Internal Controls Specialist

Contract End Date - 30/11/2027

The Internal Controls Specialist is responsible for coordinating and monitoring remediation activities arising from Internal Audit, External Audit, Internal Control Reviews, compliance assessments, and investigations. The role provides oversight of management action plans, tracks progress against agreed commitments, facilitates stakeholder accountability, and provides governance reporting to management.

The position serves as a central point of coordination between business stakeholders, audit functions, and management to ensure that control deficiencies, audit findings, and process improvement initiatives are effectively managed and resolved within agreed timelines. Validation of remediation effectiveness and closure of findings remains the responsibility of the relevant assurance function (Internal Audit, External Audit, or other designated review body).

Key Responsibilities

Governance & Remediation Oversight

Accountable for:

- Maintaining the enterprise remediation action register.
- Tracking findings and actions arising from: Internal Audit reviews.
- External Audit reviews.
- Internal Control Reviews.
- Compliance assessments.
- Investigations and special reviews.

- Monitoring progress against remediation plans and agreed target dates.
- Ensuring accurate and current status reporting on all open actions.
- Escalating overdue or high-risk actions to management.

Responsible for:

- Coordinating follow-ups with action owners.
- Challenging delays and driving accountability for closure commitments.
- Maintaining supporting documentation and audit trails.
- Preparing evidence packages for review by assurance providers.
- Facilitating remediation governance meetings.

Governance Reporting

Accountable for:

- Preparing monthly governance and remediation dashboards.
- Providing regular reporting to Finance Leadership.
- Supporting reporting to management committees and governance forums.
- Tracking remediation performance metrics and trends.

Responsible for:

- Overdue action reporting.
- Trend analysis and root cause reporting.
- Preparation of executive summaries and status updates.
- Maintaining governance records and reporting packs.

Segregation of Duties Oversight

Accountable for:

- Coordinating periodic Segregation of Duties reviews.
- Maintaining records of identified access conflicts and mitigating controls.
- Tracking remediation actions relating to SoD conflicts.
- Reporting unresolved conflicts and associated risks to management.

Responsible for:

- Liaising with system owners and business stakeholders.
- Monitoring progress of agreed remediation actions.
- Maintaining SoD risk registers and reporting.

Continuous Improvement

Accountable for:

- Identifying opportunities to strengthen governance and control processes.
- Supporting the implementation of sustainable corrective actions.
- Driving process standardisation and governance improvements.
- Supporting automation and reporting enhancements.

Responsible for:

- Performing root cause analysis of recurring findings.
- Monitoring recurring audit observations and emerging risks.
- Recommending process improvements to management.
- Supporting cross-functional improvement initiatives.

Qualifications

- Bachelor's Degree in: Accounting
- Finance
- Internal Audit
- Risk Management
- Business Management or related field

Preferred

- CIA
- CA(SA)
- CISA
- CRMA
- ACCA

Experience

- Minimum 5 years' experience in: Internal Audit
- Governance
- Internal Controls
- Risk Management
- Compliance or related fields

- Experience coordinating audit remediation activities.
- Experience preparing governance and executive-level reporting.
- Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills.

Advantageous

- Experience in a large corporate or multinational environment.
- Experience with SAP and governance reporting tools.
- Exposure to controls frameworks such as SOX, ICFR, or COSO.

Key Competencies

Technical

- Governance and Compliance Management
- Audit Finding Remediation Tracking
- Risk Management
- Segregation of Duties Oversight
- Process Improvement
- Reporting and Dashboard Development
- Data Analysis
- SAP and Microsoft Office

Behavioural

- Strong organisational skills
- Attention to detail
- Accountability and ownership
- Influencing and stakeholder engagement
- Effective communication
- Problem solving
- Continuous improvement mindset