Finance and Compliance Advisor - Africa

Finance and Compliance Advisor Africa

Location: Africa 

The Organisation

Search for Common Ground (SFCG) is an international non-profit organisation that promotes peaceful resolution of conflict. With headquarters in Washington, DC, SFCG’s mission is to transform how individuals, organisations, and governments deal with conflict – away from adversarial approaches and toward cooperative solutions. SFCG seeks to help conflicting parties understand their differences and act on their commonalities. With a total of approximately 480 staff worldwide, SFCG implements projects from 45 offices in 30 countries, including in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, the United States and Africa.

Programme

In Africa, SFCG has 14 vibrant country programs namely Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, DR Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Angola, Tanzania, Sudan, Zimbabwe, and Madagascar. In addition, it has operations in Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, the Central African Republic and Uganda. Each national program generates its own strategy contextualized to national issues and contributes also to the achievement of the West Africa and Great Lakes strategy through its actions. The country programs learn from each other, interact on a regular basis together and work on regional issues.

Summary of Position

The Finance and Compliance Advisor – Africa – is based in the region and is responsible for (with respect to finance) troubleshooting, capacity building and supporting compliance within the Africa programs. It is important to note that this is an advisory and capacity-building position, and not a management position.

The Finance and Compliance Advisor will report to the West and Central Africa Director. In addition, s/he works closely with the East Africa Director, based in Kigali and the country director in the country where he/she will be based and the Africa Senior Program Manager, based in Washington DC. S/he will need to engage closely with the Chief Financial Officer and her team based in Washington and Brussels.

Work Environment

Search for Common Ground has a great work environment with a mission of peace-building in the world. SFCG is a stimulating and richly rewarding organisation to work for – full of hard-working, friendly, bright, enthusiastic, and passionate people dedicated to the work they do. There are many opportunities for team-building and involvement in staff events. The organisation has won numerous awards.

Responsibilities

• Provide remote troubleshooting support for finance managers in the country offices;
• Provide training (in-person and remote) to new and existing finance staff in SFCG’s financial system, field reporting formats, compliance and documentation, and related topics;
• Provide technical assistance to new country start-up, including financial templates, policies, and manuals as well as training;
• Manage the Africa Team budget (approximately 800.000 USD annually), including identifying and using the pooled allocation lines across the region’s budgets, allocating salary costs to relevant, appropriate grants; and identifying gaps to be addressed;
• Provide technical assistance in the development of operational budgets, including format, cost analysis, and grant analysis;
• Provide budget support and analysis for regional grants;
• Assist with the communication and implementation of new Finance and Compliance policies being developed by HQ;
• Develop and adjust budgets for new programming proposals, in line with donor and SFCG requirements;
• Provide short-term technical assistance (STTA) and office coverage for finance managers of country programs when they go on leave (when requested and approved by the WCA Director);
• Coach in particular the financial aspects of the programs in Nigeria on request of the Country Director;
• On request of the CFO operate as an internal auditor;

As job descriptions cannot be exhaustive, the position holder may be required to undertake other duties that are broadly in line with the above key responsibilities.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting & Finance or a related field with relevant work experience of Master in Accounting & Finance. An accounting certificate from a certified institution would be a plus.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in working on financial and administrative aspects of public sector donors, including EU, US government, UN, World Bank grants and contracts
• Track record, with sufficient knowledge to provide training and support on using the quickbooks software
• Experience with operational budgeting and grants management;
• Experience in Sub-Saharan Africa ;
• Willingness to travel on a regular basis (at least 50%) and live in a challenging context;
• Demonstrated ability to effectively to work with a diverse team, with attention to mentorship and professional development of staff;
• Excellent written and oral communications skills in both English and French;
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills.

Salary: Commensurate with education and experience, with excellent benefits 

To Apply: 

Please send a cover letter and current resume to employment@sfcg.org or fax to +1 (202) 232-6718 with the subject heading: Finance and Compliance Advisor Africa. Please be sure to include minimum salary requirements (in currency figures) or current salary, projected start date, and to mention where you found this posting. No phone calls please. Only applicants invited for an interview will be contacted. Please see our web site www.sfcg.org for full details of our work.

Application Deadline: October 18, 2013.