AskMandla handles employment for South African households that employ domestic workers. A household signs up on WhatsApp and we produce the employment contract, register the worker for UIF, run her payroll, pay her by EFT, and send her a payslip every month. Around R5m of worker wages moved through us last year, and almost none of it is our own money, it belongs to employers and it is owed to workers. We are looking for the person who keeps that straight.
What you’d own
- The monthly funding cycle. Every household has to have money in their AskMandla account by the 22nd, because the wage goes out on the 28th and we never pay a worker with money we have not collected. You watch the balances, prompt the households who are short, work the exceptions, and tell the payroll team who is funded before the run.
- The books, in Xero. Bank reconciliation across three accounts, journal entries, and month-end close.
- Monthly reconciliation. Checking that what we billed, what the payslips say, and what actually left the bank agree, for each household, not just in total.
- What is left of billing. Ad-hoc invoices, credit notes, and collecting the residual balances on the book.
- Statutory payments. SARS PAYE and UIF remittances, on time.
- Writing it down. We keep a single company knowledge base and the rule is that anything not written there does not exist. The finance section would be yours.
What we need
- Three or more years in bookkeeping or finance administration, taking a set of books to trial balance and month-end yourself.
- Xero, hands-on: bank reconciliation, journals, close.
- You understand that money held on somebody else’s behalf is a liability and not income.
- Reconciliation instinct. You have found the error in a three-way match, and you can say how.
- Collections you have done yourself. Most of our customers are households, and the money at stake is their domestic worker’s wage, so the tone has to be firm and human at once.
- You work to a fixed monthly deadline and you flag problems early.
- Clear written English.
- You can work from our office in Techno Park, Stellenbosch, five days a week.
Helpful, not required: a bookkeeping qualification (SAIPA, ICBA or similar), experience with client funds or a prepaid model, SARS eFiling, an additional South African language.
This role is in the office
We are a small team in Techno Park and we want the finance and payroll people in the room, with each other and with the founders. The last week of every month is when the money has to line up, and that goes better face to face. It is not a hybrid role.
What this job is not
It is not an audit role and it is not only the books. The funding cycle is customer-facing work, and it is the most important part of the job. When a household has not funded their account, a domestic worker does not get paid, that is the standard the role is held to.