Haiti COUNTRY ACCOUNTANT

COUNTRY ACCOUNTANT HAITI MM/HAI/CAT Concern Worldwide is an Irish-based non-governmental, international, humanitarian organisation dedicated to the reduction of suffering and working towards the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries. Job Title: Country Accountant Reports to: Country Director Job Location: Port au Prince, Haiti Contract Details: 2 years, Unaccompanied, Grade B

Job Purpose:
The Country Accountant will be responsible for the overall financial control and management of programme budgets and expenditure in addition to the maintenance of field and head office accounting systems. Responsibilities also include the preparation of annual budgets and quarterly revisions, preparation of quarterly financial reporting and donor reports. The post holder is also a member of the senior management team and will participate in all key decisions relating to finance. The Country Accountant will coach and train a national staff counterpart currently in the position of Assistant Country Accountant. Day-to-day tasks should be managed by, and delegated from the Assistant Country Accountant, with more complex reporting to head office and donors prepared jointly by the Country Accountant and other members of the Finance team. The goal of the Country Accountant is to decrease direct involvement over the 2 years so that the post can be handed over to a national counterpart by the end of the 2 years. The role of the Country Accountant has a strong emphasis on capacity building and providing supervision, leadership and strategic direction.

Main duties & Responsibilities
a) Management Information •Supervise the preparation of quarterly financial reports to HQ and yearend financial accounts •Manage monthly meetings with budget holders and disseminate information on status of individual budgets and advise accordingly •Ensure that there are adequate procedures for identifying the financial impact of changes in proposed activities and for revising the approved budgets •Ensure that clear reports and management information systems, including monthly management accounts, are provided to management which enable them to identify variances from approved budgets and to make necessary corrective action •Keep up-to-date on programme priorities and make monthly field trips to monitor finance related issues •Ensure that budget holders receive monthly updates on status of expenditure against donor budgets and supervise preparation of reports to donors.

b) Internal Controls •Monitor expenditure requests to ensure that the organization’s money is being appropriately spent and correctly accounted for •Maintain effective financial systems (ledger, cashbooks, controls over payments and bank accounts) •Ensure there are adequate controls over cash and bank holdings •On-going development and monitoring of procedures and controls, to ensure they are compliant with Concern Worldwide and donor policies, and safeguard the use assets and resources •Review and update the accounting and finance manual annually •Ensure there is a complete record of capital assets and that they are adequately safeguarded •Ensure that internal control procedures are up to date, understood and applied correctly (limits are observed, floats etc.) •Facilitate internal and external audits, and associated reviews of field systems

c) Capacity Building •To undertake active staff management and team building; setting objectives, providing on the job support, and regularly reviewing performance development of direct reports •To assess training needs of finance staff and address skills gaps with on the job training and by identifying and approving suitable internal or external training courses •To undertake non-finance staff training and development in financial and accounting systems •Organise and support financial review, monitoring and training of local partner organisations •Participate in the assessment and evaluation of potential implementing partners

d) Management •Directly manage 1 national staff and 1 international staff and indirectly manage 7 national staff •Active pbz-m eW M uI5Fe$3ement Team (SMT) meetings and involvement in the decision making processes •Work with the programme teams and department managers to understand their expenditure reports (management accounts) and during budget revisions •Work with programme teams to develop budgets for donor proposals, mapping and donor budget variance reporting systems and donor reporting systems in compliance with donor policies •Feed back to Senior Management and Programme Coordinators via coordination meetings, levels of funding for each programme in relation to funding targets, highlighting potential funding shortfalls, and identify funding opportunities •Ensure all income due to Concern is received on a timely basis •Represent Concern Worldwide Haiti’s Finance department, and provide leadership and guidance •Contribute to the development, implementation and monitoring of the Concern Worldwide Haiti’s Strategic Plan •Ensure that Concern policies and guidelines are adhered to by staff and by local partners (e.g. P4/ Code of Conduct, Fraud Policy etc) •Concern is certified by the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP). As a certified member of HAP, we are committed to the HAP standard and the HAP Principles of Accountability, and all staff, especially senior management, are required to ensure we fulfill our commitment to being accountable to our beneficiaries

Person specification: Essential: •Professionally Qualified Accountant ACCA, CIMA, ACA, CPA •Three year’s experience working as an accountant at managerial level
•Proficient spoken and written English •Training and staff development experience •Facilitation and interpersonal skills •Ability to motivate and develop skills of others •Excellent organisational and planning skills •Ability to work under pressure often to strict deadlines •Flexible, adaptable, sense of humour, and patient •Analytical and problem solving skills •Ability to surface problems and recommend solutions •Methodical and thorough •Ability to work with a remote team •Cross cultural awareness and sensitive •Empathy with organisational goals •Knowledge of computer applications, such as Microsoft Word and Excel •Ability to work in an insecure environment

Desirable:
•Good spoken and written French •Experience in working in the international development sector (overseas) •Knowledge and experience with MGP package •Experience of working with Concern in another finance position •A valid driving license •Chartered member of an Accountancy Institution

All applications should be submitted through our website at www.concern.net/jobs

Due to the urgency of these positions, applications will be short listed on a regular basis and we may offer posts before the closing date.

All candidates who are short-listed for a first round interview will be notified via email after the application deadline.

Concern has a Staff Code of Conduct and a Programme Participant Protection Policy which have been developed to ensure the maximum protection of programme participants from exploitation and to clarify the responsibilities of Concern staff, consultants, visitors to the programme and partner organization, and the standards of behaviour expected of them. In this context staff have a responsibility to the organization to strive for, and maintain, the highest standards in the day-to-day conduct in their workplace in accordance with Concern’s core values and mission. Any candidate offered a job with Concern Worldwide will be expected to sign the Programme Participant Protection Policy and the Concern Staff Code of Conduct as an appendix to their contract of employment.
By signing the Programme Participant Protection Policy and the Concern Staff Code of Conduct candidates acknowledge that they have understood the contents of both the Concern Staff Code of Conduct and the Programme Participant Protection Policy and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these two documents Concern receives a substantial amount of funding from external donors each year. Increasingly donors are introducing requirements whereby future funding is conditional on Concern ensuring that the names of any new employee or volunteer do not appear on terrorism lists generated by the European Union (List of person, groups and entities to which Regulation (EC No. 2580/2001 applies), the US Government (Office of Foreign Assets Control list of specially designated Nationals and Blocked Persons) and the United Nations (Consolidated List).
Any offer of employment (either paid or voluntary) with Concern Worldwide will not be made pending a clearance check being conducted on the applicant. For additional information please consult our web site or contact the Human Resource Division in our Head Office. Concern Worldwide is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community