Marah Mwale

Ensuring that Accounts Payable procedures, compliance, and internal control measures are followed while maintaining the Accounts Payable section's financial health and integrity through effective supervision and adherence to best practices:

· Managing Accounts Payable: Supervising the processing of invoices, Vendor reconciliations and ensuring accuracy and timeliness.

· Reporting: Overseeing the preparation of the Vendor’s Age Analysis, GRIR reports, Downpayment reports and vendor performance metrics, to provide insights to management.

· Internal Controls: Implementing and maintaining internal control procedures to safeguard company assets and ensure compliance with regulations and policies.

· Team Supervision: Leading and motivating accounting payable team, including assigning tasks, providing guidance, and conducting performance evaluations.

· Audit Preparation and Coordination: Collaborating with auditors to facilitate the audit process, ensuring that necessary documentation is available and addressing any audit findings.

· Compliance: Ensuring compliance with accounting standards, tax regulations, and other financial requirements relevant to the organization's operations.

· Communication: Liaising with other departments and stakeholders to address financial inquiries, provide support for decision-making, and facilitate collaboration on cross-functional projects.

· Bank Reconciliations: Perform weekly/monthly reconciliation of Bank accounts and following up on unreconciled items.

· Payment Runs: Preparations and processing of Vendors payment runs according to the company processes and procedures.

· Month end Reporting: Preparation of month-end reports, including balance sheet reconciliations.

Ensuring Accounts Payable procedures, compliance and Internal control measures are followed when processing invoices and payments:

· Processing Invoices: Reviewing and processing invoices received from suppliers for goods and services rendered to the company.

· Verifying Accuracy: Ensuring the accuracy of invoices by matching them with purchase orders and delivery receipts or other supporting documents.

· Timely Payments: Ensuring that invoices are paid on time to maintain good relationships with suppliers and to avoid late payment penalties.

· Vendor Communication: Communicating with vendors regarding invoice discrepancies, payment inquiries, and other issues that may arise.

· Recording Transactions: Recording accounts payable transactions in the company's accounting system to maintain accurate financial records.

· Vendor Reconciliation: Reconciling of Supplier Accounts in readiness for payments as per Age Analysis

· Petty Cash - Handling of Petty Cash as per procedures

· House Keeping – Ensuring that Filing is done on a daily and weekly basis.

Overseeing prepayment audit by ensuring that prepayments made by the company are valid, properly recorded, and in compliance with company policies and accounting standards:

· Policy Adherence: Ensure that prepayments follow the company's policies and procedures. This involves ensuring that prepayments are authorised by the proper staff and fall within allowed limits. This includes the review of monthly payroll before sending to the bank and retirement/reimbursement of staff advances.

· Audit Planning: Plan and organise prepayment audit activities, such as setting the audit's scope, identifying major risks, and developing audit processes.

· Risk Assessment: Evaluate the risks connected with prepayments, such as fraud, errors, or noncompliance with accounting requirements.

· Review documents: Verify the validity and accuracy of prepayment transactions by reviewing supporting documents such as invoices, purchase orders, contracts, and agreements.

· Verification of Expenses: Ensure that prepayment expenses are reasonable, fully documented, and consistent with the company's business activity.

· Internal Controls: Assess the efficacy of internal controls governing prepayment procedures, such as segregation of duties, approval processes, and documentation requirements.

· Testing and Sampling: Test and sample prepaid transactions to confirm their accuracy and completeness.

· Identify Errors and Irregularities: Look for any errors, irregularities, or deviations from corporate policies in prepayment transactions and take appropriate corrective action.

· Communication: Share audit results, recommendations, and observations with key stakeholders, such as management, the finance team, and the internal audit department.

· Training and Awareness: Provide training and awareness sessions to relevant staff members on prepayment policies, procedures, and best practices.

· Continuous Improvement: Continuously assess and improve prepayment audit processes and procedures to enhance efficiency, effectiveness, and compliance with regulatory requirements.

· Payments: Authorize vendor payments, customer transport, and volume rebates (incentives and bonuses)

· Treasury: Supervise Forex deals, bids, and fund movements from one account to another by Treasury.

· Cash Call: Review monthly cash calls and VAT cash call applications by Management Accountant before sending to Head Office

· Fuel and Coal: Review fuel and coal payments, as well as contracts before they are awarded by procurement.

· Cost reductions: To cut costs, review contractor payroll for labour hiring, security, and drivers at the end of each month.

The roles involved managing various aspects of the financial operations of the organization, from handling payables and receivables to maintaining accurate records in the general ledger and ensuring compliance with financial regulations and policies:

Accounts Payable (AP):

• Processing vendor invoices and expense claims.
• Verifying accuracy of invoices, purchase orders, and receipts.
• Ensuring timely payments to vendors and suppliers.
• Reconciling accounts payable transactions.
• Responding to vendor inquiries and resolving discrepancies.
• Maintaining vendor records and files.
• Generating AP reports for management review.

General Ledger (GL):

• Recording and reconciling financial transactions.
• Posting journal entries.
• Maintaining accurate and up-to-date GL accounts.
• Assisting with month-end and year-end closing processes.
• Generating financial reports from the GL.
• Ensuring compliance with accounting standards and policies.

Payroll:

• Processing employee time sheets and attendance records.
• Calculating wages, salaries, bonuses, and deductions.
• Ensuring compliance with payroll regulations and tax laws.
• Issuing paychecks or arranging direct deposits.
• Addressing employee payroll inquiries and concerns.
• Generating payroll reports and summaries.
• Liaising with HR for employee data updates and changes.

Cash Book:

• Recording all cash transactions, including receipts and disbursements.
• Reconciling cash transactions with bank statements.
• Managing petty cash funds and reconciling petty cash transactions.
• Monitoring cash flow and preparing cash forecasts.
• Maintaining accurate records of bank accounts and balances.
• Investigating and resolving discrepancies in cash transactions.

Receivables:

• Invoicing customers for goods or services rendered.
• Monitoring accounts receivable balances and aging.
• Following up on overdue invoices and collections.
• Applying payments received to customer accounts.
• Reconciling customer accounts and resolving discrepancies.
• Generating receivables reports for management review.
• Collaborating with sales and customer service teams to address customer inquiries

Accounting Department ensuring customer’s services is adhered to by front office, handling suppliers, report, and payroll:

· Depositing daily sales – cash and cheque to the Bank

· Preparation of monthly income and expenditure reports

· Handling of petty cash

· Helping Pharmacy to purchase drugs weekly – Reconciliation of receipts.

· Preparation of cash flow statement

· Supervising front office cashiers

The responsibilities involved managing various aspects of bank operations, treasury functions, customer interactions, and product development to deliver value to customers, optimize operational efficiency, and drive business growth:

Assistant Manager Product Design:

• Collaborating with product development teams to design innovative banking products and services that meet customer needs and market demands.
• Conducting market research and competitive analysis to identify trends and opportunities for new product development.
• Developing product specifications, features, and pricing strategies based on customer feedback and industry best practices.
• Launching and promoting new products through marketing campaigns, training programs, and customer outreach initiatives.

Bank Office Operations: Overseeing day-to-day operations of the bank branch, including opening, and closing procedures, cash management, and security protocols.

• Ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and internal policies in all operational activities.
• Monitoring and optimizing branch workflows to enhance efficiency and customer experience.
• Preparation of Selected Assets and Liabilities for Bank of Zambia on a weekly basis
• Handling of Real Time Gross Settlement – RTGS.

Treasury:

• Managing the bank's liquidity position by monitoring cash flows, maintaining reserves, and optimizing cash utilization.
• Executing treasury transactions such as foreign exchange, money market trades, and investments to maximize returns while managing risks.
• Implementing risk management strategies to mitigate market, credit, and liquidity risks associated with treasury activities.

Remittance Officer:

• Facilitating domestic and international remittance transactions, including wire transfers, electronic funds transfers (EFTs), and drafts.
• Verifying customer identification and compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations.
• Investigating and resolving remittance-related inquiries, discrepancies, and issues.
• Attending to queries from customers/branches concerning all remittance products, Settlements of all remittance transactions daily and Weekly/monthly reports on Money Gram and all remittance products for performance review.

Being the face of the bank for many customers, responsible for providing exceptional customer service while efficiently and accurately handling financial transactions:

• Conducting teller transactions such as deposits, withdrawals, transfers, and currency exchange for customers.
• Balancing cash drawers and maintaining accurate records of transactions in compliance with banking regulations.
• Educating customers about bank products and services and promoting cross-selling opportunities.

• Enhanced customer satisfaction by efficiently addressing and resolving their inquiries and concerns.
• Helped large volume of customers every day with positive attitude and focus on customer satisfaction.
• Addressed customer complaints and mitigated dissatisfaction by employing timely and on-point solutions.
• Maintained a high level of product knowledge to effectively assist customers with accurate information and recommendations.