Overview
Head Accountant Jobs in South Africa at MAVI
Title: Head Accountant
Company: MAVI
Location: South Africa
Head Accountant
MAVI partners with high-growth US startups and SMEs, embedding experienced accounting professionals directly within their finance teams. This is not a traditional accounting role — you will be the senior accounting authority for US clients, owning the books outright while mentoring your team in a fast-moving environment.
The Opportunity
As Head Accountant, you will be the most senior accountant on the client’s books. You will own the general ledger, the close, and the financial statements, hold final review over everything the accounting team produces, and be the person US leadership comes to when an accounting question needs a definitive answer.
You will lead a small team of accountants and work directly with US Controllers and CFOs. The seat is substantively hands-on: you will review the team’s work in the morning and prepare the difficult entries yourself in the afternoon.
What You Will Own
- Own end-to-end accounting (Record-to-Report) for US clients, from first accrual to final statement
- Own the general ledger and the balance sheet, driving reconciling items to resolution rather than reporting them
- Own the month-end, quarter-end, and year-end close cycles, with accountability for the calendar and cycle time
- Prepare and finalize financial statements under US GAAP, and stand behind them with leadership and auditors
- Own technical accounting treatment — revenue recognition, deferred revenue, accruals, and capitalisation — and document the judgements behind each
- Hold final review over journal entries, reconciliations, and supporting schedules prepared by the team
- Lead and mentor a team of accountants, and set the standard their work is held to
- Maintain and enforce accounting policies, internal controls, and approval workflows, and flag where the current design no longer fits
- Own audit readiness and manage auditor interactions, PBC delivery, and resolution of findings
- Support US tax advisers with the accounting inputs they depend on
- Act as the primary US client contact on accounting matters, building strong stakeholder relationships
- Drive process automation, ERP improvements, and the documentation that keeps the close reproducible
What We’re Looking For
- 8+ years of accounting experience with deep US GAAP expertise
- Demonstrated ownership of a full close cycle and the financial statements on an independent basis
- Prior experience managing, reviewing, or mentoring a team of accountants
- Experience supporting or managing an audit, including direct interaction with external auditors
- Strong technical judgment, with the ability to reach a defensible conclusion and document it
- Experience with multi-entity accounting and consolidation preferred
- ERP experience (NetSuite, Sage Intacct, QuickBooks, Toast, or similar)
- CA / CPA / ACCA (or equivalent) strongly preferred
- Excellent English communication, with the confidence to explain an accounting conclusion to a non-accountant
- Ability to work with US time zone overlap
Why Join MAVI?
- Own the books outright for some of the most exciting US companies
- Be the definitive accounting authority in the room, not one voice among several
- Build and lead high-performing accounting teams
- Fast-track career path to Controller, Head of Accounting, and Head of Finance roles
- Flexible remote work with global impact
- Compensation in USD