Accountant Needed

Location: Angola
Closing date: 01 Jun 2008
Job Description

Location: Huambo with regular travel
Reference No: RM/ANG/ACC
Contract terms: Accompanied – not suitable for children
Language Requirements: Fluent English and Portuguese
Contract Length: 2 Years
Start Date: April 2008

JOB PURPOSE:

The purpose of the Country Accountant position is to be responsible for effective financial management of the Concern Angola country program.

The Country Accountant has overall policy and management responsibility for the finance and accounting functions of the country program including general accounting controllership, finance staff management and training, treasury, and budget functions.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Controllership:
- To ensure that the Concern worldwide financial policies and procedures are implemented in a standardised manner by the country office in Luanda and the field offices in the provinces
- In consultation with the CD and the ACD Systems and in line with the Concern Worldwide policies and procedures, to establish country specific finance and supporting function policies, systems and procedures, and be responsible for their development, documentation, and implementation
- To manage the finance department activities and schedules to meet the financial reporting requirements and deadlines specified by Concern head quarters in Dublin and donors
- To provide the CD, ACD Systems, ACD Programmes and other budget holder senior staff members with monthly actual-to-budget expenditure reports and analysis for all grants and budgets
- To ensure that on a monthly basis balance sheet reconciliations are completed and quarterly FRPs are produced on a timely basis and reviewed with the CD
- To closely monitor all financial activities, and keep the Country Director advised of all situations which have the potential for a negative impact on internal controls or financial management performance
- To prepare all donor financial reports in respect to accounting, legal and contractual requirements and ensure the review of such reports by the CD, ACD Programmes, and Dublin office prior to submission.
- To be responsible for coordinating external (donor, audit firm, government, etc.) and internal control audits, and initiate and implement actions necessary to correct weaknesses
- In collaboration with the ACD Systems and logistics manager, oversee the protection of the country programme assets (cash, inventory, etc.) through the enforcement of internal control policies and procedures including that fixed asset inventories are updated regularly
- To maintain up-to date knowledge of and implement national government requirements and regulations related to financial matters including statutory deductions from national staff salaries such as income tax, social security, etc

Training & Staff Management
- To be responsible for the management of the national staff of the finance department
- To develop and implement staff development plan for the finance department staff both in the country and the field offices to develop their capacity
- To ensure that job descriptions of the finance department staff are up-to date and staff are clear with their roles and responsibilities
- To carry out timely Performance and Development Reviews (PDR) of all finance department staff.
- To facilitate and provide basic training, technical support and guidance to the country program staff, particularly budget holders, for skills improvement in the areas of budget preparation and monitoring, budget revision, reporting, and internal control.

Treasury
- To supervise all country office bank relations and bank account activities including negotiation of fees, interest and currency exchange rates
- In compliance with Concern Worldwide policies and procedures and in consultation with the CD and ACD Systems, to establish and implement country specific policies such as authorisation limits, cash holding limits, cash movements, credit terms, advance payments, use of bank payment instruments, etc.
- To oversee the timely preparation, review and approval of all monthly bank account and cash reconciliations
- To design, implement, and monitor systems and procedures necessary to maintain accurate forecasts of cash requirements for meeting future spending, including commitments
- To be responsible for timely preparation and follow-up/handling of Cash Transfer Requests to Dublin as well as between the field offices and the country office in Luanda and ensure that appropriate balances are maintained to facilitate programme implementation.
- To ensure the development and implementation of a plan to minimize the country’s foreign exchange exposure to currency gains and losses
- To maintain up-to-date records of all grant payments made by donors and in consultation with the CD, ACD Programmes, Programme Managers, and the Dublin office, to follow-up and supervise the timely collection of contractual and other receivables including outstanding payments from donors

Budget:
- To assist the CD, ACDs, and Programme Managers with the preparation and revision of program and project proposal budgets including multi-annual budgets
- To coordinate and provide technical support and guidance to all budget holders in the preparation of the country operating budget and be responsible for compiling and producing the country budget
- To coordinate and lead the budget revision processes including producing the revised budgets, ensuring that they are reviewed and approved by the CD, and submitted to Dublin in a timely manner and according to the Concern Worldwide standards
- To produce and facilitate the review of actual to budget expenditures with the Country Director, and ACDs

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Essential:
- Fully qualified accountant (ACCA or CPA)
- At least two years work experience as an accountant
- Audit experience
- Ability and willingness to work as part of a multi-cultural team
- A sensitive approach to advising / mentoring programme staff
- Dynamic and willing to take initiative to complete tasks assigned
- Computer knowledge/financial packages
- Portuguese language skills

Desirable:
- Training course for major donors such as EU or USAID would be an advantage
- Previous experience with Concern systems and conducting internal audits
- Sense of humour
- Training and facilitation skills
- Flexibility and willingness to work in difficult circumstances.

Vacancies Contact

hrenquiries@concern.net