This is a trainee position within the Finance department at First Quantum Minerals. The role offers rotational exposure to various functions within the department, providing a comprehensive learning and development experience. The company is seeking individuals who are eager to learn, grow, and contribute to the efficiency and effectiveness of the finance operations.

Responsibilities or duties

Key Responsibilities include:

• Identifying opportunities for improving efficiency.
• Sharing views with colleagues and management.
• Supporting teams with required support for external, internal, and other audits.
• Addressing queries promptly and courteously.
• Upholding the Company and Professional codes of conduct.
• Communicating all identified issues to the supervisor promptly.
• Seizing learning/growth opportunities, especially professional accountancy studies if not qualified yet.
• Developing and maintaining cordial working relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Performing any other task as assigned by the immediate Supervisor/Designate.

Trainee Rotations include:

• Sundry/Staff Sales and Receivables: Working closely with other departments for invoicing, maintaining schedules of sales contracts and scrap deliveries, processing staff and contractor back-charges, retaining support for transactions, reviewing aged debtors, and reconciling AR balances.
• Metal Sales and Receivables: Collaborating with departments for metal sales invoicing, tracking delivery schedules, reconciling reports, preparing invoices, retaining support for transactions, reviewing aged debtors, tracking provisionally invoiced sales, analyzing sales against budget, completing reconciliations, and preparing statutory reports.
• Accounts Payable: Building relationships with vendors, collaborating with commercial teams, managing supplier portfolios, capturing invoices, performing supplier account reconciliations, preparing invoices for payment processing, reviewing GRNI, submitting cash requirements, and supporting month-end close activities.
• Capital Accounting: Obtaining approvals for AFEs and disposals, providing guidance on capex qualification, reviewing insurance spares, proposing procedure improvements, tracking AFCEs, reviewing open AFCEs and projects, obtaining project closure forms, reconciling CWIP GL balance, preparing project reports, running and reviewing depreciation, reviewing the asset register, reconciling the fixed asset register, performing physical asset verification, filing documents, updating HFM capex tables, and participating in capex budgeting and forecasting.
• Cost Accounting and Budgeting: Understanding company operations, providing guidance on cost coding and budgeting, preparing month-end accruals, maintaining budgeting and forecasting models, performing analytics on performance trends, calculating and interpreting financial and non-financial ratios, preparing financial review packages, and delivering business review presentations. A strong interest in learning SQL and Business Intelligence tools is encouraged.
• Financial Accounting and Reporting: Maintaining the general ledger, monthly reporting of financial results, financial reporting and review of the general ledger, preparing balance sheet reconciliations, preparing budgets and forecasts, ensuring related party transactions match in HFM, performing inventory valuation, preparing valuation entries, reviewing payments, ensuring proper filing of documents, preparing financial statements, preparing non-financial and statutory reports, acting as a key contact for auditors, coordinating group reporting activities, reviewing processes and controls, and interpreting company accounting policies.

Qualifications or requirements 

Qualifications:

• Full grade twelve (G12) school certificate.
• Bachelor’s degree in Accountancy, Finance, Business Administration, or related field from a reputable institution. (Will be required to have completed professional accountancy studies by the end of the Trainee programme) OR a qualified accountant holding a professional accountancy qualification (e.g., ZICA, CA Zambia, ACCA, CIMA etc.). (An academic degree, in any field, in addition to the professional qualification, will be a plus.)
• All academic qualifications and results must be verified by the Zambia Qualifications Authority (ZAQA).

Experience needed

1 – 2 years’ accounting experience is a plus but not mandatory.

Any other provided details (e.g., benefits, work environment, team info, or additional notes)

BEHAVIOURAL TRAITS:

• A critical thinker who is able to identify problem causes and formulate effective, efficient solutions.
• One with an eye for detail and quality – able to identify exceptions in processes and data, and provide solutions quickly.
• A committed self-starter with strong work ethics and is able to complete tasks reliably with minimal supervision.
• A passionate, lifelong learner who seeks and seizes opportunities for continuous professional development.
• An effective communicator who conveys important information in a concise and engaging manner.
• A flexible team player who can fit easily in a dynamic, busy environment.

OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office suite Excel: ability to build reports, dashboards, pivot tables, VLOOKUP, etc.).

• Identify opportunities for improving efficiency.
• Be open to share your views with colleagues and management.
• Support the team with providing the required support for external, internal and other audits.
• Address queries promptly and courteously.
• Uphold the Company and Professional codes of conduct.
• Communicate all issues identified to your supervisor, promptly.
• Seize learning/growth opportunities (especially professional accountancy studies if not qualified yet).
• Develop and maintain cordial working relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Perform any other task as and when assigned by immediate Supervisor/Designate.
• Work closely with other departments/teams that provide inputs for metal and sundry sales invoicing (e.g. commercial, Processing, Engineering, HR etc.).
• Maintain a schedule of active sundry sales contracts to ensure actual sales are made in line with contractual terms (especially on duration, pricing, quantity and credit terms).
• Maintain a schedule of actual scrap deliveries, reconciled against end-user requests, to ensure all deliveries are invoiced for as well as track the cumulative quantity against total contractual quantity.
• Obtain staff and contractor back-charge schedules (e.g. for fuel, flights, school fees, insurance etc.), with appropriate backup documents, and post/invoice promptly to ensure timely recovery.
• Ensure sufficient support for all transactions and journals posted by you is retained and filed appropriately.
• Weekly review of aged sundry debtors report and chasing for payments or offsetting against amounts payable to the owing contractor as per agreed terms.
• Review staff debtors and submit schedule of outstanding balances for deduction through payroll every month (by the 15th); working closely with HR to ensure separated employees do not leave outstanding AR balances.
• Timely and accurate completion of sundry and staff AR balance reconciliations every month end; providing comments and action plan on balances older than 60 days.
• Work closely with other departments/teams that provide inputs for metal sales invoicing (e.g. commercial and Processing.).
• Daily tracking of concentrate and anode delivery schedules against monthly delivery plans.
• Reconcile concentrate and anode delivery reports against confirmed receipts and ensure variances are resolved before invoicing.
• Prepare invoices and ensure approved copies are booked in the system and delivered to the customer on time.
• Ensure sufficient support for all transactions and journals posted by you is retained and filed appropriately.
• Weekly review of aged debtors report and chasing for payments from customers to ensure payments are received as per contractual terms.
• Tracking provisionally invoiced metal sales and engaging the customers to ensure timely invoice finalisation as soon as final prices and assays are available and in keeping with contractual terms.
• Analyse actual sales against budget and forecast targets and provide commentary on the variance; for consolidation into the overall financial report for the month.
• Timely and accurate completion of all assigned reconciliations every month end.
• Timely and accurate preparation and submission of assigned statutory reports (e.g. exports via rail).
• Build effective, strategic relationships with the business, vendors, and cross- functional teams.
• Collaborate with commercial teams (e.g. procurement, contracts, receiving) to ensure compliance with requirements and standard contract terms.
• Manage assigned supplier portfolio and engage with their key contacts on an ongoing basis to ensure invoices and account statements are received timely.
• Prompt capturing of supplier invoices, while taking care to ensure they are duly authorised and valid for VAT purposes if applicable.
• Perform supplier account reconciliations before every pay-run and at month end, and ensure all reconciling items are resolved promptly.
• Prepare/compile invoices and supporting documents for payment processing and, once paid, forwarding remittance advice to the suppliers for purposes of updating their statement.
• Weekly review of GRNI to follow up on and resolve any long outstanding entries pertaining to assigned supplier portfolio.
• Submit monthly cash requirements, for expected supplier payments, to the Financial Accountant for incorporating in the overall cash plan for the month.
• Support month-end, quarter-end, and year-end close activities by ensuring all invoices received are captured by the cut-off date.
• Support the team with providing the required support for external, internal and other audits.
• Obtain required approvals for AFEs and disposals.
• Provide guidance to the business on what costs qualify to be recognised as capex by following the guidance provided in the Company capex policy and IFRS.
• Perform monthly review of items flagged as insurance spares against the FQM capex policy and IFRS.
• Propose improvements to existing capital accounting procedures.
• Track submitted AFCEs daily to ensure they are approved and finalised timely.
• Review of open AFCEs and PCR projects (project activity and age, variance analysis.) weekly and following up with project owners and requesting for supplementary AFCEs were required.
• Obtained signed project closure forms and take up of completed projects promptly.
• Perform month end reconciliation of CWIP GL balance (tying open projects listing to the CWIP GL balance).
• Prepare monthly project reports (Capex for the month, CapInAP etc.) for submission to the Group reporting team.
• Run and review depreciation for accuracy and completeness (no depreciable asset must be missed) before posting.
• Review the asset register and ensure all items that should be disposed of are disposed of after obtaining required approvals.
• Reconcile the fixed asset register to the GL as part of month end procedures.
• Perform physical asset verification of mobile assets once every quarter on a round robin basis.
• Ensure proper and timely filing of electronic and physical documents relating to capital accounting. Every month.
• Update HFM capex tables and clear capex related validations.
• Participate in capex budgeting and forecasting.
• Obtain an in-depth understanding of the Company’s operations to be able to identify key cost and production drivers.
• Provide ongoing guidance to end-users on cost coding and budget related matters.
• Prepare and post month end accruals for services received but not invoiced for, by working closely with departmental end-users.
• Maintain and enhance budgeting, forecasting and business review models to support changing operational requirements.
• Perform analytics on actual performance trends and explain variances against budget and forecast targets.
• Calculate and interpret key financial and nonfinancial ratios and performance indicators (e.g. cost/unit, usage/unit, output/hour, cost/employee etc.).
• Help prepare monthly financial review packages and month/quarter-end close process, including providing commentary on variances.
• Deliver high-quality monthly business review presentations to senior management.
• Maintain the general ledger, ensuring compliance with group accounting procedures and IFRS.
• Monthly reporting of financial results to Group;
• Financial reporting and detailed review of the entire general ledger (i.e. trial balance).
• Prepare balance sheet reconciliations and ensure other team members perform reconciliation of the accounts they are responsible for.
• Preparation of budgets and quarterly rolling forecasts;
• Ensure transactions and balances with related parties are matching in HFM.
• Perform inventory valuation.
• Prepare and post accounting valuation entries (e.g. ARO, Stripping, Loan amortisation etc.).
• Review payments before submitting to Bank Signatories;
• Ensure proper filing of invoices and other supporting documents for transactions posted.
• Prepare financial statements in accordance with the Companies Act and IFRS.
• Prepare non-financial and statutory reports/returns (e.g. reports to Ministry of Mines, ZEITI, Bank of Zambia etc.);
• Key contact person for external and internal auditors, coordinating the process from start to finalisation.
• Coordinate monthly group reporting activities; ledger closure and variance analysis (reporting within agreed reporting timetable).
• Reviewing processes and controls (e.g. on AP, AR, accruals, fixed assets) and developing models to improve effectiveness and efficiency;
• Interpret the Company’s accounting policies and procedures and be responsible for ensuring other Finance team members follow them.

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office suite Excel: ability to build reports, dashboards, pivot tables, VLOOKUP, etc.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Effective communication skills.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Attention to detail and accuracy.
• Strong work ethics and reliability.
• Continuous learning and professional development mindset.
• Ability to adapt to a dynamic and busy environment.

• Full grade twelve (G12) school certificate.
• Bachelor’s degree in Accountancy, Finance, Business Administration, or related field from a reputable institution.
• Must be willing to complete professional accountancy studies by the end of the Trainee programme OR be a qualified accountant holding a professional accountancy qualification (e.g., ZICA, CA Zambia, ACCA, CIMA etc.).
• An academic degree, in any field, in addition to the professional qualification, will be a plus.
• All academic qualifications and results must be verified by the Zambia Qualifications Authority (ZAQA).