Senior Financial Accountant

Location: CapeTown
Employment Type: Full-time 
Reports To: Company Directors / Senior Management

Role Overview

WOLO Travel is looking for a reliable, detail-orientedand hands-on Senior Financial Accountant to take ownership ofthe company’s day-to-day accounting function, month-end reporting,reconciliations, statutory compliance and financial controls.

This role is ideal for an experienced accountant whoenjoys working close to the numbers, improving systems and processes, andsupporting management with accurate, timely and commercially useful financialinformation.

The successful candidate will play an important rolein ensuring that WOLO Travel’s financial records are accurate, reconciliationsare completed on time, statutory obligations are met, and management has clearvisibility over financial performance, cash flow, supplier payments andbusiness margins.

This is a practical, hands-on accounting role suitedto someone who can work independently in a fast-moving travel business withmultiple suppliers, customer deposits, refunds, forex transactions, paymentchannels and high-volume reconciliations.

Key Responsibilities

Accounting & Month-End Reporting

• Manage the day-to-day accounting function for WOLO Travel.
  
• Own the month-end close process, including journals, accruals, provisions and reconciliations.
  
• Prepare monthly management accounts and financial reports for review by management.
  
• Prepare quarterly and annual financial information as required.
  
• Maintain accurate and complete accounting records.
  
• Ensure all transactions are recorded correctly and allocated to the correct accounts, departments, destinations or cost centres where applicable.
  
• Review income, cost of sales, expenses and balance sheet items for accuracy and completeness.
  
• Identify and investigate unusual variances, duplicate transactions, missing entries or reconciliation issues.
  

Reconciliations & Financial Controls

• Perform bank reconciliations across relevant accounts.
  
• Reconcile supplier accounts, customer receipts, deposits, refunds and payment gateway transactions.
  
• Maintain accurate accounts payable and accounts receivable records.
  
• Reconcile balance sheet accounts monthly.
  
• Monitor outstanding supplier balances, customer balances and internal finance queries.
  
• Support the management of customer deposits, supplier prepayments and booking-related transactions.
  
• Ensure financial controls are followed and recommend improvements where gaps are identified.
  
• Assist in strengthening internal processes to reduce errors, improve visibility and ensure clean financial records.
  

Travel-Specific Finance Support

• Support reconciliation of travel bookings, supplier invoices and customer payments.
  
• Assist with margin reporting across travel packages, destinations and sales channels.
  
• Help identify discrepancies between booking systems, accounting records and payment platforms.
  
• Assist with reconciliations involving multi-currency supplier payments and foreign exchange transactions.
  
• Support the finance process around cancellations, refunds, credits and supplier recoveries.
  
• Work closely with sales, product and operations teams to resolve finance-related booking queries.
  

Statutory Compliance & Tax

• Prepare and assist with SARS submissions, including VAT and other relevant statutory returns.
  
• Support PAYE, EMP201, EMP501 and related payroll compliance processes where required.
  
• Assist with income tax preparation and year-end tax schedules in coordination with external accountants or tax advisors.
  
• Ensure compliance with South African accounting standards, tax requirements and statutory deadlines.
  
• Maintain accurate supporting documentation for all statutory submissions.
  
• Coordinate with external accountants, auditors, tax advisors and regulatory bodies where required.
  

Cash Flow, Budgeting & Management Support

• Assist with cash flow reporting and supplier payment planning.
  
• Support management with budgeting, forecasting and financial analysis.
  
• Provide financial information to help management make informed commercial decisions.
  
• Assist with tracking actual performance against budget or targets.
  
• Prepare ad hoc financial reports and analysis when required.
  
• Support directors and senior management with financial queries and reporting requests.
  

Systems & Process Improvement

• Work with accounting and operational systems to ensure accurate financial data.
  
• Support improvements to accounting processes, reconciliations and reporting workflows.
  
• Assist with the integration or alignment of finance data across systems such as Xero, Zoho, Moonstride or other relevant platforms.
  
• Identify opportunities to automate manual processes and improve reporting accuracy.
  
• Maintain organised financial records, schedules and documentation.
  

Audit & Year-End Support

• Prepare year-end schedules and supporting documentation.
  
• Assist with annual financial statement preparation.
  
• Liaise with external auditors or accountants during audit and year-end processes.
  
• Ensure audit files and supporting schedules are complete, accurate and available on time.
  

Requirements

Required Experience & Qualifications

• Degree in Accounting, Finance or a related field.
  
• Minimum of 5 years’ relevant accounting experience.
  
• Strong experience in month-end accounting, reconciliations and management reporting.
  
• Experience handling a broad accounting function independently.
  
• Strong understanding of South African VAT, SARS compliance and statutory requirements.
  
• Experience with accounting software, preferably Xero.
  
• Strong Microsoft Excel skills.
  
• High attention to detail and strong organisational ability.
  
• Ability to work independently and meet deadlines.
  
• Strong problem-solving skills and willingness to investigate discrepancies.
  
• Good communication skills and ability to work with non-finance teams.
  
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced SME environment.
  

Advantageous Experience

• SAIPA or SAICA articles completed.
  
• Professional Accountant (SA), CA(SA), ACCA or similar qualification advantageous but not essential.
  
• Experience in travel, tourism, hospitality, retail, e-commerce or another high-volume transactional environment.
  
• Experience with multi-currency transactions and foreign supplier payments.
  
• Experience with customer deposits, refunds, supplier prepayments and margin reporting.
  
• Experience with Xero, Zoho, Moonstride or similar booking/accounting platforms.
  
• Experience improving accounting processes, reconciliations and internal controls.
  
• Experience supporting directors or senior management with reporting and analysis.
  

Key Attributes

The ideal candidate will be:

• Detail-oriented and accurate.
  
• Reliable and deadline-driven.
  
• Hands-on and willing to get into the detail.
  
• Commercially aware.
  
• Comfortable working independently.
  
• Process-minded and organised.
  
• Proactive in identifying issues and recommending improvements.
  
• Able to communicate clearly with management and other departments.
  
• Calm under pressure and comfortable in a fast-moving business.
  
• Responsible, accountable and solutions-focused.
  

What Success Looks Like

Success in this role would mean:

• Monthly accounts are accurate, complete and prepared on time.
  
• Bank, supplier, customer and balance sheet reconciliations are clean and up to date.
  
• SARS and statutory obligations are submitted accurately and on time.
  
• Management has clear visibility over financial performance, cash flow and key finance issues.
  
• Finance queries from sales, product and operations are resolved efficiently.
  
• Booking, supplier and payment discrepancies are identified and corrected quickly.
  
• Financial controls and accounting processes improve over time.
  
• The business has reliable financial information to support better decision-making.
  

Benefits