Job Description

  Summary of Position

The Accountant is a vital member of the finance team, responsible for ensuring adherence to financial policies, project procedures, and regulatory standards. This role is integral in maintaining accurate mission accountancy and providing reliable financial data for analysis and reporting. The Accountant plays a crucial part in recording costs, managing general accounting, overseeing accounts receivable/payable, payroll, and partner financial reports. Moreover, this position ensures the availability of comprehensive backup documentation.

Purpose: As the custodian of the general ledger and related financial transactions, the Accountant delivers timely, thorough, and precise financial reports and analyses to the Head of Finance. These financial practices align with Core Humanitarian standards and Action Against Hunger's internal regulations.

Engagement: The Accountant collaborates closely with base Finance Officers on a regular basis, facilitating effective communication. They maintain a strong liaison with the Head of Finance to ensure timely access to financial data for analysis and reporting. Additionally, the Accountant engages with the Finance Manager to oversee proper archival of financial documentation in preparation for audits when necessary. While working collaboratively with headquarters (HQ) staff, this position reports directly to the Head of Finance Department.

Delivery: The accountant maintains robust internal accounting and system controls to protect Action Against Hunger's assets and uphold financial data integrity. The commitment of the Accounting and Financial Reporting team is to fulfill the organization's mission with ethical, courteous, cost-effective, and efficient financial practices.

II.       Essential Job Duties/ Roles:

Manage all Accounting Transactions:

• Monthly Accounts: Review and correct monthly accounting records for all field bases and the coordination office. Ensure accuracy.
• Sylogist Data Entry: In collaboration with the Finance Officers maintain Serenic ERP with up-to-date accounting data, ensuring completeness.
• Depreciation Updates: Regularly update and enter depreciation data into ERP for accurate financial reporting.
• Expense Accuracy: Verify and maintain accurate expense records in accounting records. Identify and rectify any accounting errors, ensuring accurate records.

Payroll Review and Supplier Reconciliation:

• Payroll reconciliations: Thoroughly review and reconcile payroll records, ensuring precision and compliance.
• Advance and Payables Verification: Regularly verify open advances at month-end for proper financial control.
• Advances and Invoices Management: Monitor advances and outstanding invoices, ensuring timely resolution.

Monthly, Quarterly, and Annual Closings:

• Monthly Closure Oversight: Supervise monthly closure processes with the Field office Finance Officers.
• Documentation Preparation: Prepare and upload required documents for monthly closure, adhering to month-end timelines.
• Periodic Closings: Contribute to quarterly and annual closings, ensuring data accuracy.

Balance Sheet Reconciliation - Preparation of all Account Schedules:

• Balance Verification: Confirm cash and bank book balances align with counts, bank statements, and reconciliations.
• Account Schedules Maintenance: Keep account schedules up to date for comprehensive financial tracking.

Operations Budget Support:

• Support Cost Analysis: Conduct a comprehensive analysis of support costs, including administrative, overhead, and indirect expenses. Evaluate cost allocation methods to ensure fairness and accuracy.
• Depreciation Record Updates: Update depreciation schedules and corresponding ERP entries.
• Expense Recording: Record Interco transactions with complete documentation and compliance.
• Budget Development: Collaborate with the finance team to develop budgets that incorporate support costs effectively. Ensure support costs are appropriately allocated across projects, field offices and departments.
• Allocation Methodology: Implement support cost methodology for allocating support costs. Document the allocation process and make it accessible for audit.
• Auditing and Compliance Checks: Periodically conduct internal reviews to ensure that support cost allocation aligns with established support cost methodologies. Address any non-compliance issues promptly.

Donor Financial Reporting:

• Prepare internal budget follow-up (BFU) with donor reporting templates.
• Monitor financial spending per donor reporting templates and raising alerts for risks related to donor rules.
• Reviewing and validating partner's financial reports in collaboration with the Finance Manager and Head of Finance Department.

Document Retention and Archiving:

• Document Archiving Oversight: Supervise and maintain an organized archival system for financial documents.
• Document Integrity: Ensure all necessary financial documents are collected, exhaustive, and correctly archived.
• Missing Document Management: Actively follow up on missing documents to maintain archive completeness.

III.    Gender Equality commitments

• Foster an environment that supports values of women and men, and equal access to information.
• Provide a work environment where women and men must be evaluated and promoted based on their skills and performance.
• Respect beneficiaries’ women, men, boys, and girls regardless of gender, sex orientation, disability, religion, race, color, ancestry, national origin, age or marital status,
• Value and respect all cultures.

IV.   Fiscal Responsibility

None

V.     Supervisory Responsibilities

Technical Supervision of Finance and Admin Officers of all basis.

VI.   Physical demands

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is required to sit for long periods and to concentrate on work, including typing, and turn out heavy volumes of work accurately, within short time frames under stressful situations in the context of a moderately noisy office with many interruptions. Must be able to proofread own work accurately so that only minor corrections are needed on an infrequent basis.

To travel to the field, the employee must attest to a level of physical fitness capable of enduring physically difficult, highly stressful situations which may include the necessity to walk long distances, to eat a limited diet and/or to reside in potentially uncomfortable housing or tents. The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

VII.  Working Conditions, Travel and Environment

The duties of the job require regular job attendance at least five days per week. Must be available to work outside normal office hours or on the weekends as required.

Must be able to travel as required for standard domestic and international business purposes. While performing the duties of this job in the field, the employee may be exposed to precarious settings under high security risks and/or very basic living conditions and outside weather conditions, as well as infectious diseases.

Experiences and Qualifications

• University degree in business or finance; Professional qualification in Accounting or Finance would add advantage.
• Minimum 5 years Finance experience preferably in INGO/NGO is mandatory.
• Sound knowledge of accounting procedures and principles.

Required Skills & Competencies

• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision and be initiative.
• Strong computer skills and ability to use standard computing packages such as word, excel, spreadsheets
• Strong team working and interpersonal skills.
• Must be able to effectively communicate in English
• Ability to plan ahead and output oriented.
• Self-motivated, result-driven and reliable.

Skills Required

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