BILLING ACCOUNTANT

Position/Employment type:

Billing Accountant

Organization/Reporting line:

Reports to: Country Head of Finance / Financial Controller

Direct Partners: Operations Team, Sales Team, Credit & Collections Team, Finance Team

Place of work/Travel:

Head Office, Lilongwe, Malawi

Contact and Cooperation:

The role holder works closely with Operations, Sales, Credit & Collections and Finance to ensure accurate billing, strong revenue controls, VAT compliance and effective collections.

In-Country:

Key contributor within the Finance Function, supporting revenue assurance, cash flow optimisation and statutory compliance.

Partnering:

• Operations Team
• Sales & Commercial Team
• Credit & Collections Team Cooperation:
• Procurement
• Human Resources
• Finance Teams External:
• Customers
• Vendors (where applicable)

Job Summary:

Role Objective

Reporting to the Country Head of Finance / Financial Controller, the Billing Accountant is responsible for the end-to-end billing and revenue cycle, ensuring:

• Accurate and timely invoicing of all services
• Zero revenue leakage
• Full VAT output compliance
• Strong oversight of collections activities
• Effective conversion of billed revenue into cash

The role ensures compliance with IFRS, Malawi tax legislation and GardaWorld accounting policies, while supporting cash flow and financial performance objectives

Key Responsibilities:

1. Billing & Revenue Assurance

• Prepare and issue accurate monthly invoices for all services including Guarding, Technical, Response, Alarms, all additional revenue streams and ad-hoc services.
• Ensure 100% of services delivered are invoiced, eliminating revenue leakage.
• Validate billing quantities, rates and terms against approved contracts, SLAs, LPOs and deployment schedules.
• Ensure all invoices are raised and posted in Navision within agreed month-end timelines.
• Ensure 100% delivery of invoices to customers, working closely with the Credit & Collections team.
• Monitor and track invoice dispatch status and follow up on undelivered invoices.
• Take ownership of ensuring invoices raised are successfully delivered and acknowledged by customers.

2. Accounting & System Posting

• Post all customer invoices, credit notes and adjustments accurately in Navision.
• Ensure correct customer codes, GL accounts, VAT treatment and dimensions are applied.
• Maintain integrity of the customer sub-ledger and ensure reconciliation to the general ledger.
• Avoid incorrect or unsupported postings (e.g. improper use of suspense or generic customer codes).

3. VAT & Revenue Tax Compliance

• Ensure correct application of VAT output on all taxable invoices in line with Malawi tax legislation.
• Maintain accurate VAT output records for all revenue streams.
• Perform monthly reconciliations of billed revenue to VAT output and VAT control accounts.
• Support preparation of monthly VAT returns by providing reconciled VAT output schedules.
• Investigate and resolve differences between:

• • • Revenue per customer ledger
    • VAT output per control account
    • VAT declared to MRA

• Ensure all credit notes are correctly reflected in VAT output adjustments.
• Maintain audit trails to support MRA inspections and external audits.

4. Credit Notes & Revenue Adjustments

• Prepare and process credit notes only where justified, supported and approved.
• Maintain documentation and approval for all billing adjustments.
• Analyse causes of credit notes and implement corrective actions to prevent recurrence.

5. Collections Oversight & Cash Conversion

• Lead and oversee the Credit & Collections team to ensure all billed revenue is followed up
• and collected.
• Ensure 100% delivery of invoices to customers by the collections team.
• Monitor customer account follow-ups, aging and settlement status.
• Escalate overdue or high-risk balances to the Financial Controller and Management.
• Work closely with Collections to resolve billing-related disputes impacting cash collection.

6. Reporting & Revenue Analytics

• Prepare and present key billing and collections reports, including:

• Monthly collections reports
• Customer revenue statistics
• Aged receivables analysis
• Unbilled revenue reports

• Provide insights on collection trends, slow paying customers and revenue risks.
• Support management decision-making through accurate and timely reporting.

7. Reconciliations & Documentation

• Reconcile billed services to operational deployment records and sales contracts.
• Maintain complete billing packs per customer, including:
  • • Contracts / SLAs
    • LPOs
    • Deployment schedules
    • Rate approvals
    • Supporting correspondence
• Ensure documents are properly filed and readily available for audit.

8. Controls & Compliance

• Enforce strong billing, VAT and collections controls to prevent:

• • • Revenue misstatements
    •  VAT under/over-declaration    
    • Cash flow leakage
    • Fraud or abuse

• Ensure compliance with IFRS, Malawi tax laws and Gardaworld Group policies.

9. Month-End & Audit Support

• Provide billing summaries, VAT reconciliations and collections reports for month-end close.
• Support internal and external audits with complete, accurate billing and revenue   
• documentation.
• Proactively highlight risks, delays or issues to management.

Principal Outputs of this Role:

• Accurate and timely invoicing of all services
• Zero revenue leakage
• Full VAT output compliance
• Strong oversight of collections activities
• Effective conversion of billed revenue into cash

The role ensures compliance with IFRS, Malawi tax legislation and GardaWorld accounting policies, while supporting cash flow and financial performance objectives.

Authority:

Refer to GardaWorld Authority Matrix.

Accountability:

The Billing Accountant is accountable to the Country Head of Finance / Financial Controller for:

• Accuracy and completeness of billing
• VAT output compliance
• Effectiveness of collections follow-up
• Conversion of billed revenue into cash

Competencies:

• High attention to detail
• Strong ownership mindset
• Results-driven and proactive
• Ability to manage cross-functional teams
• Strong communication and follow-up skills
• Integrity, objectivity and sound judgment
• Customer-focused and commercially aware

Qualifications & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting
• Minimum 3 years working experience in a similar role
• Progress toward or possession of professional qualification (ACCA, CPA, or equivalent)
• Strong understanding of revenue processes and VAT
• ERP system experience (Navision preferred)
• Strong Excel and reporting skills