-time

About the Role

Benguela Cove Investments (Pty) Ltd is the holding entity for Benguela Cove Wine Estate and a portfolio of hospitality and property interests in the Overberg region. We are looking for an experienced, detail-oriented Financial Controller (CT based) to manage the day-to-day financial administration of the BCI entity and support the Group Financial Controller in ensuring accurate and timely reporting. If you’re an experienced bookkeeper or accountant ready to take full ownership of a set of books, this is your next step.

Key Responsibilities

Books and transaction processing

• Process supplier invoices, track approvals and resolve supplier queries
• Handle daily cash-ups, banking, supplier payment runs and cash reconciliations
• Oversee the invoicing of wine, villa, events and F&B customers, allocate receipts and follow up on outstanding accounts
• Process all transactions on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central

Reconciliations and trial balance

• Deliver a complete, accurate and fully reconciled trial balance for Benguela Cove each month, on deadline
• Reconcile bank, debtors, creditors and balance sheet control accounts monthly
• Process accruals, prepayments, depreciation and other month-end journals
• Reconcile intercompany loan accounts between Benguela Cove, BCI and associated companies
• Help with stock counts and reconcile stock movements across wine, bulk storage and F&B to the ledger
• Provide the reconciled trial balance and supporting schedules to the Group Financial Controller for management reporting

Tax, payroll and audit support

• Prepare VAT reconciliations and returns
• Provide payroll inputs and reconcile PAYE, UIF and SDL to the ledger
• Prepare audit files, schedules and supporting documents, and answer auditor queries

Controls and the estate

• Follow and help improve approval processes, documentation and audit trails
• Act as the first point of contact for finance queries from the estate’s operational teams

Requirements

• Minimum: a bookkeeping, accounting or finance qualification (diploma or BCom). SAIPA or ICB is an advantage.
• 4 to 6 years’ accounting experience, including taking a full set of books to trial balance on your own
• Working knowledge of South African VAT and payroll tax reconciliations
• Experience preparing for or supporting an annual audit
• Good Excel skills (lookups, pivot tables, reconciliations)
• Experience with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and/or Wine MS (advantageous)
• Experience in wine, agriculture, hospitality or tourism (advantageous but not essential)
• Stock accounting experience in a production or F&B environment (advantageous)
• Own transport required for occasional visits to the estate in Hermanus

Skills & Competencies

• Strong reconciliation skills. You find discrepancies, work out why they happened and fix them.
• Attention to detail and a methodical approach
• Ability to work independently and own a full set of books
• Proactive: you raise issues early, before they become problems
• Deadline-driven, with the ability to manage competing priorities
• Clear communication with operational teams who aren’t in finance

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