The posting
This role is for one of Weekday’s clients
Min Experience: 10+ years Location: Hyderabad JobType: full-time
We are seeking an experienced Finance Manager – Duties & Taxes to lead the duties and taxes function within the Record-to-Report (RTR) process. The role is responsible for financial accounting, compliance, reconciliations, internal controls, governance, and continuous process improvement related to customs duties and indirect taxes, including GST, VAT, and excise duties.
This is a functional finance and accounting leadership role rather than a taxation-specialist position. The successful candidate will manage a team, collaborate with senior stakeholders across business units and regions, and drive process transitions, operational efficiency, and control excellence. The role requires strong team management, Six Sigma/Lean process improvement, and accounting expertise, along with the ability to make structured, data-driven decisions using Quality Decision Making (QDM) principles.
Requirements
Key Responsibilities
1. Team Management and Leadership
- Lead, manage, and develop a high-performing Duties & Taxes team comprising finance professionals and accounting associates.
- Establish clear individual and team objectives, performance expectations, and measurable delivery targets.
- Conduct performance reviews, provide constructive feedback, and implement structured coaching and training programs.
- Define roles, responsibilities, workload allocation, and succession plans to ensure operational continuity.
- Foster a culture of accountability, accuracy, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
- Identify skill gaps and develop team capabilities through cross-training and knowledge-sharing initiatives.
2. Stakeholder Management and Governance
- Collaborate with senior finance leaders and cross-functional stakeholders, including Ship-to-Collect and Clearance teams, to align on accounting policies, transaction treatment, and risk management.
- Lead discussions on complex accounting issues, operational challenges, and process-related escalations.
- Represent the function in Steering Committee (SteerCo) and Project Management Office (PMO) forums.
- Present performance dashboards, risk assessments, issue logs, and remediation plans to leadership.
- Manage relationships with external consultants and auditors, ensuring timely communication and resolution of complex matters.
- Establish governance mechanisms, escalation procedures, and accountability frameworks across the function.
3. Accounting, Compliance, and Internal Controls
- Ensure timely and accurate accounting and reporting of customs duties and taxes incurred during clearance.
- Oversee customer re-billing processes and reconciliations to ensure accurate recovery of applicable duties and taxes.
- Maintain General Ledger (GL) integrity through provisions, accruals, true-ups, journal approvals, and Balance Sheet reconciliations.
- Monitor accounting accuracy, investigate discrepancies, and ensure timely resolution of outstanding reconciling items.
- Implement and maintain robust internal controls, including segregation of duties, approval workflows, and data validation checks.
- Ensure audit readiness and coordinate the resolution of internal and external audit findings.
- Strengthen compliance monitoring and ensure adherence to applicable financial policies, reporting requirements, and deadlines.
4. Process Transition and Continuous Improvement
- Lead the transition of Duties & Taxes processes to new operating models, including in-sourcing and shared-services arrangements where applicable.
- Apply Quality Decision Making (QDM) principles to improve decision quality, risk assessment, and operational outcomes.
- Use Six Sigma and Lean methodologies, including DMAIC, Kaizen, SIPOC, value stream mapping, and root-cause analysis, to identify inefficiencies and eliminate recurring errors.
- Develop future-state process maps, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), Responsibility Assignment Matrices (RACI), service-level agreements (SLAs), and control matrices.
- Identify opportunities to standardize processes, reduce manual interventions, improve turnaround times, and automate repetitive activities.
- Lead knowledge transfer, team training, change management, hypercare, and post-transition stabilization.
- Define measurable transition outcomes and continuously monitor process performance against agreed targets.
5. Technology, Data, and Reporting
- Partner with IT and relevant business teams to support system design, ERP configurations, and process enhancements.
- Improve data integrity through standardized templates, validation mechanisms, and automated reconciliation processes.
- Develop management dashboards and reporting solutions using Microsoft Excel and Power BI.
- Establish exception-monitoring mechanisms to identify compliance risks, posting errors, reconciliation gaps, and process bottlenecks.
- Use data-driven insights to support operational planning, risk mitigation, and continuous improvement initiatives.
Required Qualifications and Skills
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related discipline.
- Professional qualification such as CA, CPA, ACCA, or an equivalent certification is preferred.
- 8–12 years of experience in finance, accounting, or related operations.
- At least 3–5 years of experience in people management, with responsibility for team performance, coaching, and development.
- Strong experience in Team Management, including performance reviews, feedback, capability building, and workload planning.
- Practical experience with Six Sigma/Lean methodologies, process optimization, root-cause analysis, and continuous improvement.
- Strong understanding of accounting principles, General Ledger controls, reconciliations, provisions, accruals, and Balance Sheet integrity.
- Experience managing finance processes, internal controls, governance, and audit readiness.
- Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence senior leaders and coordinate cross-functional decisions.
- Proficiency in ERP systems such as SAP, Oracle, or Microsoft Dynamics.
- Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including PivotTables, lookups, and Power Query.
- Familiarity with Power BI or similar reporting and dashboarding tools.
- Strong analytical thinking, structured problem-solving, attention to detail, and deadline management.
Good-to-Have Skills
- Experience in shared services, Global Business Services (GBS), or large-scale finance operations.
- Exposure to ERP implementations, process transitions, and operating-model transformations.
- Experience with internal and external audits, control-gap remediation, and compliance governance.
- Lean or Six Sigma Green Belt/Black Belt certification.
- Familiarity with Quality Decision Making (QDM) frameworks and documented decision-management practices.
- Strong coaching, feedback, and performance management capabilities.
- Experience developing SOPs, process maps, control matrices, and transition plans.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
- Compliance Timeliness: Percentage of returns and payments completed within deadlines, with no missed critical deadlines.
- Accounting Accuracy: Error rates in financial postings, quality of reconciliations, and reduction in aged outstanding items.
- Control Effectiveness: Audit findings, control exceptions, and turnaround time for remediation.
- Process Efficiency: Reduction in cycle times, manual touchpoints, and reconciliation effort.
- Transition Success: Achievement of transition milestones, knowledge-transfer completion, SLA adherence, and post-transition stabilization.
- Stakeholder Satisfaction: Feedback from finance leadership and cross-functional partners, along with closure rates for governance action items.
- Team Performance: Training completion, employee development, retention, and internal mobility.
- Decision Quality: Consistent application of QDM principles, documented decisions, and measurable business outcomes.
Expected Deliverables: First 90–180 Days
- Establish a functional charter covering governance, roles and responsibilities, reporting cadence, KPIs, and risk management.
- Document current-state and future-state processes, including SOPs, RACI matrices, and control frameworks.
- Develop a structured transition plan covering knowledge transfer, training, SLAs, hypercare, and stabilization criteria.
- Implement a management dashboard covering compliance, reconciliations, exceptions, and process performance.
- Present regular performance and risk updates to finance leadership.
- Build a continuous improvement roadmap with prioritized initiatives, measurable targets, and quantified benefits.
