USAID/Policy LINK Ghana – Accountant/Finance Specialist At DAI Global

Project Background

The Feed the Future Policy LINK project will strengthen the capacity of local actors and institutions to lead and manage the agricultural transformation process and contribute effectively and collectively to improved, broad-based food security policy outcomes.

Specifically, the program aims to strengthen food security policy systems by investing in and reinforcing productive human and social capital and developing strategic partnerships that help bring these innovations and capacity investments to scale in order to achieve a critical mass of local actors with the ability and opportunity to effect positive policy change through collective action.

Policy LINK’s general approach is grounded in facilitative leadership and collaborative governance, which emphasize engaging stakeholders from civil society and public and private sectors in consensus-oriented decision making, collaborative problem solving, and adaptive learning.

Policy LINK in Ghana

USAID/Policy LINK Ghana is a five-year activity with the overall objective of fostering behavior change that strengthens the capacity and ability of Ghanaian stakeholders to participate in a more transparent, inclusive, and evidence-based agriculture and food security policy process that leads to improved food and nutrition outcomes and broad-based economic growth. Specifically, the activity will facilitate the transition towards a policy development paradigm driven by multiple stakeholders.

This approach to policymaking will strengthen the capacities of Ghana’s main agricultural policy system actors and institutions, and support them to engage stakeholders traditionally excluded from decision-making, including academia, financial institutions, the judiciary, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and private sector representatives from the national, regional, and local levels.

This approach is underpinned by Policy LINK’s overarching theory of change focused on increasing human and social capital, engaging policy system actors in collaborative processes, and developing mechanisms for collaborative governance and dynamic learning systems and platforms to sustain collective action.

Position Objectives

The Accountant/Finance Specialist will oversee each step of the field project finance cycle for the LINK/Ghana office including estimating cash needs, requesting and processing weekly wire transfers from Bethesda, processing payments to goods and service providers, and recording financial transactions and preparing regular financial reports. S/he will ensure that all financial transactions are documented in compliance with DAI policies and procedures.

S/he will be expected to liaise with operations and technical points of contact in the LINK/Ghana office and the LINK team remotely based as well as home office staff in Bethesda/Washington.

S/he will continually reinforce Policy LINK’s agreed-upon core purpose and principles, and ensure all decision-making is rooted in those purpose and principles. S/he will contribute to foster a learning environment in which personal and team growth is supported, with a shared understanding that the “team” always comes before the “individual.”

Responsibilities

The Accountant/Finance Specialist will be responsible for the following:

Day to day financial management:

Ensure timely and proper accounting of all project transactions in Dynacom/Financial Accounting System (FAS), using the correct codes and expenditure types;

Transactions may include but not be limited to staff advances, goods/service provider invoice payments, payroll, and statutory remittances.

Ensure the project finance filing system including invoices, correspondence, backup procurement documentation, and client files are scanned on a monthly basis and organized according to DAI policies for easy reference during internal and external audits;

Ensure that financial activities (i.e. payments for goods and services received) are carried out in compliance with DAI policies as well as local laws; and

Proactively monitor all financial activities, as well as any technical issues with DAI financial reporting tools/systems, and flag challenges to the LINK team for action.

Regular financial reporting:

Weekly wire requests for funds transferred from DAI/Washington to the LINK/Ghana bank account;

Bi-weekly field finance expenditure reports generated from Dynacom/FAS and uploaded to Oracle;

Monthly bank reconciliations;

Monthly accruals and commitments report submitted to the LINK/Ghana Finance & Operations Manager/Director;

Monthly scanning and storage of verified finance vouchers in project Sharepoint folder; and

Statutory remittance reports submitted by designated deadlines.

Bank relationship management:

Serve as the primary point of contact with the designated bank, ensuring regular updates are received, exchange rates are favorable, and working relations are strong.

Coordination with other LINK staff:

Support Ghana team members to track actual activity expenses compared to projections;

Participate in relevant cross-cutting project meetings such as those focused on office startup and closedown, sharing financial updates;

Communicate regularly with DAI/Washington and remotely based LINK staff with finance and operations responsibilities to exchange information relevant to day-to-day management as well as periodic internal/external audits as needed.

S/he will also contribute actively to recruitment efforts throughout the contracted period of performance by serving on agreed-upon interview panels, according to Policy LINK’s recruitment policy and process. Responsibilities of interview panel members may include, but not be limited to:

Contributing to position shortlists

Developing or editing interview questions

Serving as a “panel lead” for certain recruitment efforts

Conducting oral reference checks

Reporting

The Accountant/Finance Specialist will report to the Ghana Finance and Operations Manager/Director.

Supervisory Responsibilities

The Accountant/Finance Specialist will not have any supervisory responsibilities.

Qualifications

Education:

A university degree in finance, business management, public administration, or another relevant field;

Work Experience:

5+ years of relevant work experience on donor-funded programs (USAID preferred), with progressive responsibility in financial management for Accountant; 7+ years relevant work experience for Finance Specialist.

Preference for experience supporting fast-paced donor-funded programs focused on agriculture, value chains, digital tools, food security, or similar technical areas.

Skills:

Attention to detail;

Effective communication with colleagues and stakeholders located within Ghana as well as in other LINK offices – a strong capacity for remote collaboration is required;

Ability to balance competing priorities and information shared by colleagues, policy and procedure manuals, stakeholders, etc. and carry out well-informed financial management decisions;

Professional fluency in English and Akan.