Description
Heifer International is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender identify, sexual orientation, age, status as a protected veteran, among other things, or status as a qualified individual with disability.
Function
Heifer International is a non-governmental organization (NGO) whose mission is to work with communities to end hunger and poverty and take care of the planet. We work with farmers and their communities to identify livelihood opportunities and develop solutions to local challenges aimed at building inclusive and resilient economies. By increasing the productivity of livestock and crops, farmers can feed their families and improve the health of their communities.
The Finance Officer is responsible for providing her support in the financial aspects of the Sahel Diary Project. This position is responsible for maintaining accounting-related systems, implementing generally accepted accounting practices, ensuring adequate internal controls, and performing guided assessments of controls related to financial operations, reporting, and compliance. In this position, you will apply critical thinking to manage the business of projects in a fast-paced and ever-changing environment. The Financial Controller applies and enforces Heifer’s general accounting standards and policies and procedures.
Responsibilities and deliverables
Support the project team in accounts management to ensure compliance by:(25%)
- Facilitate accurate and timely transactions that will feed into donor reporting, dashboards and other key donor deliverables.
- Record all transactions in the accounting system; coordinate with team members to complete all accounting procedures to produce monthly financial statements in accordance with local GAAP or IFRS.
- Complement ongoing documentation and implementation of industry standards in accounts management and compliance.
Ensure regulatory and organizational compliance of accounting transactions within the project and support global consolidation of financial statements by: (25%)
- Facilitate investigations related to independent external audits and other agreed procedures by providing financial information and taking follow-up actions.
- Reconcile all transactions in your accounting system with your project’s general ledger and financial statements.
- Register and manage project fixed assets in the accounting system.
- Manage labor costs and reimbursement processes.
- Ensure proper documentation of payments to suppliers and partners and verify the accuracy of invoices and other supporting documentation.
- Assist in answering questions and resolving discrepancies regarding the status of payments, accounts, expenses and commitments.
Provide support on pre- and post-award financial and accounting management of the project to ensure compliance with donor agreements by: (25%)
- Support the project budgeting and reforecasting process.
- Assist in reviewing budget requests for timely processing of budget allocations. Monitor your project’s burn rate.
- Monitor compliance with grant agreements.
- Prepare accurate and timely donor reports, dashboards and other important donor services.
- Ongoing documentation and implementation of industry standard grants management and compliance procedures.
- Prepare and maintain accurate and timely regular reports, dashboards and other key deliverables for senior management.
- Regular and timely review of spending.
- Monitor donor contract reporting deadlines and respond to compliance requests related to donor requests.
- Provide administrative and financial support to staff and project partners through training and on-site monitoring.
- Supports submission of reports by partners/cooperatives.
- Assist project partners in monitoring and ensuring the impact of heifer partner policies and programs.
Provide administrative support to fixed asset of project, inventory, supply chain and logistics processes by: (20%)
- Manage day-to-day office administration.
- Manage procurement and all purchases related to goods and services, including quotes, comparison tables and contracts, to ensure compliance with heifer and donor standards.
- Provide reasonable and timely logistical support for office operations and other activities.
- Maintenance of office facilities and fixed asset projects
- Maintain a seamless filing and recording system for travel and trip reports, project staff attendance and vacation approvals.
- Coordinate and/or facilitate domestic and international travel arrangements, meetings and conferences for project staff.
- Supervise drivers and conduct individual performance management reviews. Keep your fleet and other equipment in good working order at all times.
- Work with the lead driver to ensure all country program project vehicle service/repairs are scheduled and completed in a timely manner by an approved repairer (to minimize disruption).
- With the assistance of our lead drivers, we carefully document the paperwork to comply with Heifer procedures to ensure that all vehicle servicing and maintenance are supported at all times.
- Make sure all vehicles are equipped with the required items and equipment according to our guidelines. (e.g. first aid kit, fire extinguisher)
- Maintain a fleet book/tracking system and ensure it is timely updated as needed.
- Review the shipping record sheet and sign when complete. Oversees preparation of monthly fuel consumption analysis using KM, prepares supporting documentation for supplier payments, and investigates any discrepancies.
May perform other job-related duties as assigned by: (5%)
- Provide support to the Project Officers and work closely with them to ensure that financial information is accurate and up to date.
- Develop good working knowledge of the agresso accounting system and provide mentoring to junior finance and administration staff and/or interns on the running of the system.
- Train non finance staff and project holders in record keeping.
- Perform other job-related duties as requested.
Minimum Requirements
Bachelor’s degree in accounting, plus three (3) years of related experience.
Preferred Requirements
- Two (2) years of USAID grant experience in a significant role.
Most Critical Proficiencies
- Knowledge of the NGO business field. Knowledge of institutional investors in international development is an advantage.
- Ability to navigate the collection and analysis of financial and non-financial data. Technically proficient ability to quickly learn and maximize the use of technology and software.
- Valid user of the Microsoft Office suite with intermediate knowledge of MS Excel.
- A working knowledge of generally accepted accounting principles and tax laws in their respective countries.
- Experienced in accounting system.
Essential Job Functions and Physical Demands
- Ability to work under pressure, multitask, manage constantly competing priorities, and be comfortable working in a rapidly changing environment.
- You should be flexible and able to improvise for different situations.
- Ability to effectively train individuals and teams using participatory methods.
- Ability to handle staff sensitive situations and maintain confidentiality.
- Ability to maintain close relationships and collaborate with her members of the team remotely despite limited opportunities for face-to-face interactions. Ongoing personal, electronic and telephone communications with colleagues and the public.
- Ability to produce documents and other materials in attractive formats that are designed with attention to detail.
- Willingness and ability to work outside normal business hours. Ability and willingness to travel domestically and internationally.
- You need to be in good physical condition to go to a local project site.
