Senior Finance Officer

Position’s mission:

The Finance Officer is responsible for leading the finance department, ensuring compliance with HI’s standards and local rules in the finance field, financial strategy and steering and operational financial management within his/her area of responsibility.

Reports to: Finance Manager

Interacts with:

-Internal: Operations and support services staff.

-External: The project partners, the auditor, donors, and other stakeholders

Missions / Responsibilities

Responsibilities

Mission 1: Strategy and steering

• Contributes towards the drafting, revision and implementation of the financial section of Operational Strategy (StratOp) within his or her area of responsibility area and in line with HI’s financial policies.
• Oversees the breakdown of financial strategy into action plans and advises on financial issues.
• Produces, compiles and analyses financial indicators and, if necessary, creates additional indicators.
• Is in charge of the assessment, mitigation and treatment of financial risks and disputes.
• Reports on incidents and their treatment to his or her line manager and functional managers.
• Oversees HI external representation activities related to financial issues, takes part in inter-NGO working groups and ensures the development of partnerships in his or her geographical area.
• Leads the financial capacity assessment of local partners and the resulting capacity building plans.

Mission 2: Standards and expertise

• Oversees the deployment and monitors compliance with all of HI’s financial policies, processes and tools within his or her area of responsibility and, if necessary, develops specific financial tools overseen by his or her line and functional management.
• Directs and controls HI's compliance with the legal framework of the country or countries of intervention and monitors changes in standards and case law and in the practices of other stakeholders working in the finance field.
• Ensures the production and filing of financial documents ensuring the legality of HI's operations in the country or countries of intervention.
• Ensures compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
• Ensures implementation of and compliance with procedure for archiving financial documents and the publication and updating of financial documents in the dedicated workspaces.
• Supervises internal control in his or her area of responsibility, as well as any necessary corrective actions.

Mission 3: Operational implementation

Responsibility 1: Ensures financial and budget management

• Supervises the drafting of budgets and verifies that HI’s funds are being used in an optimal manner in his area of responsibility.
• Ensures the accuracy and updating of financial information and coordinates the process of reporting and compiling financial information in accordance with the financial calendar.
• Produces the summary notes necessary for financial management and identifies risks. Supports budget holders with their financial steering.

Responsibility 2: Ensures accounts management

• Is the focal person on accounting issues.
• Ensure the accuracy and updating of accounts information and coordinates the process of reporting and compiling accounts information in accordance with the financial calendar.
• Direct the development of all accounting processes under his or her responsibility, ensuring their compliance with the accounting reference framework (procedures, tools) and their incorporation into of the accounting information system (IS).
• Consolidate, checks and validates all entries and documents for the monthly and annual closing of accounts, in particular bank reconciliations, justification of payable and receivable accounts and monitoring of fixed assets.
• Ensure that applications for Value Added Tax (VAT) exemptions are filed and checks the declarations submitted to the authorities.
• Represent HI externally with the Statutory Auditors and/or the authorities in charge of accounting and tax matters.
• Ensure implementation of and compliance with procedure for archiving supporting documents, in particular by ensuring the quality of paper and digital supporting documents, and sends supporting documents (paper and digital format) to their final storage locations.
• Provide the supporting documents asked for by internal or external auditors.

Responsibility 3: Ensures the financial management of institutional funding in compliance with “donor” guidelines and contractual obligations

• Direct the drafting of funding proposals for institutional donors and the construction of funding schedules:
• Supervise and accompanies the drafting of funding proposals and optimizes the funding schedules (coverage of office and support costs); compiles and coordinates multi-programme proposals when the programme is the lead.
• Examine, alert to and even negotiates the conditions of funding agreements before they are signed (payment dates and methods and financial reports, methods of justification of expenditure, exchange rates, audits, etc.). Ensures that these obligations are realistic and compatible with HI procedures.
• Control the monitoring of expenditure against funding and reports to the budget holders. Monitor consumption rates, issues alert in the event of a risk of non-compliance with the flexibility rules and anticipates slippage by preparing contractual amendments with his or her interlocutors.
• Supervise and coordinates the production and quality of financial reports for donors by checking compliance with donor guidelines.
• Ensure that donor payments are made or reminders sent and that line and functional managers are informed of delays in payments
• Ensure that information concerning donor contracts is entered in the FIS: donor budgets, cost-accounting and budget modifications, schedules, reports, etc.
• Coordinate responses to requests from internal and external auditors and ensures

Responsibility 4: Ensures cash-flow management

• Is the focal person on cash-flow issues.
• Examine, formalize and optimize requests for funds in order to ensure the availability of cash in cash boxes and bank accounts and meet the financial needs of the mission. Assists project managers in defining their cash-flow requirements.
• Ensure the provisioning of cash boxes, contributes to bank reconciliation operations, carries out cash box/safe inventories for monthly and annual closings.
• Provide any documents relating to cash management requested by internal and external auditors, as well as the documents required to meet banking compliance requirements within his or her area of responsibility.
• Evaluate and provide means of payment adapted to the needs of the mission and ensures compliance with payment rules according to the defined thresholds.
• Oversee procedure for the security and storage of funds, including security thresholds, and proposes adaptations to the context if necessary.
• Ensure the completion of requests to open or close bank accounts on behalf of the organization according to operational needs and the updating of bank signatories.
• Identify exchange rate risks and puts measures in place to mitigate these risks.

Mission 4: Profession facilitation

• Put in place and monitor the elements of his or her profession that fall within his or her area of responsibility: dissemination, use and contribution to revisions of standards, monitoring of recommendations for the skills development of the teams, etc.
• Coordinate profession facilitation in his or her area of responsibility, fosters a team spirit and ensures the inclusion of all team members by encouraging regular contributions, especially through practice-sharing.
• Develop a pool of local talent.

Mission 5: Emergency preparedness and response

• Lead the emergency preparedness actions in his/her department and, in case of emergency, reorganizes the priorities of his/her team according to the humanitarian imperative, in order to ensure HI’s quick and efficient response.

Education:

Essential: Bachelor's degree in accounting, finance or related field

Experience:

Essential: Minimum of 3 years of experience as “Finance officer / Senior Finance officer”

Desirable: Experience with budget management and with partnership

Computer skills:

Essential: Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PP, Outlook…

Desirable: NAV and BFF system

Language:

Essential: English (high proficiency)

Essential: Arabic (mother tongue)

PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS:

HI workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in HI Code of conduct. In accordance with these values, HI operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child. Safeguarding, Anti-fraud, bribery, and corruption.

Handicap International is an equal opportunity employer and particularly welcomes applications from woman and persons with disabilities.

Basic salary ranges for the position: Senior Finance Officer is going to be paid according to the experience and to HI salary Grid.

Basic Salary Starting 2250 USD

Closing date: 03/06/2024

Interested candidates send their CV to [email protected] with the subject “Senior FO-2024”

Application should include CV and motivation letter. Applications received after the deadline will not be considered.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.