Grant Finance Manager At African Parks

BACKGROUND:

African Parks is a non-profit conservation organization that takes on the complete responsibility for the rehabilitation and long-term management of national parks in partnership with governments and local communities. We currently manage 22 national parks and protected areas in 12 countries covering over 20 million hectares in: Angola, Benin, Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Sudan.

Chinko’s mosaic of ecosystems is one of the incredibly rich and unique area in African continent. In fact, the Chinko Conservation Area (CCA) is an important area for endangered wildlife as well a vast ecosystem with complex interactions and is the only managed protected environment in the remote eastern part of CAR.

Most recently, a “functional landscape” of about 64,645 km2 which the government of the CAR assigned the mandate to APN to develop a comprehensive conservation strategy and land-use plan.

JOB OVERVIEW:

The Grants Finance Manager is responsible for the financial management of all grants funding the organization. He manages a global budget for the entire organization and ensure compliance with each donor rules and regulations. He/She works closely with the Accounting Team and other Heads of Department. He/She reports to the Head of Finance.

The daily duties consist of but are not limited to;

Donor Management;

• Maintain all documentation related to a grant up to date (contact, financial & narrative reports, payment, audit report, work plan, approvals, etc.)
• Ensure visibility of each donor for all
• Ensure compliance with each donor rules & regulation (produce all donor financial report, request mandatory authorization to donor, train and communicate internally on donor rules & regulation
• Manage all donor audits

Budgeting and Forecasting;

• Support production of all financial reports (Actual Vs Budget) for all donor individually as well as for the entire organization on monthly basis.
• Support review and monitor budget performance per program and/or per department, make recommendations to improve performance.
• Establish the amount of donor income that need to draw and ensure proper recording.
• Produce, analyze, control, forecast the funding gap position of the organization.
• Use all his knowledge to optimize and reduce the unfunded position of the organization.
• Ensure that all financial reports due to donor are received on time
• Is responsible for the quality of the financial information reported to donors (as well as internally)
• Support crafting of the budget for proposal and ensure allocation of unfunded expenses first (reduction of funding gap) and proper coverage of activities.
• Support the draft and propose budget amendment for grants that need it

Accounting;

• Support review of the allocation per program (Donor and budget line) of all transactions (purchase order & contract, travel authorization form & mission order, expenses claim, staff time allocation) prior to entry into the accounting system.
• Support control of availability of budget before approval of expenses.
• Provide guidance and coaching to accounting staff to ensure accuracy, correctness and completeness of transactions recorded

Cash Management;

• Produce reimbursement request for all expenses not advanced by donor in the shortest delay.
• Follow up collection of money claimed and allocate amounts received between programs.
• Monitor cash position on grants on advance basis.

Fixed Asset Management; (In collaboration with the FOM)

• Ensure correct allocation and recording of each fixed asset per donor
• Ensure proper branding (Donor visibility) of all asset

HR & Payroll; (In collaboration with the Chief Accountant and HR manager)

• Review the allocation of the payroll per program
• Control and approve time allocation for all staffs required to produce time sheet
• Communicate on remaining time budget to all staffs required to produce time sheet
• Supervise that HR are compliant with each donor rules & regulation

Due Diligence and Audit

• Co-ordinate donor audits
• Provide draft responses to the audit management letter, including coordinating inputs from operations, law enforcement, human resources, administration and other units as necessary, and forward to the Head of Finance for review
• Record and follow up audit findings. Ensure closure and resolution of all of them in the timeframe agreed with the Head of Finance.
• Guaranty the eligibility of all expenses (no ineligible expenses) and the absence of major audit findings.

Archiving

• Manage the archivist and supervise the archive system (physical and numerical)
• Set up control process, to ensure the archiving of all required documentation related to all transactions
• Is responsible for the quality of all documentation supporting all expenses
• Guaranty the safeguard of all documentation related to donor according to each donor rules.
• Ease access to the information archived in case of audit

General

• Provide training to staff on Donor rules and regulation and more generally on APN financial policies and procedures, budgeting methods
• Assist with writing and maintaining of the procurement policy.
• If need can sit as a member of the procurement committee.
• Assists with implementing new systems (accounting, payroll, stock, etc.) and training of user.
• Carry out any other relevant tasks that may be assigned from time to time by the Finance Manager

How Success look like

• All reports are produced on time with the level of quality required.
• Funding gap is monitor and reduced.
• All donor audits are closed on a timely manner with no expense’s ineligible nor major audit findings.
• Each program budget, as well as the global organization budget are respected.
• Program staff receive all information & support needed for them to execute their activities

Qualifications and Role requirements

• A 5-year degree in Accounting or Finance Management, with a further Business and Administration qualification being advantageous;
• At least 5 years of proven operational experience in the finance/accounting management sector;
• A conservation working back ground is desired;
• A strong work ethic with a demonstrated ability to analyze complex contracts in a solutions-based manner;
• Excellent planning and organizational skills and Administrative skills;
• Attention to details; Punctuality and Team Management skills and strong team player;
• Adaptability to constantly changing environments;
• Diplomacy and ability to build good relations.
• IT – Word, Excel, Power Point and Outlook;
• Excellent ability to build and manage relationships with a wide variety of people and cultures.