Regional Finance Director - Southern Africa

Provide finance leadership for the region to ensure standards of excellence through financial management, accountability and integrity. To guide and enable the National Offices/Regional Office, with a focus on ensuring accountability, capacity building of finance staff, coordination of budget and planning processes and review of financial strategies for the region that best serve strategic and program objectives. Promote an environment of innovation, empowerment and responsible stewardship throughout the region


KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

STRATEGIC FINANCIAL PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT
Lead the region’s financial planning and budgeting process:
• Support Strategic Investment through the Regional Working Group process in collaboration with Regional Office of Strategy Management, including multi-year planning
• Issue contextualized annual budget guidelines for the region
• Review and consolidate National Office’s budgets and recommend them for approval to the Senior Director of Operations/Regional Leader
Work with the Regional Leader, Senior Director of Operations and regional team on the regional budget and financial reporting Cash Management:
• Work with Global Treasury and National/Regional Offices on cash-flow, hedging and establishing budget rates
• Review and approve monthly funding requests from National/Regional Offices and ensure that they are in compliance with WVI cash management policies and within committed budget
• Guide National/Regional Offices in their banking, cash management, investments, and safety of assets.
• Explore ways to reduce overhead costs at the national and regional level without compromising ministry quality, by monitoring efficiency ratio and benchmark.
  
PROMOTION OF FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY AND REPORTING
• Ensure appropriate financial, monitoring frameworks and internal controls are in place in each National/Regional Office to support WV’s ministry in the region
• Ensure National/Regional Offices are monitoring their spending against budget commitments to assure that spending occurs only where there are commitments and to minimize under-and overspending
• Ensure National/Regional Offices comply with year-end closing processes (including accrual accounting, carry-forward examination, pre-funding mechanism, etc.)
  
  Oversee and evaluate National/Regional Offices’ financial performance and efficiency through:
• the quarterly financial scorecard issued by the FRSC
• periodic reviews of National/Regional Offices
  
FINANCIAL SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES
• Ensure National Offices comply with LEAP budgeting and reporting guidelines
• Ensure National/Regional Offices align with any new initiative related to systems and processes (e.g. SunSystems centralization and CAM)
  
  WVI Finance Manual:
• ensure National/Regional Offices comply with the WVI Finance Manual
• ensure National/Regional Office’s local policies and procedures are consistent with the WVI Finance Manual
• raise with GC any field issue that needs to be updated in the WVI Finance Manual
• raise with GC any field issues that need to be formalized into WVI Finance policy or procedures
  
CAPACITY BUILDING
• Conduct capacity assessment of National/Regional Office finance department to ensure the NO finance department is strategically positioned to effectively deliver and support Ministry
• Mentor/support the NO Finance Directors/RO Finance Manager to understand and meet the service requirements of their roles
• Ensure succession planning for NO Finance Directors and key finance positions
• Ensure financial capacity is built at National/Regional Office:
• Provide opportunities for regional financial training of finance staff, such as SunSystems/Vision, G2G, MyPBAS, secondment, rotation, etc. support the National/Regional Office Finance Director/Manager in
• Providing financial management training for non-finance staff
• Provide appropriate finance orientation to new National Directors, Finance Directors, and other Functional Directors
• Support and counsel National Directors, Senior Director of Operations and Regional Leader and their teams on financial issues
• Work with the relevant Shared Service leadership to ensure the needed capabilities and capacities are resident in that unit and available to National Offices as appropriate

RISK MANAGEMENT
Promote improved Partnership internal audit results through:
• following up implementation of audit recommendations by NO/RO Leadership addressing common audit findings
  
  Enhance and oversee risk management processes by:
• ensuring that audit and risk assessments are conducted periodically
• assuming appropriate role in the Integrity and Risk Reporting Team (IRR) in the region
• ensuring that the IRR/whistle-blower team follows up all the process properly, investigates and reports to the appropriate authorities
  
• Assess the Internal control environment of a National/Regional Office. Involves assisting National/Regional Offices designing and improving internal control systems and project accounting systems.
• Alert leadership about risk in the National/Regional Offices
  
STRATEGIC NETWORKING
• Support regional Vision Fund in its oversight of MFI/VFI finance controls and reporting in region (but accountability lies with VFI)
• As appropriate, participate in regional Board/Advisory Council and SMT meetings on specific finance/audit sessions (such as budget presentation, risk issues, sharing the quarterly financial management scorecard and presenting key issues to the board) and orientation of the board on financial management
• Collaborate with the Regional Audit Manager as per the Responsibility Audit Matrix
• Develop and maintain good professional networks with key Regional, Support Office and Global Center staff and donors
• Identify and ensure that conflicts are resolved between various entities – critical issues affecting either RO, SO or NO
  
LEADERSHIP
• Active member of the Global Field Finance Team (GFFT)
• Member of the Regional Senior Leadership Team
• Directly supervise the Assistant Regional Finance Directors
• Functionally supervise the 9 NO Finance Directors
• Provide advice and support to the Regional Leader, Senior Director of Operations and other Functional Directors on financial implication of decisions, presenting options to recurring problems as they arise
• Provide Spiritual Nurture to the NO and RO Finance Teams
• Attend and participate in devotional meetings

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES:

REQUIRED:
• Educational level required: Degree in Finance, Business Admin, or Accounting. MBA or equivalent preferred
• Solid knowledge of accounting principles, financial systems, budget/cash-flow monitoring and internal accounting controls
• Knowledge of and experience with government grant regulations and financial reporting requirements preferred
• Experience in establishing and enforcing common protocols and standards throughout a large organization
• Senior leadership experience in strategic financial management
• Track record of successfully training, developing/mentoring and supervising finance staff
• Working knowledge of the WV Partnership preferred and ability to interface sensitively with people from various departments in both field and support offices
  
  PREFERRED:
• Strong inter-personal skills

Regional Finance Director - Southern Africa