Job Description
Industry: Import & Export, Agriculture, and International Commodity Trade
Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Employment Type: Full-time
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Department: Finance & Accounts
Reports to: General Manager / designated senior management
Works closely with: Commercial & Procurement, Operations & Logistics, banks, external auditors, tax advisers, and regulatory authorities
1. Position Purpose
To provide senior-level technical expertise and oversee ETHDAN’s financial planning, accounting, reporting, banking, trade finance, cash-flow management, taxation, compliance, and financial controls while remaining hands-on in day-to-day finance operations. The role will support the company’s import, export, agriculture, and commodity-trading activities by ensuring transactions are properly funded, recorded, costed, monitored, and reported, and by providing management with timely financial analysis and recommendations.
2. Key Responsibilities
A. Financial Planning, Budgeting and Management Reporting
Develop and monitor annual budgets, financial forecasts, working-capital plans, and cash-flow projections.
Provide management with timely financial statements and reports, including profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow, budget-versus-actual, and transaction profitability reports.
Analyze costs, margins, funding needs, and financial performance to support procurement, sales, investment, and business-expansion decisions.
Prepare financial analysis and recommendations for management decisions and promptly flag material variances or funding risks.
B. Accounting and Transaction Control
Oversee day-to-day accounting, general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, bank reconciliations, and financial recordkeeping.
Ensure transactions are recorded accurately and supported by approved contracts, invoices, shipping documents, payment records, and other relevant evidence.
Monitor customer collections, supplier obligations, due dates, outstanding balances, and settlement schedules.
Ensure accounting records and financial statements are prepared accurately and on time in accordance with applicable standards and requirements.
C. Trade Finance and Banking
Manage banking relationships and coordinate with local and international banks on approved financing arrangements.
Coordinate the preparation, issuance, amendment, and settlement of Letters of Credit (LCs), Deferred LCs (DLCs), Cash Against Documents (CAD), Telegraphic Transfers (TT), bank guarantees, and other approved payment instruments.
Monitor trade-finance facilities, foreign-exchange requirements, bank charges, commissions, interest, and other financing costs.
Follow up financing applications and documentation, monitor facility utilization, and report funding constraints or transaction risks to management.
Coordinate foreign-currency transactions and monitor relevant currency and settlement risks within the company’s approved policies.
D. Commercial Costing and Profitability
Work with Commercial & Procurement and Operations & Logistics to prepare and review transaction costing, selling prices, and expected margins before management approval.
Track actual purchase, inland transport, freight, insurance, customs, port, banking, financing, and other applicable costs for each transaction.
Compare actual costs and profitability against approved estimates and report material deviations.
Ensure financial implications of payment terms, delivery terms, credit periods, and supplier/customer arrangements are assessed before commitments are made.
E. Taxation, Statutory Compliance and Audit
Ensure compliance with applicable Ethiopian tax requirements, including VAT, withholding tax, corporate income tax, and other relevant obligations.
Coordinate timely preparation and submission of tax returns and maintain supporting documentation.
Coordinate with external auditors, tax advisers, banks, and relevant authorities as required.
Maintain compliance with applicable accounting, financial, and trade-related requirements and promptly escalate material compliance issues.
F. Internal Controls and Financial Risk Management
Establish, implement, and monitor appropriate financial procedures, authorization limits, segregation of duties, and supporting-document requirements.
Identify and assess risks relating to cash flow, credit, collections, supplier payments, trade finance, foreign exchange, and financial reporting.
Conduct periodic reviews of financial records, reconciliations, transaction files, and internal controls; follow up on identified discrepancies.
Ensure payments and financial commitments are made only with the required approvals and within authorized limits.
G. Team Leadership and Cross-Department Coordination
Provide technical guidance to finance and accounting staff, review work as appropriate, and support consistent application of financial procedures.
Coordinate closely with Commercial & Procurement on supplier terms, pricing, costing, customer collections, and transaction margins.
Coordinate with Operations & Logistics to verify shipment-related costs, customs and transport expenses, and supporting documents.
Provide financial guidance to other departments and submit periodic updates on cash flow, funding, outstanding payments, collections, and transaction profitability.
Job Requirements
Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, or a related field; a Master’s degree is an advantage.
Professional qualification such as Peachtree, CPA, ACCA, or equivalent is preferred.
Normally 7–10 years of relevant finance and accounting experience, preferably in import/export, agriculture, commodity trading, or international trade.
Practical experience in trade finance, banking documentation, LCs, CAD, foreign-exchange transactions, cash-flow management, and transaction costing.
Strong knowledge of Ethiopian tax and financial requirements and familiarity with IFRS or other applicable accounting standards.
Experience using accounting or financial systems such as QuickBooks, SAP, or similar software.
4. Required Competencies
Strong financial analysis, planning, problem-solving, and attention to detail.
Sound judgment, integrity, confidentiality, and a high standard of accountability.
Effective communication, negotiation, and relationship-management skills.
Ability to manage competing deadlines and work practically in a transaction-driven trading environment.
Strong coordination and team-management skills, with a willingness to remain hands-on where required.
5. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Timeliness and accuracy of monthly financial reports, reconciliations, and statutory submissions.
Accuracy of cash-flow forecasts and visibility of short- and medium-term funding requirements.
Timely processing and settlement of approved supplier payments and trade-finance transactions.
Timely follow-up and collection of customer receivables and control of overdue balances.
Accuracy of transaction costing and profitability reporting.
Compliance with approved budgets, authorization limits, tax requirements, and internal controls.
Effective monitoring of bank charges, financing costs, and other avoidable financial expenses.
Quality of financial analysis and responsiveness to management reporting requests.
6. Role Scope and Practical Arrangement
This is a senior technical and operational role. The postholder is expected to provide senior technical oversight of financial planning, controls, reporting, and banking while also overseeing or directly handling key operational finance tasks as required by the company’s size and transaction volume. Routine bookkeeping and document preparation may be delegated to finance staff when available, subject to appropriate review and control.
The role does not independently authorize payments, financing, commercial commitments, or deviations from approved terms; these remain subject to ETHDAN’s delegated authority and management approval procedures.
How To Apply
Qualified candidates can apply via email:- Eleni@ethdanresources.com
