Chief Financial Officer at Westsons Limited

Business Type: Chemical Industry
Department: Finance and Accounts
Position Type: Full-Time-Employment
Reports To: Chief Executive Officer

Job Purpose

• The Chief Financial Officer will be responsible for driving the financial strategy and implementation to achieve the business vision
• This role is expected to manage the financial & operational health of the company and create value for the stakeholders.
• The key objective is to create a highly efficient, profitable, and process-oriented organization that attracts good valuation
• The incumbent will provide the leadership and expertise to the company on finance as well operational excellence and help in the achievement of vision & mission.

Key Roles and Responsibilities
Banking and Treasury:

• Represents the company to various banks at the decision-making level to position the company as a key customer.
• Drives the fulfillment of funds requirement of the company for the smooth running of operations and growth (investment) requirements.
• Ensures the cost of funds is optimized. Create strategy and processes to ensure the right mix of local and foreign currency funds to get lower (than market) cost of finance and minimize currency risks.
• Supports the GCFO in identifying, exploring, and availing alternate sources of funds like international institutions, PE, and DFIs and think & create innovative instruments for funding.

Business Partnering:

• Ensures business operations are managed effectively and efficiently.
• Works with CEO and functional heads to drive waste and inefficiencies in all the functions of the organization.
• Minimizes and optimizes working capital requirements by focusing on improvement in various functions of the company.
• Identifies and focuses on process enhancement, redesign, and/ or design in line with the highest operational standards.

Financial Control and Governance:

• Supervises the finance and accounts team to build fiscal discipline, financial accounting, control, and reporting for the company.
• Responsible for creating processes and controls for reducing exposure and minimizing risks to the organization.
• Drives the AOP process.
• Manages cash flows and their effective utilization.
• Leads the company in reporting and representation to the Board and other review platforms within the group.
• Manages external and internal audits to ensure compliance with statutory and group standards and regulations.
• Drives the automation and is responsible for system utilization to reduce manual work in the finance and accounts team.

Preferred Skills / Prerequisites

• Experience in leading and managing the finance functions of large-to-mid-sized companies.
• Deep and wide finance function knowledge of at least 3-4 areas. (Commercial, Banking & Treasury, Accounting & Internal Control, Taxation, Governance & risk)
• Deep understanding of business operations, key drivers (of revenues and costs), and significant understanding of how to improve operations.
• Experience inmanaging multiple stakeholders.
• Strong financial presentation and management skills.
• Ability to prioritize, delegate, and follow through with tasks with or without a team.
• Self-directed with proven ability to research complex issues, work independently, challenge staff, and multi-task several projects efficiently.
• Strong interpersonal skills, capable of developing and sustaining effective peer, project, and organisation relationships.
• Strong communication skills to collaborate with other departments/functional support areas.
• Proficient at supporting and balancing the financial needs of multiple contracts at once.
• Experienced at managing people and direct responsibility for objective setting, performance reviews, and disciplinary actions.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Finance, Accounting, or any Finance-related field.
• A Master’s degree preferably in finance will be an added advantage.
• Professional accreditation (ACA, ACCA, or similar).

Work Experience:

• Minimum of 15 years post-graduation experience with at least 8 years at senior finance level preferably starting a career with an audit practice.
• Knowledge of accounting standards.
• Good Management Accounting and reporting experience is essential.

Salary
N21,000 - N30,000 / month.