Job Purpose
The Senior Accountant is responsible for ensuring accurate and timely recording, reconciliation, control and reporting of the Company’s financial transactions. The position provides particular oversight of fuel procurement, inventory, sales, receivables, payables, bank transactions, taxes and operational costs while ensuring compliance with company policies, applicable accounting standards and Ethiopian tax and regulatory requirements.
Key Responsibilities
General Accounting & Financial Reporting
- Maintain accurate and complete accounting records and ensure transactions are properly classified and supported.
- Prepare monthly, quarterly and annual financial reports.
- Review trial balance; prepare profit and loss statement, balance sheet and cash-flow reports.
- Perform month-end and year-end closing activities.
- Review journal entries, general ledger accounts and supporting schedules.
- Ensure proper accruals, prepayments, provisions and depreciation entries.
- Support preparation of management accounts, budgets and financial forecasts.
Fuel Procurement & Inventory Accounting
- Verify fuel purchase invoices against purchase orders, delivery documents and goods-received records.
- Reconcile fuel quantities purchased, received, stored, transferred, sold and closing inventory.
- Reconcile physical fuel stock with accounting and operational records.
- Monitor fuel gains/losses, shortages, variances and adjustments and report significant discrepancies.
- Ensure correct valuation of fuel inventory and proper recording of transportation, handling and other applicable costs.
- Coordinate periodic physical inventory counts at depots and service stations.
Sales & Accounts Receivable
- Verify fuel sales invoices, credit sales and customer account postings.
- Maintain and reconcile customer accounts.
- Monitor outstanding receivables and prepare customer ageing reports.
- Follow up overdue accounts in coordination with Commercial and Operations teams.
- Reconcile sales volumes with invoices, delivery notes and inventory movements.
- Ensure customer collections are correctly recorded and deposited.
Accounts Payable
- Review supplier invoices and supporting documents before payment.
- Reconcile supplier statements and resolve discrepancies.
- Prepare payment schedules according to approved credit terms and cash-flow priorities.
- Ensure payments are properly authorized and recorded.
- Monitor outstanding supplier obligations and advances.
Bank, Cash & Treasury Control
- Prepare and review monthly bank reconciliations.
- Monitor bank balances, deposits, transfers and outstanding transactions.
- Control petty cash, operational advances and employee settlements.
- Monitor letters of credit, guarantees, overdrafts and other banking transactions where applicable.
- Assist management in preparing short-term cash-flow requirements.
Cost & Profitability Control
- Monitor fuel purchase cost, transportation cost, storage/handling cost and other operating expenses.
- Analyse gross margin by product, customer, station or business segment as required.
- Compare actual expenses against budgets and investigate significant variances.
- Identify unusual transactions, excessive costs, revenue leakage and opportunities for cost control.
- Prepare management reports supporting pricing and profitability decisions.
Internal Control & Audit
- Ensure compliance with approved financial policies, procedures and authorization limits.
- Maintain adequate supporting documents and audit trails for all transactions.
- Participate in internal and external audits and provide requested schedules and documents.
- Identify weaknesses in accounting and internal-control processes and recommend corrective actions.
- Help safeguard company cash, inventory and other financial assets against loss, error and fraud.
Team Supervision
- Review the work of accountants and junior finance staff.
- Allocate tasks and ensure accounting deadlines are achieved.
- Coach and support junior staff and monitor their performance.
- Ensure proper segregation of duties within the accounting function.