EY Mercury Business Advisor - Associate 

South Africa, Gauteng, Johannesburg 

838046347

Key Responsibilities

• You will outreach to client teams based on analysis of generated and customised reports and take responsibility for ensuring all queries are resolved to suitable completion
• Provide guidance on local policy and leading practices
• Facilitate training for client serving team on Mercury and effective financial management practices
• Contribute to continuous improvement by sharing knowledge and providing support to other team members across borders, service lines, and industries and constantly leverage leading practices
• Review open items in ServiceNow (ticketing system), prioritise follow up activities and schedule engagement team meetings for the week.
• Spend scheduled time 'on the grid', taking calls / chats from client servers - which includes activities such as:

• Identifying exceptions on engagement budgets
• Ensuring engagement teams are properly prepared for client negotiations from a financial perspective
• Advising on how to select the correct client entity for opportunities
• Explaining downstream impacts of different user choices required by Mercury
• Provide instruction and guidance on estimate to complete (ETC) processes and corresponding financial impacts

Analytical/Decision Making Responsibilities:

• Make relevant decisions to ensure client servers receive a timely and accurate response such that questions / issues are resolved in a one-stop basis where possible - and where that is not possible, escalated to the appropriate functional expert quickly and effectively.
• Manage new user lack of knowledge / frustration and direct the interaction to the best outcome for the end-user, leveraging strong soft skill abilities and global mindset to adapt personal style where needed
• When working on client server portfolios, leverage system and finance expertise to prepare the discussion: making judgments regarding the topics to address and their prioritisation - understanding when to reach out to other functional experts in order to help prepare for the interaction.

Knowledge and Skills Requirements:

• Professional approach with a strong understanding of the client server perspective and able to view issues empathetically
• Ability to solve problems and provide a credible solution
• Confident to challenge where appropriate
• Strong analytical and numeracy skills, with a high degree of accuracy and attention to detail
• Vigorous time management skills and able to balance multiple priorities by considering risk, importance and level of urgency
• Eagerness to learn quickly, be proactive and share knowledge
• Experience in translating technical system "jargon" into business relevant terms so that concepts are understandable to client serving teams
• Well-developed listening skills to provide focused advice, combined with the capability to apply judgment and seek guidance when escalation to a functional expert is appropriate
• Excellent written, oral and virtual communication skills with the confidence to assist with delivering presentations, training material and knowledge sharing
• Assurance to deliver challenging messages and drive communication to a mutual understanding in a professional manner
• Demonstrate the ability to become an effective change advocate

Other Requirements:

• You will be an experienced Trusted Business Advisor with a passion for providing exceptional client service to your stakeholders whilst maintaining high levels of customer service for internal stakeholders.
• Be innovative, confident and creative thinker with ability to make quick decisions
• Have the ability to think on your feet, use initiative and judgement to make informed decisions

Education:

• Either have a finance or related degree, be studying for an accountancy qualification or experience working for a professional service or consultancy environment

Experience:

• Ability to work in a fast paced environment with a strong work ethic
• Ability to interact well with people at all levels within the firm and build strong relationships
• Strong IT skills – Word, Excel, Outlook, Powerpoint and SharePoint
• Desire to thrive in and adapt to a fast changing and high activity environment