Nicola Hutton

Financial Director with a Big Four audit foundation and accounting-and-law background, combining strategic financial judgement with hands-on coding and finance systems design. Brings depth across IFRS and complex consolidations, multi-entity and multi-currency reporting, treasury and funding, tax and VAT, joint venture governance, high-capex project finance, and executive decision support.

Builds Power

Query and advanced Excel solutions that translate complex accounting rules into controlled, scalable data pipelines, reconciliations, rolling forecasts, consolidation adjustments and management information. Sector experience includes upstream oil and gas, financial services, listed groups, retail lending, private equity, hedge funds and real estate.

Financial Director at Rhino Resources Limited (2023-11 – Present)

Executive accountability for financial management and governance across a multi-entity, multi-currency exploration business, including subsidiaries, joint ventures and project-level operations.

• Own finance strategy, reporting, treasury, cash flow and funding planning for exploration, drilling, seismic and facility development programmes.
• Lead high-capex FP&A, translating operational plans into cost-to-complete forecasts, funding scenarios, cash requirements and decision-useful analysis.
• Direct IFRS, statutory, tax and VAT compliance and act as primary finance liaison to auditors, partners, regulators and professional advisers on reporting, cost recovery and governance.
• Strengthen expenditure approvals, vendor and contractor controls, intercompany processes and JV compliance; monitor foreign exchange, commodity and project cost risks.
• Advise executive leadership and operational teams with commercial and financial insight; review critical payments and contracts and lead the finance team.

Group Financial Manager at iGrow Wealth Investments (2022-08 – 2023-07)

Finance leadership across a diversified portfolio of group entities, with accountability for reporting, tax, forecasting, controls and finance team delivery.

• Directed preparation and review of monthly management accounts, annual financial statements, tax submissions, cash forecasts and budget reporting across the group.
• Applied transaction-level review, reconciliations, variance analysis and reasonableness testing to strengthen completeness, accuracy and internal control.
• Delivered monthly cash flow, budget, forecast and gross profit/loss analysis with practical insight for executive decision-making and operational planning.
• Managed VAT and income-tax compliance and disputes, together with external auditor and professional adviser relationships.
• Implemented group consolidation and financial analysis tools and developed long-term financial models to support sustainable growth and strategic objectives.

Assistant Manager / Audit Trainee at Deloitte & Touche (2019-01 – 2022-08)

Advanced through trainee and assistant manager roles, leading teams and complex IFRS audit engagements across listed and multinational financial-services clients.

• Specialised in group consolidations for JSE-listed entities, working across environments ranging from highly manual processes to fully automated consolidation packages.
• Led engagements including FNB Business, Old Mutual Real Estate Holding Company, Old Mutual Private Equity, H4 Hedge Funds, PSG Konsult Group and Distributions.
• Audited complex multinational structures with foreign subsidiaries, joint ventures and associates, including real estate, hedge fund and private equity accounting and valuations.
• Managed first-time onboarding of listed clients and coordinated engagement strategy, team planning, budgets, timelines and stakeholders across reporting levels.
• Delivered technical accounting training and client seminars and served as a key interface between client management, trainees, managers, partners and Deloitte specialists.
• Consistently achieved Significantly Exceeds Expectations (SEE), Deloitte's highest performance rating.

Assessment of Professional Competence (APC) - SAICA (2021)

Initial Test of Competence (ITC) - SAICA (2019)

BAcc Hons in Accounting – Stellenbosch University (2018)

BAccLLB (Cum Laude) in Accounting and Law – Stellenbosch University (2017)

Business Law International Summer School in Business Law – European Business School, Wiesbaden (2016)