Area Finance Manager, East – Save the Children
Accounting and Finance
Save the Children
Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. In Ethiopia and around the world, we give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.
Save the Children Ethiopia works in 9 regions in Ethiopia with a current staff complement of approximately 2,500 staff. The size of the programme and the amount of human, financial and material resources put into it as well as the requirements of different donors requires substantial amount of quality and efficient human resource. This makes Save the Children an exciting place to work.
Accordingly, Save the Children Ethiopia is looking to hire creative individuals who have the experience and competencies to work; support the development of an organisational culture that reflects dual mandate values; help establish, maintain, and improve active and regular working relationships with host government authorities, partner agencies including humanitarian and development donors, and local and international NGOs; ensure Ethiopia Country Office complies with all Save the Children Management Operating Standards and Standard Operating Procedures and that all required support is provided promptly, at scale and in line with the rules and principles.
KEY DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES
Business partnering
· Become a valued business partner to the Area Office and field operation program leaders and finance staff and help them to achieve their objectives
· Communicate monthly & year spending plans for each FO
· Work closely with FO accountants to track spending and monitor operational KPIs
· Monitor financial gap and control spending on NTC of the filed office under the area office management
· Attends BvA meetings & hold a meeting with field office & Area office managers to discuss field offices performances
· Assist field offices in preparation of their master budgets & work closely with the FO manager and budget holders when phasing budget.
· Support the decentralization effort of the Country Office and provide advice to the Area office manager on financial matters
· Provide budget holder and other training to build the capacity of the operational team.
Financial control & compliance
· To support, monitor and test field-based finance team adherence to accounting and internal control and reporting requirements, policies and procedures of the organization and various donor and statutory requirements
· To ensure that field offices meet accounting timetables and schedules
· Conduct processes and systems reviews and ensure that the Finance systems throughout the field office are improved to facilitate the delivery of improved financial information and an increased ability to manage resources and produce quality management information effectively.
· Ensure that field offices submit good quality on-time monthly summary accounts, including cash flow and other information as defined and send to stakeholders, including the Finance Director
· Champion accuracy in coding and assist managers in becoming effective budget holders
· Manage and monitor the work of Senior finance coordinators, mentoring and providing guidance.
· Identify capacity gaps and training needs at Area Offices and Field Office and facilitate provision of relevant trainings to staff at field level in financial and budget management as necessary
· Create a high performing finance team by:
o Good recruitment and induction practices
o Ensuring good skill needs identification and corresponding training
o Specific development plans for each team member
o Measuring performance though metrics and feedback
o Regular team meeting and mentoring
o Motivate and inspire the team
· Contribute in the preparation and implementation of strategic and annual plans of the Finance Department
· Prepare monthly reports for each Area Office with agreed score card and performance measures
· Facilitate and support in the conduct of various audits and closure of audit findings
· Support Area Offices and Field offices in the preparation and closure of year-end accounts
· Assess capacity and propose online access to Agresso FMS for off-line field offices
· Facilitate temporary capacity gaps in key Finance roles at Area Offices and Field Offices
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
· Bachelor or Master’s Degree from recognized University in Accounting or Finance.
· Work Experience a minimum of 8 years, out of which 5 years’ experience directly related to financial management
· Demonstrate experience managing large-scale operational and procedural change from proposal to execution and will ideally offer a track record in overseeing a successful new system and processes implementation.
· Experience of statutory accounting management
· Experience in building capacity of local and international NGO of their financial management
· Evidence of working across a range of field offices with different range of portfolio and capacity to achieve significant change
· Experience of strategic financial planning and development
Skills & abilities
· Excellent leadership & influencing skills with professional finance credibility
· Self-starter” capable of generating & delivering innovative solutions
· Generate and critically analyze business cases and other financial plans in relation to SCI objectives
· Effective management of staff at all levels in both Line and matrix structure
· Good proficiency with MS Office & range of software packages relating to financial management.
· Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including influencing, negotiation and coaching
- Ability and willingness to dramatically change work practices and hours, and work with incoming surge teams, in the event of emergencies
- Fluency in English, both verbal and written, preferred
- Teams, in the event of emergencies
- Commitment to Save the Children values
