Finance Officer

The Arab Foundation for Freedoms & Equality is looking for a Finance Officer. The Finance Officer will coordinate with the team members in the Finance team and in AFE to ensure proper financial management and fiscal standing of the foundation.

Role and responsibilities

Business Processes and Reporting - 70% of Time:

1. Maintain and implement the financial guidelines and forms for programmatic staff to use when requesting payments
2. Assist auditors during their audit visits and prepare audit requirements.
3. Compute internal organizational indices, rates, and projections including projections, staff cost percentages, indirect cost percentages etc.
4. Prepare and analyze accurate monthly financial and management reports, including income statement, balance sheet, budget and variance, projections and forecast, and cash flow.
5. Provide useful financial insights through quarterly and monthly reports to help make better decisions
6. Maintain a sound cash count and cash book as well as ensuring the correct reflection of the cash books on the accounting software.
7. Reflect cash expenditures in an independent workbook and ensure this workbook is well accounted for in the software
8. Ensure all transactions and payments are carried out and recorded adequately
9. Follow up with the suppliers, consultants, and other beneficiaries to ensure all payments made it to their rightful owners. Perform corrections when necessary.
10. Maintain the accounting and bookkeeping (data entry) of the organization.
11. Debit or credit the correct accounts as well as allocate the right expenses to the right cost centers
12. Make sure each journal entry is balanced and correct regarding cut-off date, amount and currency, accuracy, completeness etc.
13. Prepare or assist the senior finance coordinator in preparing and submitting financial reports in accordance with the narrative report

Payroll & Administration- 20% of Time:

1. Administer payroll, using various tools to deliver flawless payments, then supervise all the salaries transfer lists and cheques
2. Perform month-end closing procedures, including overhead allocations, account reconciliations, and updating schedules
3. Implement an efficient filing and archiving mechanism
4. Maintain all payable accounts with regional partner organizations, ensure sound receipt of their funds and reflect the following in AFE’s accounting records
5. Follow up with partners and perform corrections while mitigating risks and other potential errors tied to security issues
6. Manage petty cash and working advances for AFE team
7. Extract a project related statement of account and develop a financial report that is in line with the narrative one. Provide proper documentation upon the donor’s request.
8. Ensure adequate partner financial reporting when AFE is responsible of submitting the consolidated report to the donor or when AFE acts as a fiscal sponsor or grantor to those partners
9. Direct the expenditures of different programs ensuring the completion of all accounting       activities and reporting to meet AFE and donor’s requirements, ensuring that expenses are incurred within the approved budget

Budgeting - 10% of Time:

1. Attend financial working groups with donors and regional partners to plan periodic actions/budgets/discuss pending issues including inception meetings and budget meetings
2. Assist Program Managers in developing budget proposals by providing the financial know-how
3. Build and maintain an understandable budget skeleton so that budget lines are allocated according to their cost types
4. Assist in developing the organizational annual budget with the Finance team, the Associate Directors, Program Managers and CFO

Competencies and Qualifications

• Minimum 2 years of finance management and accounting experience
• Solid experience in coordinating audit activities and managing reporting, budget development and analysis, accounts payable and receivable, payroll, risk management, and accounting.
• Knowledge in financial accounting, managerial accounting, computational, bookkeeping, reporting.
• Nonprofit experience with fund/grants accounting preferred, including working with multimillion dollars budgets
• Strong communication, coordination, and interpersonal skills
• Excellent computer skills, especially in MS Word and MS Excel
• Ability to work with project deadlines and multi-tasking
• Proficiency with an accounting software

Equal opportunity declaration: AFE is strongly committed to social justice principles and holds its partners, suppliers, consultants, and staff accountable to these principles. We do not tolerate any form of prejudice, discrimination, intimidation, exploitation, or harassment.