Niger: Country Financial Controller Niger

Reference:

PO/CFC/NI

Country:

Niger

Job Title:

Country Finance Controller (CFC)

Date requested: 7 September 2016

Contract Grade: B

Contract Length: 24 months

Date Needed By: December 2016

New Post or Replacement: Replacement

Accompanied / Unaccompanied: Accompanied

Exact Job Location: Based in Niamey with 80% of time in Tahoua

Reports To: Country Director

Responsible For: Concern Niger Finance team

Liaises With: All managers/budget holders, HR, Logistics, Dublin and Regional Finance staff, local banks, auditors.

Job Purpose: The Country Financial Controller (CFC) will be responsible for the effective management of Concern Niger’s finance function. This will include ensuring internal controls are in place, managing the finance team, partner finance oversight, training, treasury management, financial planning/budgeting, and reporting. The successful candidate will be responsible for ensuring proper financial management and reporting on all grants received by Concern Niger. Maintaining and managing controls & procedures to safeguard and account for all assets, funds and interests of Concern’s operations is a crucial part of the role. The CFC will undertake staff training & development. The CFC is also a member of the senior management team and will participate in all key decisions relating to finance.

Main Duties & Responsibilities:

Financial Control

• Maintain an effective & efficient system of internal controls which comply with Concern Worldwide’s financial guidelines.

• Review existing systems on an on-going basis in order to develop and improve internal controls, in compliance with Concern’s policies and procedures

• Ensure that all financial records & accounts are compiled timely, accurately and in line with international accounting standards & donor regulations

• Ensure that the country financial operations comply with legal & statutory requirements e.g. audit & financial reporting to all relevant national authorities.

• Ensure that country management prepares the annual & revised Country budget and donor budgets, as accurately as possible.

Financial and Donor Reporting

• Ensure timely & accurate preparation of monthly management accounts for budget-holders and Country Management to ensure that they can take appropriate action on any significant variances.

• Ensure timely & accurate preparation of financial reports for Concern’s Head Office (Financial Reporting Pack (FRP)

• Ensure timely & accurate preparation of donor reports for external donors / agencies.

• Reconcile all balance sheet items on a timely basis, in accordance with Concern Worldwide policies & procedures

• Finalise year end accounts for the external auditors and provide any ad-hoc finance reports for Concern’s Head Office.

Financial Systems

• Ensure that country financial management systems & records are adequate in order to identify and protect the assets & interest of the organization.

• Ensure that the systems in place, enhance, as far as possible, the efficiency & effectiveness of the manner in which assets are utilized

• Ensure that the global accounting package (Microsoft Great Plains) is maintained in a proper manner, and utilized in an appropriate & effective manner.

• Establish & maintain a donor financial management system in order to optimize funding & to ensure efficient & accurate reporting to donors.

• Ensure adequate controls over cash & bank management are constantly monitored & updated to minimize the risk of fraud or misappropriation.

• Undertake regular field visits in order to assess the financial systems in place & implement improvements wherever needed.

Capacity Building

• Develop the capacity of the local finance team in Goz-Beida to ensure that a good standard of financial management is maintained.

• Develop a second layer of staff who can fill the gap whenever any position is vacant in the finance team.

• Undertake financial training of budget-holders, to assist them in enforcing financial controls & making decisions based on financial reports.

Other financial duties

• Facilitate internal, external & donor audits

• Ensure that all statutory deductions & taxes in respect of national staff are complied with & to liaise with relevant authorities in this respect.

• Assist in the development & implementation of the Country’s Strategic Plan

• Any other finance-related assignments

Senior Management Team (SMT)

· Developing and managing a strong finance team, so that all finance functions provide optimal support to the country programme

· Actively participate in the SMT meetings and be proactively involved in the decision making processes

P4 and Accountability

· Ensure adherence to the Programme Participant Protection Policy (P4).

• Ensure finance staff understanding of Concern’s Programme Participant Protection Policy in respect of staff, beneficiaries, partners, suppliers and contractors.

· Ensure the Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS) are understood by finance staff

• Contribute to and ensure that the Niger programme delivers on its accountability commitments.
• Promote an organization environment which is fair, open, protective and which fosters a learning culture.

Confidentiality

• Ensure the non-disclosure of any information whatsoever acquired in the course of duty, relating to the practices and business of Concern Worldwide, to any other person or Organization without authority, except in normal execution of the above duties
• Ensure strict guardianship and security of financial data and documents at all times, including secure storage, accurate & complete filing and limiting access to the finance office to authorised personnel only
• Ensure strict adherence to Concern Niger Financial Procedures and Fraud Policy and remaining within the boundaries of these policies at all times

PERSON SPECIFICATION

ESSENTIAL

Education, Qualifications & Experience Required:

· Accountancy Qualification (e.g. CPA, ACA, ACCA or DECF, DESCF, DSCG)

· 3 years post qualification experience

· Experience managing large programme budgets

· Strong excel skills and knowledge of computerized accounting packages (preferably Great Plains)

• Good interpersonal communication, presentation and motivational skills
• Flexible/motivated
• Strong staff management and staff development experience ;
• Ability to manage local staff in a mature and impartial manner
• Computer skills including database management, Microsoft Word and Excel

Special Skills, Aptitude or Personality Requirements:

Essential

• Fluent in spoken and written French
• Able to work in insecure environments, live in confined areas, and respectful of security rules
• Dynamic and willing to take initiatives to complete assigned tasks and deal with difficulties encountered in daily work
• Ability to work under pressure, often to strict deadlines
• Excellent administrative, time management and prioritisation skills
• Good Networking skills

· Experience of managing a finance team

• Strong leadership skills and ability to manage change effectively
• Ability to delegate, manage time and prioritize tasks while coping with a broad range of programmatic and technical demands
• Problem solver and innovator
• Strong Analytical and problem solving abilities.
• Empathy with Concern’s goals and a commitment to capacity building, protection and participation

Desirable:

· Previous experience in Concern or a similar organization

· Experience in preparing budgets and reports for international donors

• Experience of working in Francophone Africa

· Experience in staff capacity development and management

• The ability to quickly develop fluency in an organisations policies and procedures, including technical policies such as logistics and transport.
• Excellent organisational skills
• Cross cultural awareness and sensitivity
• Knowledge of development issues and concepts.

All applications should be submitted through our website at https://jobs.concern.net by closing date…. CV’s should be no more than 4 pages in length.

All candidates who are short-listed for a first round interview will be notified via email after the application deadline OR Due to the urgency of this position, applications will be short listed on a regular basis and we may offer posts before the closing date.

Concern Worldwide is an Irish-based non-governmental, international, humanitarian organisation dedicated to the reduction of suffering and working towards the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries.

Concern has a Staff Code of Conduct and a Programme Participant Protection Policy which have been developed to ensure the maximum protection of programme participants from exploitation and to clarify the responsibilities of Concern staff, consultants, visitors to the programme and partner organization, and the standards of behaviour expected of them. In this context staff have a responsibility to the organization to strive for, and maintain, the highest standards in the day-to-day conduct in their workplace in accordance with Concern’s core values and mission. Any candidate offered a job with Concern Worldwide will be expected to sign the Programme Participant Protection Policy and the Concern Staff Code of Conduct as an appendix to their contract of employment. By signing the Programme Participant Protection Policy and the Concern Staff Code of Conduct candidates acknowledge that they have understood the contents of both the Concern Staff Code of Conduct and the Programme Participant Protection Policy and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these two documents.

Concern receives a substantial amount of funding from external donors each year. Increasingly donors are introducing requirements whereby future funding is conditional on Concern ensuring that the names of any new employee or volunteer do not appear on terrorism lists generated by the European Union (List of person, groups and entities to which Regulation (EC No. 2580/2001 applies), the US Government (Office of Foreign Assets Control list of specially designated Nationals and Blocked Persons) and the United Nations (Consolidated List). Any offer of employment (either paid or voluntary) with Concern Worldwide will not be made pending a clearance check being conducted on the applicant. For additional information please consult our web site or contact the Human Resource Division in our Head Office.

Concern Worldwide is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.

To apply please click on the link below:
https://jobs.concern.net/VacancyDetail.aspx?VacancyUID=000000002677