Position Purpose
The Key Accounts Controller is responsible for the accurate administration, validation, and financial management of customer trading agreements across key accounts. The role supports Key Account Managers by managing promotional commitments, validating customer claims and deductions, maintaining pricing and rebate structures, ensuring contractual compliance, and protecting company profitability through effective reconciliation and dispute management.
The incumbent acts as the commercial finance partner to Key Account Managers by providing accurate financial reporting, maintaining promotional plans, supporting accruals, and ensuring retailer transactions are processed in accordance with agreed trading terms.
Key Accountabilities
- Customer Agreement Management: Maintain customer trading agreements, pricing structures, rebates, settlement discounts, promotional funding, listing fees, and service charges. Monitor renewals, amendments, and expiry dates, and maintain supporting documentation in Ironclad and other approved systems.
- Promotional Plan and Commitment Management: Maintain promotional activities and commitments in the Promotional Management Tool, validate expected promotional costs, reconcile monthly promotional spend against SAP postings, explain variances, and close aged promotional commitments.
- Invoice, Claims and Deduction Management: Validate invoices, claims, rebates, and deductions against customer agreements. Investigate discrepancies, raise disputes for invalid deductions, coordinate resolution with relevant teams and customers, and monitor outstanding deductions to maximize recovery.
- Account Reconciliation and Financial Control: Reconcile customer accounts and monthly statements, monitor aged deductions and outstanding balances, support month-end close through accruals and reconciliations, and assist Commercial Finance with account reviews and reporting.
- Reporting and Analysis: Produce reports on customer deductions, promotional spend, rebate accruals, outstanding claims, contract compliance, promotional commitments, and financial reconciliations. Identify trends and provide commercial insight into promotional effectiveness and customer spend.
- Administration and Compliance: Maintain accurate records of contracts, claims, invoices, and supporting documentation. Support audits and ensure compliance with company policies, financial controls, and customer service standards across Ironclad, SAP, PMT, and Power App.
Minimum Requirements
Qualifications: Diploma or degree in Finance, Accounting, Commerce, Business Administration, or a related field is preferred.
Experience: 3–5 years of experience in Commercial Finance, Sales Administration, or Customer Accounting within an FMCG or retail environment. Experience with major South African retail customers, trading agreements, promotional funding, rebates, claims, deductions, customer reconciliations, and month-end financial processes is required.
Knowledge and Skills: Strong understanding of retail trading terms and customer agreements; knowledge of promotional funding and rebate management; experience with ERP systems such as SAP, Oracle, Dynamics, or similar; intermediate to advanced Microsoft Excel; strong reconciliation and financial analysis skills; and understanding of commercial accruals and customer claims processes.
Core Competencies: High attention to detail, commercial acumen, financial analysis and reconciliation, analytical thinking, problem solving, planning and organizing, relationship management, communication and influencing, accountability, and the ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines.