Senior Finance Officer at Save the Children

JOB TITLE: Senior Finance Officer
TEAM/PROGRAMME: Finance
LOCATION: Istanbul

*** Please kindly note that funding is not confirmed for this position yet.

CHILD SAFEGUARDING:
Level 1 – You will not have contact with children or young people.

ROLE PURPOSE:
Support the Finance & IT Manager in managing the finance elements of budgeting and reporting along with partnerships throughout the partnership cycle from capacity assessment till close out and cash transfer programming in the Turkey country office. Conduct partners financial monitoring and expenditures verification, monitor partners progress in implementation the recommendations, track and keep management apprised of partner advances and ensure proper close-out of partner agreements. Develop and conduct partner capacity building activities ensuring that partners have adequate capacity to comply with SCI and donor guidelines. Control accounting mechanism to comply in country regular and rules also SCI and donor regulations

SCOPE OF ROLE:
Reports to: Finance and IT Manager
Reportee: Finance Officers/Assistants
Budget responsibility: None

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Sub-award Management and Monitoring:

* Verify and ensure that all partnership expenditure spend is compliant with Save the Children and donor policies
* Conduct partner capacity assessments and partner award risk assessments, support program teams in selecting partners and identify capacity building needs of partners in financial management
* Verify partner expenditure reports, through remote and direct visits, and provide audit summary with recommendations to Finance & IT Manager
* Conduct periodic financial monitoring visits to evaluate the systems, recommend improvements and monitor implementation of improvements
* Assist awards/program teams in preparation of end of award letters detailing accepted, disallowed and queried costs, and where applicable any balances owed to or from partners
* Liaise with Finance Officer/Assistant to ensure the timely processing of payments to partners
* Support award management team and programme staff for the preparation of donor proposals containing partnership activities
* Follow-up with partners to ensure timely submission of financial reports
* Track partner advances and reported expenditures and provide regular updates to department management
* Manage the Partnerships Finance Officer in line with SCI objective and appraisal processes, to ensure efficient and effective support to partners involved with the Syria response
* Ensure that partner expenses are posted to FIS (Agresso) in time and amounts owed to and from partners are monitored and cleared in time.

Partner Capacity Building:

* With Finance & IT Manager, provide finance and awards training and capacity building to partner finance and non-finance staff, through direct group, individual and remote support
* Support partners in preparation of proposal budgets, reviewing to ensure costing is appropriate to activities in the sub-award proposals
* Identify and recommend support to partners to build their capacity in finance management

Internal Controlling & Reporting:

* Lead monthly financial closing and ensures accuracy of reports to be submitted to SCI centre
* Ensure proper tracking and analysis of debtors and creditors (staff advances, prepayments, accruals and other liabilities), reconcile and prepare/post corrective and adjusting journal entries.
* Support to Finance & IT Manager to ensure accuracy of balance sheet items and prepare monthly, quarterly and annual Balance Sheet schedules with supporting schedules as per requirement in timely manner
* Support Finance & IT manager on monthly finance review and monthly control checklist with full supporting reconciliations and take appropriate, timely action to resolve issues

Cash Management and Banking:

* Support Finance & IT Manager to manage the cash flow to ensure timely and secure transfer of funds to meet program needs, liaising with banks and SCI Centre Treasury as required
* Compile monthly cash requests from budget holders and ensures adequate and timely flow of funds to the field offices
* Monitor and control forex gain/loss
* Review the monthly payroll calculation and its related taxes and ensures accuracy
* Maintain all bank account related documents
* Ensure preparation of monthly bank reconciliations and regular cash counts as per SCI guidelines

Budgeting and Reporting:

* Supports the Finance & IT Manager in consolidating, maintaining and updating the Non-thematic and cross-thematic funding allocation schedule for country programme for fair allocation of support cost across the funding source.
* Supports Programme staff and Award team on proposal budget preparation and modifications by reviewing and advising on proposed costs and justifications to make sure that the proposed budget is reasonable and realistic for the project needs and is complaint per internal and external policies.
* Prepare proposal budget portion of shared costs ensuring full recovery and fairness of allocation, support preparation of Master Budget and Forecast.
* Ensure that a proper staffing funding and other shared costs plan is maintained, accurate budget codes are provided for new recruitments and funding gaps are periodically calculated and shared with the management.
* Ensure that reporting analysis codes (DEAs) and budgets are uploaded to FIS (Agresso)
* Ensure preparation of accurate and timely financial reports for the donors and monthly BvAs.
* Analyses, reviews, and discuss financial reports with Award and Program departments to proactively advice and address financial and budgetary opportunities and potential issues.
* Reconciles all the country donor financial reports with the FIS before submission to donors/members ensuring they match with data in FIS.
* Ensure proper allocation of expenses to grants and maintenance of financial models to track the budget, expenses, and variances.
* Reviews and/or processes budget and journal transactions wherever necessary.
* Supports recharging process of inter-country expenses from control accounts to awards.
* Prepare staffing costs allocation to awards/holding codes and monthly share costs allocation in line with SCI policies and procedures.
* Supports development and maintenance of training on budgeting, financial policies, and financial system and reporting tools, and provides training.
* Ensure that FIS is up-to-date in terms of latest versions of budgets and FIS is used to produce donor financial reports and other budget/portfolio analysis.
* Coordinate with relevant departments to ensure relevant documents of GIK are available and GIK is recorded in accounts books in time with all the supporting documents.
* Facilitate Finance & IT Manager in preparation for all internal and external audits.
* Perform any other duties and tasks, which are commensurate with the responsibilities and level of the post.

Other:

* Provide support as required to the Finance & IT Manager and finance team in monthly and yearly closings.
* Provide support as required to the Finance & IT Manager on Master Budget preparation

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

Required

* Turkish nationality is a requirement for this position.
* * Finance/Accounting qualification
* 4-5 years of experience of working in finance department with a NGO
* Experience in assessment and monitoring of partners
* Knowledge of finance and operational controls in regards to cash transfer programming
* A desire to learn and work in a challenging but rewarding environment
* Ability to work under pressure alone and as part of a team
* A strong sense of integrity
* Attention to detail
* Good working knowledge of Excel
* English speaking required