Financial Management Officer

Job Summary

The anticipated IFAD-funded Sustainable Agriculture Development Project (SADEP) project overall goal is to contribute to enduring peace and reduced poverty in South Sudan and its development objective is to enhance resilience, food, and nutrition security for rural communities in four counties (Terekeka county of central Equatoria; Mundri West and Mvolo Counties of Western Equatoria State and Bor County Jonglei State) over a period of 7 years in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.

The Financial Management Officer will design and implement the necessary accounting and financial management systems to address the SADEP project’s needs in responding to the objectives. The systems to be designed should focus on but should not be limited to budgeting, accounting, internal control, reporting and external auditing.

Job Description

Financial Operations Management (30%)

Responsible for the day-to-day implementation of all accounting systems and processes for the project. The position ensures accounting transactions are documented adequately and recorded in the system in a timely manner. Principal tasks include but are not limited to the following:

• Review transactions, accruals, journal and other adjusting entries and ensures they are processed timely and posted in the system

• Reviews and ensures cash disbursements and advances settlements are processed timely using the appropriate vouchers; voucher upload spreadsheets are prepared and processed correctly

• Provides guidance on the recording of exceptional items and ensures deposits and accounting entries are created according to the finance manual guidance

• Assesses the cash and bank account levels for the project and follows up on cash forecasts for approvals and submission for processing

• Ensures cash requests and settlements are properly recorded in the system and that bank statements are submitted for timely bank reconciliations.

• Carries out ad hoc checks on data submitted for accuracy and adherence to internal controls

• Conducts regularly field monitoring activities to enhance compliance with CARE internal policies and donor regulations

Period Financial Close and Reporting (20%)

Responsible for the preparation of complete, accurate, reliable and timely monthly/quarterly/yearly financial reports for submission to CO management, program manager and the donors as appropriate. Some key activities assigned to this position include:

• Participates in the monthly period closing, utilizing a comprehensive closing checklist or other appropriate tools to ensure all transactions are complete and accurate.

• Monitors unposted vouchers and unposted journals and follows up with the budget holder or approvers to ensure all transactions are processed before closing the period

• Performs account quality controls prior to period closing, to include accounts reconciliation and aging analysis (e.g. payroll recon, safe cash reconciliation, sub-ledger recon, advance aging etc.)

• Reviews accounts fluctuations to identify and address any unusual movement

• Generates and reviews various accounting reports to confirm that all financial entries are correctly created, classified, and reflect accurate transactional data.

• Prepares all required financial reports in a timely manner for submission to management and stakeholders

Awards Management, Donor Reporting and Partner Management (30%) 

• Maintains a proper hard copy file with a corresponding electronic file in prescribed format on Share Point for the award containing all grant or contract information.

• Drafts budget amendments and extensions and provides budget notes and clarifications required.

• Oversees preparation of the monthly Budget Versus Actual (BVA) reports and timely distribution to the budget holder for comments, corrections and follow up.

• Ensures the donor reports are accurate and complete, including all required annexes and information and are submitted to Senior Management for review and final sign off.

• Reconciles donor reported expenditures to the General Ledger from the accounting system on a regular basis to avoid inconsistent data.

• Extracts the Grants Receivable and Payable (GRP) balance report, tracks  and follows up on donor receivables and ensures funds requests to the donor are prepared on time according to reporting schedules and milestones

• Monitors funds disbursed to partners, and liquidations received and ensure regular follow-up of funds.

• Reviews partner supporting documentation for recording and reporting.

• Assesses training and development needs of partners and supports the development of partner capacity strengthening plans that are identified during partner assessments and project implementation.

Audit and Risk Management (15%)

• Facilitates contractual external audits by obtaining audit information from relevant stakeholders and  responds to audit queries before finalization of management reports.

• Summarizes audit issues and ensure strengthening of controls and systems through the relevant structures and policies

• Maintains an active CO Risk Register for the project specific risks, and shares monthly updates on the mitigation measures

• Proactively supports senior management to address risks, threats and any emerging issues that violate policies, donor and CARE compliance processes.

Other responsibilities as assigned (5%)

Education/Training

Required

• Possesses a Bachelor’s degree in accounting from a recognized university with additional professional qualifications such as CPA, ACCA, etc., are a requirement.

Experience/Technical Skills

Required

• Must possess at least 7 years of experience in accounting and financial management of which at least 5 years must be working experience with donor-funded Projects/projects.

• Must be computer literate with demonstrable proficiency in Microsoft Word and Excel and any other relevant application including accounting software.

• Must have excellent writing, presentation and interpersonal skills, excellent analytical skills and ability to effectively communicate with a broad range of audience.

• Good oral and written communication skills in English

• Experience working with both international and local partners, government, and communities

• Demonstrated ability to set priorities and work with minimum supervision to meet changing deadlines.

• Experience working on donor-implemented projects is an advantage.

• Proven problem-solving skills and ability to offer practical solutions.

• Excellent communication skills with the ability to express ideas clearly.

• Computer literacy, including proficiency in word processing and office technology.

• Strong teamwork skills and willingness to travel at short notice.