Accounting and Tax Specialist

Be the financial guardian ensuring compliance and excellence across our South Africa operations—where your expertise directly supports our mission to serve patients.

Your new role

As Accounting and Tax Specialist, you'll be the key finance professional ensuring our South Africa affiliate operates with the highest standards of financial accuracy, compliance, and control. Working at the intersection of local statutory requirements and global corporate standards, you'll manage critical financial processes while partnering with our Global Business Services team, external auditors, and local stakeholders to deliver timely, high-quality financial reporting.

Please note: This is a 3-year temporary position based full-time in our Johannesburg office.

Your tasks and responsibilities will include:

• Delivering comprehensive financial reporting including Annual Questionnaires, Annual Reports, Tax Reports, and Audited Financial Statements as per IFRS, corporate guidelines, and local legislation
• Managing month-end and year-end closing processes, including postings, accruals, provisions, ICQ controls, and reconciliations to ensure accurate books and records
• Ensuring tax compliance and timely filing of all statutory reporting (financial and non-financial), including Corporate Income Tax, Transfer Pricing, and Tax Questionnaires
• Overseeing working capital management through accurate cashflow forecasting, AR reconciliations, bank account management, and banking transactions
• Overseeing critical payment processes including vendor invoices, expense claims, employee advances and tax payments in coordination with GBS teams
• Serving as the key contact person for internal stakeholders, external and internal auditors, GBS teams, banks, and tax authorities on all accounting matters
• Driving process standardization, best practice sharing, and continuous efficiency improvements while maintaining House in Order across the affiliate
• Providing training and support to employees on financial processes, SOPs, and systems including SAP

Your new department

In Finance, Legal & Global Solutions, we enable Novo Nordisk to fulfil our purpose by safeguarding the business, providing corporate infrastructure, and driving value creation. We are a team of 2,300 colleagues primarily based at our headquarters in Denmark and our Global Business Services centres in India and Mexico.

Within Finance, Legal & Global Solutions, you'll be part of the Finance Operations Centre of Excellence (CoE) for BAMECA/BAAf, supporting our South Africa affiliate. This team ensures financial excellence across the region by maintaining the highest standards of compliance, controls, and reporting quality. Working closely with Global Business Services and local stakeholders, you'll play a critical role in enabling business decisions through accurate financial information while ensuring we meet both corporate and local regulatory requirements.

Your Profile

We're looking for a technically strong finance professional who combines accounting expertise with the ability to work independently and drive results. You'll bring:

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, Accounting, or Business Administration, along with a professional accounting qualification (essential)
• Strong technical accounting knowledge including IFRS standards and tax regulations, with proven experience in financial reporting and compliance
• Solid understanding of internal controls and experience managing statutory reporting, tax filing, and audit processes
• ERP system knowledge, particularly SAP, with strong analytical and detail-oriented capabilities
• Excellent problem-solving skills and ability to work independently while ensuring manager buy-in and alignment with corporate standards
• Customer-oriented mindset with outstanding communication and stakeholder management skills across diverse internal and external parties
• High personal and professional ethics, with a quality, process, and results-driven approach
• Self-motivated individual who can troubleshoot, make independent decisions, and drive standardization and efficiency improvements

Working at Novo Nordisk

Every day we seek the solutions that defeat serious chronic diseases. To do this, we approach our work with determination, constant curiosity and a commitment to finding better ways forward. For over 100 years, this dedication has driven us to build a company focused on lasting change for long-term health. One where diverse thinking, shared purpose and mutual respect come together to create extraordinary results. When you join us, you're not just starting a job – you're becoming part of a story that spans generations.

What we offer

Being part of a global healthcare company means opportunities to learn and develop are all around us. You'll work with international teams across our Finance Operations network, gaining exposure to best practices from around the world while building expertise that spans markets and systems. Here, financial excellence and ethical standards aren't just expectations – they're the foundation of how we operate. We also offer a competitive remuneration package designed with your career and life stage in mind.

We commit to an inclusive recruitment process and equality of opportunity for all our job applicants.

At Novo Nordisk, we're not chasing quick fixes – we're creating lasting change for long-term health. For over 100 years, we've been driven by a single purpose: to defeat serious chronic diseases and help millions of people live healthier lives. This dedication fuels our constant curiosity and inspires us to push the boundaries of what's possible in healthcare. We embrace diverse perspectives, seek out bold ideas, and build partnerships rooted in shared purpose. Together, we're making healthcare more accessible, treating and preventing diseases, and pioneering solutions that create change spanning generations. When you join us, you become part of something bigger – a legacy of impact that reaches far beyond today.