GRANT ACCOUNTANT at Joint Aid Management

Purpose of Position:

As a member of the Finance Team, the incumbent is required to provide strategic financial input to decisions to be made covering all areas of ministry. To implement financial policies in such areas as, but not limited to: budget, cash management and forecasting, funding by Partners/Donors, recording and documentation, project auditing, monthly financial reporting and local resource acquisition; being cognizant of organizational policies.

The Grants Accountant plays an advisory role to the Grants & Finance Manager/Director and the rest of the management team on matters related to risk management, internal controls systems and their impact on the operations of the organization.

The incumbent will be expected to provide supervision to the Finance and Administration Officers at the Field Offices with a view of ensuring that grants financial support is provided to resource acquisition team and same time donor compliance is achieved.

Key Responsibilities:

• Posting accurate data in the sun systems to enable production of monthly financial reports. This involves working closely with the Finance Officers in the department and reviewing such reports before sharing with the Grants & Finance Manager.
• Review and ensure that all grants/projects reports are discussed with the project team and passed to donors and support offices within the required time schedule;
• Co-ordinate and review project budget development (proposal, grant and matches) between the Finance Assistants, Program Personnel and the National Teams;
• Review and Analyze grant expenses while using the same as a monitoring tool to advise the stakeholders on expenditure trends;
• Ensure that all assets and inventories procured form grants funds are engraved, recorded on asset registers and the balance sheet.
• Review payment vouchers and other journals to ensure proper coding and documentation; Advise on the right projects/codes to be charged.
• Ensure compliance with grants by unpacking and sharing with all the program staff all the necessary compliance issues they must adhere to.
• Support the Grants & Finance Manager to observe and monitor all internal control issues around grants. Participate in the production of the monthly management accounts;
• Correspond with HQ, donors and management regarding project income, expenditure and reporting. Ensure that project income is sufficiently confirmed at all times.
• Occasionally visit project field sites to ensure financial controls and procedures are in place
• Advice the Grants & Finance Manager on issues related to donor regulations and compliance with grant guidelines.
• Ensure optimum coverage of shared costs in grants proposals and advice the management where serious gaps are identified.
• Take lead in project external Audits in ensuring they are carried out satisfactorily and audit issues cleared within acceptable timelines
• Actively participate in generation and interpretation of monthly financial reports and communicate key indicators to the stakeholders;
• Assess the capacity gap of other finance staff and continuously build their capacity through mentorships and training.

Qualifications: Education/Knowledge/Technical Skills and Experience

The following may be acquired through a combination of formal or self-education, prior experience or on-the-job training:

Education

• B Com or BBA (Accounting) or equivalent degree and/or professional certification in accounting.
• Professional Accounting with CPA/ACCA/CIMA/CIA or equivalent certification preferred.

Others

• Must have practical knowledge of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and a thorough knowledge of financial systems and internal financial controls.
• Experience with computerized accounting systems such as Sunsystems and Vision, Ms.-applications, and high-level user of MS-Excel tools.
• Must possess good communication skills. Should be able to apply tact and diplomacy in dealing with staff and donors in relation to work environment needs
• Requires a minimum of 5 years working experience, three with an international NGO.
• Prior minimum 3 years in management level or equivalent and demonstrate ability in supervision and training
• A wide working knowledge of major donor regulations with particular bias to major Multilateral and Bilateral donor funding.
• Commitment to JAM values