Financial Accountant
Reports To: Finance Manager
Location: Lusaka
Employment Type: Full-Time
Systems Used: Sage Evolution 200.
We are looking for an experienced Financial Accountant to own the General Ledger, month-end and year-end close, financial reporting, while supporting cashbook, accounts payable, fixed asset, audit and budgeting processes. This role reports to the Finance Manager.
Key Responsibilities
1. General Ledger Management
• Maintain the Company's General Ledger by ensuring that all financial transactions are accurately recorded, classified and allocated to the correct General Ledger accounts, cost centres and accounting periods within Sage Evolution 200.
• Prepare and post monthly journal entries for accruals, prepayments, payroll, depreciation, inventory adjustments, intercompany transactions and other financial adjustments, ensuring all journals are fully supported and authorised.
• Review journal supporting documentation to ensure every journal entry is supported by complete, accurate and authorised documentation before being processed.
• Process accruals and prepayments to ensure income and expenditure are recognised in the correct accounting period in accordance with the matching principle and applicable accounting standards.
• Process depreciation journals by calculating monthly depreciation using approved depreciation methods and ensuring fixed assets are depreciated accurately throughout their useful lives.
• Process payroll journals by accurately recording payroll costs, statutory deductions, employee benefits and payroll-related liabilities in the General Ledger.
• Maintain the Chart of Accounts by creating, amending and deactivating General Ledger accounts where authorised, ensuring the account structure supports accurate financial reporting and management analysis.
• Ensure accurate account coding by reviewing financial transactions to confirm that income, expenditure, assets, liabilities and equity items have been allocated to the appropriate accounts and cost centres.
• Review suspense accounts on a regular basis to identify unidentified or incorrectly allocated transactions, ensuring all items are investigated and cleared within agreed timeframes.
• Investigate ledger discrepancies by analysing variances, identifying the root cause of errors and implementing corrective journal entries where necessary.
• Ensure all transactions comply with company accounting policies by monitoring adherence to internal financial procedures, accounting standards and statutory regulations.
2. Month-End and Year-End Close
• Prepare month-end closing schedules by coordinating finance activities, communicating deadlines and ensuring all accounting processes are completed within agreed reporting timelines. Schedules must be sent by the 4th of every month to the Finance Manager.
• Ensure all accounting transactions are captured before month-end close by verifying that all invoices, receipts, payments, journals and adjustments have been processed accurately and completely.
• Reconcile all balance sheet accounts to ensure balances are accurate, fully supported and free from unexplained reconciling items.
• Review income statement accounts to confirm that all income and expenditure have been accurately recorded, allocated and reported within the correct accounting period.
• Prepare month-end journals for accruals, provisions, depreciation, payroll adjustments and other period-end accounting entries.
• Ensure all bank reconciliations are complete by reviewing reconciliations, resolving outstanding items and confirming that bank balances agree to accounting records.
• Reconcile fixed assets by verifying that the Fixed Asset Register agrees to the General Ledger and all acquisitions, disposals and depreciation have been correctly processed.
• Reconcile VAT accounts to ensure VAT transactions are complete, accurately recorded and ready for statutory submission.
• Reconcile WHT accounts to ensure WHT transactions are complete, accurately recorded and ready for statutory submission.
• Reconcile payroll control accounts by verifying payroll journals against payroll reports and statutory deductions.
• Reconcile debtors and creditors control accounts to ensure subsidiary ledgers reconcile with General Ledger balances and outstanding differences are investigated promptly.
• Prepare month-end working papers containing reconciliations, schedules and supporting documentation for all material balance sheet accounts.
• Assist with year-end financial statement preparation by preparing audit schedules, supporting documentation and statutory disclosures required for annual financial reporting.
3. Financial Reporting
• Prepare accurate, timely and meaningful financial reports that support management decision-making and business performance monitoring.
• The following reports must be shared by the 4th of every month: Trial Balance, Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow Report, Fuel Analysis, General Ledger Analysis, Accounts Receivable Ageing, and Accounts Payable Ageing.
• Logistics vs Sage Sales Reconciliation must be shared by the 10th of every month.
4. Sage Evolution 200 Administration
• Maintain finance master data by ensuring customer, supplier, General Ledger and other financial records remain accurate, complete and up to date.
• Maintain the Chart of Accounts to support accurate financial reporting and evolving business requirements.
• Monitor General Ledger integrity by reviewing system balances, transaction postings and accounting controls.
• Support finance staff with Sage queries by providing technical assistance, user guidance and troubleshooting support.
• Assist with system upgrades and testing by participating in user acceptance testing, validating functionality and ensuring business continuity.
• Ensure finance transactions are processed correctly by monitoring system processing and resolving transaction errors promptly.
• Ensure accurate VAT configuration within Sage Evolution 200 to support compliant VAT processing and reporting.
• Liaise with IT and Sage consultants regarding system enhancements, technical support and implementation of new functionality.
5. Cashbook and Banking
• Review bank reconciliations to ensure all bank accounts reconcile accurately with accounting records and that outstanding items are resolved promptly.
• Investigate unreconciled items by identifying discrepancies between bank statements and accounting records and implementing corrective action.
• Process bank journals for bank charges, interest, transfers and other banking transactions requiring General Ledger adjustments.
• Monitor cash balances to ensure sufficient liquidity for operational requirements and identify potential cash flow constraints.
• Assist with cash flow forecasting by analysing anticipated receipts and payments and preparing short- and medium-term cash flow projections on a weekly basis.
• Communicate with the Bank Relationship Manager in the event of Asycuda entries not being receipted, payments not going through, or any other banking issue.
• Ensure timely banking of receipts by monitoring cash collections and ensuring customer payments are accurately allocated.
• Review electronic payments before initiation to verify payment accuracy, supporting documentation and compliance with delegated authority levels.
• Investigate banking discrepancies and liaise with financial institutions to resolve outstanding banking issues.
• Oversee the administration and control of petty cash by ensuring that petty cash funds are maintained in accordance with Company policies, expenditure is properly authorised, adequately supported by original documentation and used only for legitimate business purposes.
• Review and reconcile petty cash balances on a regular basis by verifying that cash on hand agrees with the petty cash ledger, investigating any shortages or overages and ensuring discrepancies are promptly resolved and reported.
• Process petty cash reimbursements by reviewing supporting documentation, confirming appropriate approvals have been obtained and ensuring replenishments are accurately recorded in Sage Evolution 200.
• Conduct periodic and surprise petty cash counts to verify the accuracy of petty cash balances, ensure compliance with internal controls and minimise the risk of fraud or misappropriation.
• Monitor petty cash expenditure trends by analysing spending patterns, identifying unusual transactions and recommending improvements to petty cash controls or expenditure limits where appropriate.
6. Accounts Payable
• Review supplier reconciliations to ensure supplier statements agree with Company records and that outstanding differences are investigated and resolved promptly.
• Monitor outstanding invoices by ensuring supplier invoices are processed accurately, authorised appropriately and recorded within the correct accounting period.
• Review creditor ageing reports to monitor payment obligations, identify overdue accounts and ensure supplier payments are managed in accordance with agreed payment terms and Company cash flow requirements.
• Verify supplier payment schedules by confirming that all proposed payments are accurate, supported by approved documentation and comply with delegated authority levels.
• Ensure supplier allocations are accurate by confirming that supplier invoices, credit notes and payments are correctly allocated against the relevant supplier accounts and General Ledger codes.
• Investigate supplier queries by liaising with suppliers and internal departments to resolve invoice disputes, payment discrepancies and reconciliation differences in a timely manner.
• Monitor duplicate payments by reviewing payment reports and system controls to prevent duplicate processing and minimise financial risk.
7. Fixed Assets
• Record additions and disposals by ensuring all acquisitions, transfers and disposals are accurately captured in the Fixed Asset Register and supported by appropriate documentation and approvals.
• Calculate depreciation using approved accounting policies and depreciation methods, ensuring monthly depreciation charges are accurate and correctly recorded.
• Perform monthly reconciliations between the Fixed Asset Register and the General Ledger to ensure all balances are complete and accurate.
• Conduct asset verification exercises by coordinating periodic physical asset inspections and investigating any discrepancies between physical assets and accounting records.
• Prepare capital expenditure schedules by recording approved capital projects, monitoring expenditure against approved budgets and reporting on project progress.
• Maintain asset documentation including purchase invoices, disposal documentation, ownership records, insurance information and supporting schedules for audit purposes.
8. Audit Support
• Prepare audit schedules by compiling detailed reconciliations and supporting schedules for all significant balance sheet and income statement accounts.
• Compile supporting documentation including invoices, contracts, reconciliations, journals and other financial records required by auditors.
• Resolve audit queries by responding promptly to requests for information, providing supporting evidence and clarifying accounting treatments where necessary.
• Reconcile audit differences by investigating proposed audit adjustments, preparing corrective journals where required and ensuring all differences are appropriately resolved.
• Implement audit recommendations by assisting with the development and implementation of corrective actions that strengthen internal controls and improve financial processes.
• Maintain audit files by ensuring all audit documentation is organised, complete and retained in accordance with Company record retention policies.
9. Budgeting and Forecasting
• Assist in preparing annual budgets by collecting financial information from operational departments, analysing historical trends and preparing detailed budget schedules.
• Analyse budget variances by comparing actual financial performance against approved budgets, identifying significant variances and providing explanations to management.
• Prepare forecasting schedules by developing detailed revenue, expenditure, cash flow and capital expenditure forecasts to support business planning and strategic decision-making.
