Suzette van Zyl

The role of Cost Controller was made redundant and I was moved into the position of DPR Controller. The key purpose of the role is to provide a service to manufacturing in order for manufacturing data to be available for reference, decision-making, trend analysis and verification purposes.

GO LIVE for SAP was 1 April 2018 and I was exposed to comprehensive SAP training and the implementation of the new processes to record and govern the manufacturing process. This was repeated in 2023 when the business transitioned to MSD.

My duties include the following:

• Reporting daily, weekly and monthly on production cases, usages, downtime and efficiencies
• Compiling of monthly manufacturing reports
• Provide inventory control support
• Closing out of process orders for syrup room and the packaging lines as per process requirement
• Stock counts (coordinating weekly and monthly stock counts for syrup room and the 2 production lines and conforming to the governance requirements)
• Bill of material integrity checks and to send change requests to a central team
• Coordinate month end cut off for process orders in line with the financial requirements
• Conforming to the governance requirements for document control
• Contious coaching and training of the Team Leaders relating the to the DPR Process

My duties included the following:

• Bill of material costing as well as maintenance and integrity checks on JDE
• Standard cost updates on JDE
• Annual stock revaluations
• Master data maintenance and integrity checks on JDE
• Product costings
• Continuous production reporting
• Works order processing and reporting
• Coordinating and performing month end cut offs on manufacturing process orders / works orders for syrup and finished goods
• Usages analysis reporting
• Stock reconciliations, integrity checks and reporting
• Accrual calculations, summary and journals on JDE
• Cost of sales analysis
• Coordinating and enforcing the stock count process monthly, quarterly and annually
• Compiling overhead reviews of costs and various schedules for management reporting
• Calculating and recharging shared fixed and variable cost components relating to services rendered to a subsidiary company
• Various general ledger recons including work in progress, stock in transit, price variances and revaluations
• Coordinating and performing Control self-assessments and SABOX standard stock counts to adhere to good corporate governance
• Supporting the external auditors and reaching targets which excluded major findings
• From 2005 to 2009, fixed assets formed part of my role. The functions included reporting on the work in progress per project, capitalizing and disposing of assets on JDE, running integrity reports and depreciation.
• From 2009 to 2017, Kiosk management formed part of my role. The functions included the staff reporting to me, stock management, invoicing of sales on JDE, cash management, pricing and the coordinating of stock issues to employees and managing sales to the public. During this period, we changed the layout for optimal stock control.

The role of Costing Controller grew as I grew in my role. I enjoyed continual liaison with all departments on site. I was part of various projects during this period, providing valuable information and analyzing data for management to make informed decisions. I optimised processes, which formed part of my role of which the Stock Count process is an example. I was trained as a JDE Super user. I was part of the Stakeholder Committee until it was dissolved.

With a supporting role to key players, the following projects were successful; the implementation of the Sparkling Soft Drink project; alignment of Tiser products in terms of master data and bill of material. This set the platform for the change of the ERP system from JDE to SAP. I played a key role being part of the integration team, working on the master data requirements for the SAP upload and the testing of the process on SAP prior to day 1 go live.

My duties included the following:

• Creating and maintaining materials and Bill of Materials for all products
• Stock control and stock counts processes for the warehouses and wine shops
• Processing of production confirmations for all finished goods produced
• Sales reporting
• Submission of the SAWIS and Customs and Excise accounts
• Salary journals and reconciliations of applicable accounts and all loan accounts
• Various financial ad hoc functions

I assisted in the transformation from ACCPACC to SAP and also performed the following functions when required:

• Invoicing
• Creation of production orders
• Creation of purchase requisitions and purchase orders

I was appointed Acting Financial Accountant for the period November 2003 to February 2004 while the Financial Accountant was on maternity leave.

Six month practical experience was a requirement to complete my National Diploma in Cost and Management Accounting which I completed between September 1999 to January 2000 and April 2000 to June 2000. After completion of my internship, Appletiser approached me for an additional period which was from November 2000 to January 2001.