Case Study – Enabling Growth with Control

Client Overview

One of South Africa’s fastest-growing financial services institutions had reached a critical growth milestone. With expanding operations, increasing client activity, and rising regulatory requirements, the company’s finance function was under pressure. While the business had successfully scaled its services, its internal financial systems, controls, and technical expertise had not grown at the same pace.

The result: a finance function struggling to maintain oversight, meet audit requirements, and ensure consistent reporting across a high volume of transactions. The business needed more than additional hands — it needed a finance support service provider with deep technical expertise, industry-specific knowledge, and the ability to act fast without compromising accuracy.

The Challenge

Like many rapidly scaling institutions in South Africa’s dynamic financial services industry, this client faced the classic tension between growth and control. With operations expanding, the volume of financial transactions increased significantly, but supporting systems and processes remained largely manual and disconnected.

Key challenges included:

• Audit deadline pressure: With regulatory reporting timelines looming, the team was working reactively, trying to close gaps late in the reporting cycle, rather than proactively managing the process.

• Limited internal controls: The absence of robust control mechanisms meant data was inconsistent, with limited traceability and oversight.

• Technical accounting issues: The finance team lacked the deep IFRS knowledge required for accurate treatment of financial instruments, leases, and revenue contracts. Complex transactions were being booked without proper consideration of economic substance.

• Manual and inefficient financial processes: Reconciliations were done manually across multiple spreadsheets, creating bottlenecks and room for error.

The leadership team recognised that these issues posed not just a compliance risk, but a strategic one – potentially undermining investor confidence and restricting future growth. A strategic intervention was required.

Malander Advisory’s Solution

Malander Advisory was engaged based on its proven track record as a specialist finance support service provider to listed companies and financial services institutions in South Africa. Our approach is designed not just to plug capacity gaps, but to deliver long-term strategic finance solutions that transform and future-proof the finance function.

1. Audit Readiness and Financial Clean-Up. The immediate priority was to ensure that the business was audit ready. Our team quickly embedded into the finance environment and conducted a full reconciliation and clean-up of key financial records. This included:
   1. Ensuring that all general ledger balances tied back to subledgers and supporting documentation
   2. Rebuilding data trails where documentation was missing or inconsistent
   3. Cleaning up historical entries and correcting misstatements that had accumulated over previous reporting cycles

The goal was not only to meet the audit deadline but to leave behind a more resilient and transparent reporting environment.

2. Control Environment Design. Recognising that the institution’s existing control framework was not fit for scale, we worked with finance leadership to design and implement a bespoke internal control environment. This framework focused on:

1. Embedding control checks into daily, monthly, and quarterly processes
2. Reducing reliance on individuals by standardising processes and documentation
3. Introducing monitoring tools to track completeness and accuracy across the finance cycle

These controls were integrated directly into the business’s day-to-day operations – practical, effective, and ready to scale with the organisation.

3. Bridging the IFRS Gap. One of the most significant risks was the lack of IFRS technical capability. Malander deployed senior technical accountants – including IFRS specialists – to:

1. Deliver training to both finance and operational staff on relevant IFRS standards, including financial instruments (IFRS 9), leases (IFRS 16), and revenue recognition (IFRS 15)
2. Review and correct prior period entries where technical accounting errors had occurred
3. Implement a substance-over-form framework, helping staff evaluate complex transactions based on economic substance, not just contractual wording

This focus on technical accounting upskilling significantly improved the quality and confidence of financial reporting across the institution.

4. Lasting Impact. While the initial scope of work was focused on immediate audit readiness, Malander’s support evolved into a long-term partnership focused on sustainability and scale. We introduced tools and documentation that would enable the business to operate more efficiently, even as complexity increased:

1. Month-end and quarter-end close checklists to reduce close time and improve accuracy
2. Complex journal templates to ensure consistency and reduce the risk of misstatements
3. System configuration support, helping the business optimise its use of financial systems for better automation and oversight
4. Ongoing advisory oversight, with Malander remaining a trusted advisor through subsequent reporting cycles and strategic finance decisions

The Outcome

The result was a finance function that not only passed its audit under tight deadlines but emerged stronger, more structured, and better equipped for long-term growth. Key outcomes included:

1. On-time and clean audit sign-off
2. Improved financial governance and internal control
3. Reduced manual effort and fewer reporting delays
4. Enhanced IFRS knowledge within the internal finance team
5. A confident, future-ready finance function aligned to the pace of business growth

Why Malander Advisory?

As a trusted partner to South Africa’s most dynamic financial institutions and listed entities, Malander offers:

• Deep technical expertise in IFRS and financial reporting
• Finance function outsourcing and advisory services designed for scale and sustainability
• Hands-on operational support combined with strategic insight
• A commitment to upskilling internal teams and building resilient finance functions

At Malander, we believe growth doesn’t have to come at the expense of control. With the right finance partner, South Africa’s financial services leaders can scale confidently, compliantly, and sustainably.