Thembelihle Shabangu, Finance Manager
Finance Manager
Current Experience:Finance Manager at FNB South Africa · Full-time Jun 2025 - Present · (1 mos)
PAST EXPERIENCES:Finance Manager at AlphaWealth Feb 2025 - Jun 2025 · (5 mos)
Assistant Financial Manager at AlphaWealth Nov 2023 - Feb 2025 · (1 yr 4 mos)
Assistant Financial Manager at Sasfin Feb 2023 to Nov 2023 · (10 mos)
Financial Accountant Apr 2021 - Jan 2023 · (1 yr 10 mos)
Accountant at Bauba Platinum Ltd · Full-time Jul 2020 - Apr 2021 · (10 mos)
Qualifications:Advance Diploma in Accounting Science
Country of Residence:South Africa
LinkedIn Profile: Meet Thembelihle Shabangu, a passionate and driven finance professional with nearly a decade of experience in the accounting world. As the Financial Manager at Alpha Wealth (Pty) Ltd, her journey is marked by strong leadership, a deep commitment to mentorship, and a love for the fundamentals of accounting that started all the way back in grade 7. Whether she’s guiding her team, building strategic financial reports, or taking on new challenges, Thembelihle brings energy, clarity, and heart to everything she does.
What time do you usually wake up on weekends?
6:00 AM
Are you an early bird or a night owl?
Early bird
How do you spend the first hour of your day?
Checking my phone.
What sparked your interest in accounting or finance?
I was first introduced to accounting in grade 7, and I instantly connected with the concepts and principles. It just clicked for me, and from that point on, I knew it was the path I wanted to follow. I’ve been all in ever since.
Can you share some key career milestones or defining moments?
One of my proudest milestones was earning my SAIPA qualification. I was then promoted from Financial Accountant to Assistant Financial Manager at Sasfin Wealth, which marked a significant step in my career.
A standout achievement for me has been managing my first graduate, she was the first in the Sasfin Wealth Finance team to be made permanent and went on to earn a promotion within her first year. That experience was incredibly rewarding, as teaching and supporting others in their growth are two things I’m deeply passionate about.
Most recently, I’ve been offered a Financial Manager position at FNB. I’m excited about this new chapter and it’s been a strong reminder that hard work and dedication truly pay off.
What is your role within your company’s finance department?
Financial Manager
How do you contribute to the overall financial strategy of the business?
Delivering concise reports that help executives pinpoint areas needing improvement or expansion to support the company’s long-term growth goals.
What is one of the biggest challenges you’ve faced in your role? How did you overcome it?
There was a change in executive and reporting structures. I took the time to understand the new executive’s priorities, what information matters most to them, and how to present it in a way that supports their goals and adds real value.
What tools or strategies do you use to manage the financial operations of the company effectively?
I recognize the importance of human capital and am fully committed to the growth and development of my direct reports. I also focus on mastering reporting systems to efficiently extract the information needed and deliver clear, concise reports.
Share your strategies for staying balanced, especially during busy periods.
I plan ahead by mapping out my time and tracking deliverables and deadlines, since the finance cycle tends to follow a consistent monthly and annual rhythm. That said, unexpected projects do come up from time to time, which can require putting in some extra hours.
What do you enjoy outside of work?
I enjoy unwinding by baking and binge-watching medical dramas.
Do you mentor or support other team members in the finance department?
For our Junior Accountant, I’ve taken the time to guide her through tasks in detail, helping her build a strong understanding of core principles and how to apply them in practice, especially coming straight from university. I’ve gradually given her more responsibility in areas like forecasting, budgeting, reporting, and reconciliations to broaden her skills and experience.
With our Financial Accountant, who is already technically strong, I’ve supported her growth by assigning more complex responsibilities such as building detailed budgets, preparing tax computations, and taking on a greater role in people management and performance appraisals.
In both cases, I’ve provided a clear foundation and direction for the work, ensuring expectations are understood. I continue to make myself available for support whenever challenges arise.
What advice would you give to someone aspiring to work in a finance department?
Having a real passion for accounting is important, the role isn’t always as glamorous as the title might suggest. It can be repetitive at times, so it helps to truly enjoy the work and have a clear sense of where you want it to take you.
Finance offers many different paths, and exploring a bit of everything early on can help you figure out what part of the job excites you most. Once you’ve found that, you can focus your energy on growing in that direction.
One thing I’ve found essential in every role I’ve had is understanding the full flow of the numbers, from where they originate to how they’re eventually reported. You can’t explain, fix, or reconcile what you don’t understand, so it’s important to give yourself time to learn the processes and how the numbers come together.
What’s your favourite quote or mantra that motivates you?
Life is a personal journey, it’s less about competing with others and more about challenging yourself to grow from who you are today into who you want to become tomorrow.
Share a leadership lesson or a piece of advice that’s been valuable to you in your career.
Not everyone learns the same way, some pick things up quickly, while others need a bit more time. Patience, empathy, and being able to communicate in different ways are key to effectively teaching, developing, and leading a team.
What’s something surprising about you that isn’t in your professional bio?
I’m an adrenaline junkie, for me, fun usually means activities that get the heart racing and the blood pumping.
If you could have any superpower to help you in your job, what would it be?
Predicting financial trends.
What’s your go-to strategy for staying productive during long workdays?
A good cup of coffee and ticking things off my to-do list, that’s my kind of satisfaction.
If you could relive one day from your career, which day would it be and why?
The day I received my offer letter from FNB was unforgettable, it’s always been a lifelong dream of mine to work for a major corporate, especially in the banking sector.
From mentoring junior staff to mastering complex reports, Thembelihle proves that growth happens when passion meets planning.
Join CIBA and we’ll show you how to turn everyday accounting into a career that changes lives.
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