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.