Regional Chief Accountant

Key Responsibilities

• Oversee day-to-day accounting operations across the West/Central African subsidiaries (general ledger, AP, AR, payroll integration, intercompany transactions).
• Manage and develop a regional accounting team across multiple country offices; set standards, review work, and mentor local accountants.
• Ensure timely month-end and year-end closing for each entity in line with group reporting deadlines.
• Lead tax compliance across each country in scope (VAT, corporate tax, withholding taxes, payroll-related taxes), coordinating with local advisors and authorities.
• Maintain ERP discipline by ensuring accurate posting, chart-of-accounts integrity, and clean audit trails across all entities.
• Liaise with external auditors during statutory audits; resolve audit queries and implement corrective actions.
• Review and approve supplier payments, payroll runs, and intercompany settlements.
• Travel regularly to subsidiary offices and project sites for on-the-ground review, controls testing, and team support.
• Flag financial risks and control weaknesses to Group Finance leadership; recommend and implement improvements.

Required Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related discipline.
• Experience: Minimum 7 years of progressively senior accounting experience, including at least 1 year managing a team.
• Demonstrated tax compliance experience across one or more African jurisdictions or in a multi-country context.
• Hands-on team management track record, including supervising and developing accountants.
• Willing and able to travel frequently across West and Central Africa (often to remote project sites with security and infrastructure constraints) and to mobilize quickly without personal constraints that would limit deployment.

Personal Traits

•  Hands-on operator, willing to dig into transactions, not only review summaries.
• Calm under audit pressure and tax authority scrutiny.
• Firm but fair when enforcing accounting discipline with country teams who may resist change.
• Resilient and adaptable to West/Central African operating conditions such as power cuts, slow internet, and last-minute travel.
• Discreet, handling sensitive payroll and management data without leaks.
• Methodical, leaving a clean trail behind every entry, reconciliation, and decision.
• Comfortable working across cultures and languages, building trust with local teams in different countries.
• Tech-savvy and genuinely curious about how AI tools can be used to improve accounting productivity, automate routine work, and free up time for higher-value analysis.

Technical Skills

• QuickBooks: required, hands-on day-to-day proficiency.
• A major ERP system (SAP, Sage, Odoo, or equivalent): required, with working experience operating in a multi-entity environment.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel: required (pivot tables, complex formulas, financial modeling).
• Multi-entity consolidation experience: preferred.
• Prior experience using African-region payroll or tax filing software: preferred.

Location: Accra, Ghana, with regular travel across Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, and other West/Central African markets.

Language requirements: Fluent English required. French strongly preferred given coverage of francophone subsidiaries.

Salary: Attractive