Reconciliation Specialist

Reporting to: Senior Accountant: Banking Location: Cape Town ALL STAFF APPOINTMENTS WILL BE MADE WITH DUE CONSIDERATION OF THE COMPANY'S EE TARGETS WHAT WE DO Lula is an innovative and human-focused FinTech company on a mission to help small businesses optimise their cash flow. Our purpose is to help SMEs manage their businesses better, faster, and more simply, so they can spend more time doing what they love. If you're looking for a new place to call 'home' that believes in the potential of the broader SME landscape in South Africa and a place where you'll work with awesome people - then Lula's the place for you! We're making business banking fast, human, Lula! OUR VALUES Collaborative - we're a clan and work together as a team, always towards a common goal Committed - we're accountable and follow through no matter the challenge Curious - we look for better ways to do things and make a positive difference Connected - we stay close to, learn from and look to understand each other and our customers Compassionate - we go out of our way to care about our colleagues, our customers and our community OVERALL PURPOSE This is a newly created role within the finance team and reports to the Senior Accountant. The role focuses on the company's business banking product offered to SMEs.   The primary objective is to prepare daily bank account reconciliations to identify and resolve exceptions, track uncleared reconciliation items, and resolve these with the relevant external and internal parties.  These daily reconciliations form an integral part of banking regulations and compliance.  Secondary objectives include providing support to the Senior Accountant in building out our current reconciliations processes and to assist with enabling Lula to become more system driven with reconciliations and reporting in order to enhance the overall accuracy thereof for the company and its stakeholders (partner bank, auditors, SARB, suppliers).  Duties and Responsibilities include, but is not limited to: Daily: Sourcing customer transaction files and account balances reports, converting to readable format and importing into the daily bank reconciliation file. Importing bank transactions provided by the partner bank.Reviewing journal files, updating where necessary and sharing to the partner bank.Reconciling the Pool, EFT, RTC and SWIFT control accounts, keeping track of variances (separating between permanent variances and timing variances).Raising tracked issues through the appropriate channels, and monitoring and following up on these issues on a daily basis through to resolution. As required, in conjunction with the Senior Accountant, resolve queries within the network of stakeholders and suppliers.Tracking multiple sources of variances and updating as these are cleared. Examples include unprocessed card transactions, failed debit reversals, interchange postings and fees. Identifying settlements not posted or incorrectly posted by the partner bank and investigating through the appropriate channels. Reconciling daily clearing transactions from Suspense accounts to Pool accounts. Tracking journals which have not yet been posted. Overall management of pool accounts and control checks to ensure the accuracy of balances.Reconciling the company's corporate bank account for fee income, interest income and expenses.Process adjustments to customer accounts as required.  Ad-hoc:  Work closely with the Product and Banking Operations teams to understand changes to the system and processes that affect financial reporting and customer balances. Assist the Senior Accountant with preparing Banking focused reporting (eg: Profitability analysis, KPIs, budgets and other metrics) Function as a support to Banking Operations for customer balance queries Provide team support as required THE COMPETENCIES WE'RE AFTER Able to perform complex reconciliations with large data sets from multiple sourcesSelf-starter who is comfortable working in a growing department within a start-up environment where not all controls and processes are already in placeExcellent communication skills, having the ability to clearly communicate a problem and a suggested solution. Has a good track record of sharing daily updates with reporting line, demonstrating the ability to manage self and prioritise tasksQuick to understand and execute on existing reconciliation processesA good understanding of principles required for banking (Transaction types, Journal codes, Pool accounts, POS, ATM, EFT, reversals, RTC, SWIFT)High performer with a track record of delivering reliable resultsAbility to handle multiple daily reconciliations Strong organisational skills and attention to detailStrives to achieve accuracy in everything you doTHE SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE WE'RE LOOKING FOR Relevant tertiary/higher education qualification in accounting/commerce (BCom or similar) 2 to 4 years relevant similar experience in a fast paced financial services environment, with banking experience preferred but not essentialExperience with preparing large financial reconciliations on a daily basisExperience working with big data within relevant programsComputer Literacy (MS Excel, Google Suite, Slack, Banking platforms)