CO Finance Director (m/f)

Description

• CARE International in Mozambique is a humanitarian and development organization with offices in more than 70 countries and part of a large international federation, is seeking a dynamic and experienced professionals
• The primary function of the Country Office (CO) Finance Director is to develop, manage and administer the CO plans for proper recording, documentation, control, monitoring and reporting of financial operations in compliance with CARE and donor rules & regulations. S/He provides oversight of the day-to-day financial operations at the CO level and is accountable for organizing and providing high level quality financial services to CO programs, projects and units staff. S/He works closely with the Shared Services Center (SSC) and Regional Management Unit (RMU) and CO senior management to ensure appropriate financial support and resources are available. S/He ensures a partnership is developed and nurtured between Finance, Program and other program support units in the CO
• The CO Finance Director profile includes: very strong accounting and financial management knowledge, analytical skills, attention to details, ability to work effectively under time pressure, very strong business partnering skills with ability to influence CO senior staff, team player, proactive individual with ability to offer structured guidance, ability to ensure that the right priorities are set for the CO finance team, proven experience in training finance and non-finance staff, proficiency in English
• The CO Finance Director position has direct reporting line to the Country Director with dotted lines to SSC (i.e. Finance and Accounting Director or designee) and RMU (i.e. Regional PS Director). S/He is an integral member of the CO senior management team

Duties

Financial System Operations Management and CO Data Processing

• The CO Finance Director plays a crucial coordination and management role in financial system operations to ensure the system is functioning properly and is being effectively used by CO staff. S/He provides day-to-day oversight of CO financial operations and ensures efficient process flows and controls over finance and accounting functions are adequate. S/He ensures financial data are processed in the system accurately and reported to donors, management and other partners timely. Specific roles and responsibilities include:
• PeopleSoft operations, workflows, roles and user management: ensures CO users are setup in the system and trained appropriately; ensures workflows are developed and implemented adequately in the CO system; ensures budget holders and other users are trained properly in their roles; ensures policies, procedures, user manuals and other quick reference guides are available to CO staff and disseminated; ensures the maintenance and management of PeopleSoft chart fields (e.g. fund code and project ID requests, activity ID, category ID, etc.) and other tables (vendor files, cost allocation tables, users table, etc.) are performed timely and satisfactorily; documents system issues experienced by users and escalate to SSC appropriately
• Accounts Payable, Treasury and Cash functions: Determines CO short and long terms cash needs and coordinates cash requests and approvals, including the submission of cash flow projections; ensures vendors are paid and account receivables are collected timely; ensures staffs receive proper training and are effectively using the cash related modules (e.g. Account Payable, Cash Management)
• General Ledger, Accounts Receivable and other modules: Ensures journal entries (e.g. payroll, allocation, etc.) are processed timely and accurately, cash receipts are recorded properly, and all modules (e.g. procurement, asset management, etc.) are used by CO staff adequately
• Data processing and period closing functions: accountable for ensuring that the period closing processes defined for Business Units (BUs) are performed timely and adequately; accountable for the preparation and submission of complete, reliable and timely financial reports to CO managers and donors, local entities and other partners as relevant; ensures that reports prepared by SSC (e.g. USG awards) are completed and submitted timely; supervises the quality and integrity of financial data and supporting documentation and ensures completeness of data recorded in the system. This includes but not limited to the following transactions: a) Accounts Payable vouchers --e.g. cash disbursements, settlement of cash advances--; b) General Led

Staff Management and Development, Talent Management and Capacity Building

• The CO Finance Director is responsible for finance staff and talent management and development as well capacity building in financial management for finance and non-finance staff in the country office. Major roles and responsibilities include:
• Assesses training and development needs of finance and non-finance staff within the CO
• Identifies gap in skills, develops training materials and provides training in accounting and financial management as needed
• Participates in the elaboration and leads the implementation of the CO’s Annual Performance Assessment policy and processes to include the preparation and monitoring of Individual Operating Plan (IOPs) for finance staff
• Leads the hiring and firing of CO finance staff in close coordination with the CD
• Ensures succession plans are developed and implemented for finance staff in a way that assures CO staffs receive high quality support services at all times
• Works with the CO human resources unit as well as SSC and RMU to develop and manage talent in the CO finance unit

Quality review and analysis of financial reports to support management decision making in the CO

• Performs quality reviews and analyses of CO books as well as any financial performance reports and provides feedback to CO management to improve financial management. The reviews and analyses include but are not limited to: bank reconciliation; balance sheet; income statement; grants/contracts reports; unrestricted and private contributions reports; actual expenses vs. budget; shared program costs and cost recovery; payroll allocation and timesheets; etc.
• Takes appropriate actions to address all issues noted (e.g. collect receivables; prevent overspending, match funding, etc.)
• Accountable for the overall quality of the CO financial reports and communications of issues to CO management, RMU and SSC

Compliance and Control functions

• Controllership and Accounting functions: ensures CO compliance with CARE’s accounting policy and procedures and generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP); ensures CO accounting systems and procedures comply with CARE's global policy and procedures; protects the organization assets through internal controls; ensures the CO payroll and other non-PeopleSoft systems provide adequate controls; reviews all leases and other contracts that require current and future use of the organization's assets and make any relevant recommendations to the CD
• Compliance and Audit support functions: ensures CO compliance with donor rules and regulations; ensures CO preparedness for annual financial and donor audits; facilitates internal and external audits conducted in the CO; assists the CD in preparing CO responses to audit findings as well as planning and implementing audit recommendations
• General CO oversight and other duties: Assists the CD and other senior staff in the development of project proposals and CO staff development plans and the review of contracts and other financial commitments; performs other duties as assigned

Requisites

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance or Business Management or equivalent
• Desired: Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance or Business Management or equivalent
• Master's degree in Business Administration or Accounting
• Seven (7) to ten (10) years as Finance Controller or Finance Manager in country office environment
• Ten (10) years experience in not-for-profit financial, budgeting, accounting, financial reporting, grants/contract management and business management in developing countries
• Thorough knowledge of financial and accounting practices and procedures
• Solid accounting systems experience and thorough understanding of financial accounting, reporting, grants and contract management processes
• Facilitation skills to conduct training sessions for small, medium and large sized groups
• Solid analytical skills, problem solving and experience with major donor audits (e.g USAID, EU, etc.)
• Strong oral and written communication skills; Customer focused while handling multiple priorities
• Ability to quickly learn new systems, processes and procedures and adapt local practices to global standards
• Good leadership, coaching and negotiation skills
• Ability to work on teams, work at detailed level and understand the larger picture
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office including Excel and Word
• Proficiency in using financial software applications
• Desired: CARE Country Office Experience
• Language mostly spoken in the region
• Web-based financial system experience

Notes

• Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted
• Are you interested in joining CARE's efforts to improve the rights of women and girls in Mozambique and around the world? Please access the link http://www.care.org.mz/careers_currentopportunities.php, download the "Application form" form and a "home based assignment"
• Please fill in the form with the vacancy number and name of the position to email below. We will not receive CVs

How to Apply

• Send your Documentation to Mozrecrutamentos@care.org with the Subject line “CO Finance Director”