Farm Africa Head of Finance, Ethiopia Jobs

Farm Africa Head of Finance, Ethiopia Jobs

Job Id: 224625

Category: Accounting and Finance

Location: Addis Ababa

Career Level: Managerial Level (Manager, Supervisor, Director)

Salary:

Job Description

Purpose of the Role

Farm Africa is a UK-headquartered INGO established in 1985 and with operations in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and DRC.

Farm Africa in Ethiopia has recently seen significant growth in its programme portfolio.

In order that we continue to deliver excellent programmes on time and on budget, it is essential that we have high-performing support teams at our country office in Addis Ababa. Our two support teams are Finance, and Corporate Services (covering HR, Procurement, IT, and Logistics).

The role will require close collaboration with the Head of Corporate Services to ensure that support teams work together effectively to help make our processes work more efficiently and to solve problems quickly and creatively for the good of our beneficiaries.

Key Tasks and Responsibilities

Overall finance responsibilities

Ensure the completeness and accuracy of all financial information and records for Farm Africa Ethiopia;

Ensure effective financial control is maintained at all times at the country office and all field offices;

Provide strategic and technical support to the Country Director and other members of the Ethiopia senior management team;

Act as the main liaison between the Ethiopia finance team and the UK head office finance team;

Line-manage four finance managers (currently) in the country office;

Ensure strong and effective working relationships with the other teams within Farm Africa Ethiopia (programmes, and corporate services) based on a spirit of collaboration and collective responsibility.

Financial transactions

Approve purchases, staff advances and expenses where required in accordance with Farm Africa financial policies;

Approve payments and bank transfers where required in accordance with Farm Africa financial policies and authorized bank mandates.

Financial accounting

Ensure month-end process is completed on time (in accordance with the Farm Africa financial calendar) and accurately, managing the overall process, making decisions as appropriate, and providing additional capacity where necessary;

Review and sign off all monthly balance sheet reconciliations, ensuring that control accounts are fully reconciled and other balance sheet account balances as fully analyzed and validated;

Manage Farm Africa Ethiopia’s bank and cash, including overall responsibility for managing all banking relationships, reviewing monthly cash forecasts and cash transfer requests to the UK head office, and all cash transfers between the Ethiopia country office and field offices.

Financial reporting

Ensure internal monthly financial reporting (Budget Monitoring Reports) are completed accurately and sent to budget holders on time (in accordance with the Farm Africa financial calendar);

Review and sign off all financial reports to donors, ensuring that reports are correct, in the required format, and agree to underlying transaction records, and that forecast expenditure and cash requests are based on the best available knowledge;

Ensure the Farm Africa Ethiopia annual financial accounts are prepared and filed on time, and comply with all applicable accounting standards and other regulatory requirements.

Financial strategy

Understand, and act as spokesperson to the rest of Farm Africa Ethiopia, the organisation’s financial model and performance;

Ensure that overhead cost recovery is maximized in accordance with donor grant conditions and Farm Africa’s cost recovery policy.

Budgeting and forecasting

Support the business development team when necessary in preparing fully costed budgets for submission alongside project proposals to donors, ensuring that budgets are based on credible assumptions, comply with donor guidelines, and are prepared on a full cost recovery basis;

Review and sign off, together with the Country Director, annual budgets for the Ethiopia country office and all projects (in accordance with the internal annual budget timetable), ensuring that budgets are based on the best available knowledge and comply with internal guidelines;

Review and sign off, together with the Country Director, any budget re-forecasts prior to submission to the donor or head office team in the UK.

Audit and compliance

Manage the audit of Farm Africa Ethiopia’s annual accounts, acting as the key liaison between the finance team and the audit team;

Ensure ASCO compliance, especially adherence to the 20 / 80 regulation, and act as the point of

contact for ASCO finance queries;

Ensure all donor audits are managed effectively, working with the relevant finance manager to prepare for the audit and providing support / making decisions in the event that the audit identifies any issues requiring management’s attention;

Manage any internal audits in Farm Africa Ethiopia as per the annual audit plan agreed by Farm Africa’s Board of Trustees in the UK;

Ensure that all audit recommendations are acted upon in a timely manner, and updates are provided to the UK finance team for onward reporting to the Board of Trustees;

Ensure compliance with all Farm Africa financial policies and procedures, review and update policies to ensure they remain accurate, and continually appraise our internal processes and ways of working to identify opportunities for improvement (i.e. working more efficiently with less process and bureaucracy whilst maintaining sufficient control).

Team leadership and cross-team collaboration

Line-manage four finance managers (currently) in the country office, and develop their financial skills and capacity;

Be the spokesperson for finance to the rest of Farm Africa Ethiopia, and in particular build the financial skills and capacity of programme staff;

Work with the Ethiopia senior management team to address organization-wide issues and engage in support to other African country offices as required;

Other duties as requested by the Country Director.

These essential functions are not to be interpreted as a complete statement of all duties performed. Employees will be required to perform other job related duties as required. All work responsibilities are subject to having performance goals and/or targets established.

Our Values

Investing in smallholder farming is the number one way to combat poverty in rural Africa. Farm Africa is a leading NGO specialising in growing agriculture, protecting the environment and developing businesses in rural Africa.

Expert. Deep expertise and insightful evidence-based solutions are at the heart of everything Farm Africa does.

Grounded. Positive change starts with Africa’s people, so our experts work closely with local communities, engaging them in every level of decision-making.

Impactful. We take a long-term view so we can deliver lasting changes for farmers and their families.

Bold. We model innovative new approaches and are not afraid to challenge strategies that are failing.

Reports to:

Country Director

Reporting to Post Holder:

Finance Managers

Location:

Addis Ababa, with periodic field travel

Duration:

Three years fixed term, renewable

Job Requirements

Person Specification

Education, qualifications & other knowledge

Essential

MSc Degree from recognized university / ACCA CIMA qualified accountat

Good knowledge of different accounting systems

Desirable

Knowledge of SUN systems

Experience

Essential

At least five years’ management experience in an organisation of similar size and complexity to Farm Africa Ethiopia (annual budget approx. £10million)

Knowledge of institutional donor funding requirements (SIDA, EC, DFID) as well as Federal/Regional Government and ASCO requirements

Skills and abilities

Essential

Excellent communication skills

Ability to present complex financial information clearly to a non-finance audience

A demonstrated commitment to providing high quality support internally and to partner organizations and stakeholders – proactive and an innovative approach to problem solving

Excellent time management of self and team; able to multi-task and prioritise workload; works well under pressure; meets deadlines

Strong technical accounting knowledge

Advanced MS Excel skills

Strong pride in own work and work of the team, sense of professionalism and attention to detail

Sound judgement, applying experience and knowledge to challenging decisions and acting in the best overall interest of the organisation - able to make tough decisions firmly and fairly

Diplomatic and patient style, able to effectively build and maintain relationships and explain positions

Awareness of gender and diversity issues in the workplace, reflecting that in own behaviour

Desirable

Evidence of identifying and managing quality improvement initiatives

How to Apply

Those who meet the above requirements should submit their short CV (maximum of 3 pages) and a cover letter (maximum 1 page) addressing ethrecruitment@farmafrica.org with the subject Head of Finance by October 11, 2019.

Documents cannot be returned and due to large number of applications, only short listed candidates will be contacted. Applications are especially welcomed from female applicants.

Farm Africa Head of Finance, Ethiopia Jobs