Finance Manager

TITLE: Finance Manager–Sierra Leone Country Office

TEAM/PROGRAMME: Finance, OOSC NGO Consortium

LOCATION:  Freetown with frequent field visit

GRADE:  2

POST TYPE: TBC

CONTRACT LENGTH: 12 Months (renewable up to 36 months)

CHILD SAFEGUARDING: Level 3: The post holder will have contact with children and/or young people either frequently (e.g. once a week or more) or intensively (e.g. four days in one month or more or overnight) because they work country programs; or are visiting country programs; or because they are responsible for implementing the police checking/vetting process staff

ROLE PURPOSE: 

Save the Children is seeking a Consortium Finance Manager for the anticipated Delivering Learning for Out of School Children (OOSC) Project. The Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE) in partnership with the Qatar-based Education Above All (EAA) Foundation seeks to implement a five-year program to facilitate enrolment into formal and non-formal learning programs for out of school children. The MBSSE through the World Bank will receive funding for a program aiming to provide effective accelerated learning programmes that support the enrolment, retention, completion, learning outcomes and transition of OOSC. An NGO Consortium led by Save the Children has been formed to co-implement this project alongside Free Project Secretariat (FEPS) under MBSSE.

The Consortium’s Finance Manager will play a pivotal role in financial planning, budget management, and ensuring transparency and compliance across all member organizations of the consortium. They will be responsible for the coordination of the consortium’s financial operations and the implementation of rigorous financial monitoring systems to ensure optimal use of resources. The will ensure that the Consortium is compliant with both World Bank and Save the Children’s accounting policy, donor requirements and generally accepted accounting principles through the development and supervision of CO financial policies and procedures. The post holder ensures that accurate, complete and reliable financial information is maintained in the CO financial system, and timely reporting to the World Bank through FEPS.

In the event of a major humanitarian emergency, the role holder will be expected to work outside the normal role profile and be able to vary working hours accordingly

SCOPE OF ROLE: 

Reports to: Chief of Party with matrix reporting to the Director of Finance.

Staffs reporting to this post: TBC

Budget responsibilities: Save the Children works in 2 field offices in Sierra Leone coordinating from Freetown with a current staff complement of approximately 114 staffs. He/she will closely with Partner finance Managers.

Staff directly reporting to this post: TBC

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Financial Accounting, Control and Audit

• Develop, manage, and refine financial procedures and systems, ensuring they remain robust and compliant.
• Prepare and present comprehensive financial reports to senior management and consortium partners, highlighting the financial status, risks, and recommendations.
• Manage the process of fund transfers to consortium partners, ensuring timely disbursements in line with project needs.
• Monitor and ensure timely liquidation of advances by consortium partners, following established guidelines and donor requirements.
• Review and verify all expenses, ensuring they are appropriately documented, allocated, and compliant with donor regulations.
• Conduct regular financial audits and reviews, ensuring accuracy and authenticity of all financial transactions.
• Lead the consortium’s budget development and revision processes in collaboration with program teams.
• Forecast financial needs and potential challenges, advising the consortium leadership proactively.
• Ensures financial transactions are adequately documented, reviewed and validated on time to ensure that transaction are entered in Agresso on a daily/weekly basis;
• Responsible for the monthly review of Balance sheet accounts and ensuring that accounts such as advances, prepayments and accruals are regularly reconciled and appropriate action is taken;
• Plays a leading role in the closing of month and year-end financial reports;
• Reviews monthly financial reports to ensure the correctness of information before closing the accounts;
• Puts systems in place that limits exposure to transactions that are questionable and establishes a follow up plan to clarify and allow ability of implementations with budget holders;
• Ensures that effective systems are put in place, and regularly reviewed, to allow adequate financial management and control;
• Coordinates preparation of control reports, respond to findings and recommend resolutions or action plans;
• Facilitates the statutory audits both local and international as well as SC internal and donor audits;
• Reviews and approves exchange rate (monthly average) form for the Financial Accountants/Finance Coordinators to input in FMS. Control in particular gain/losses on currency exchange;
• Ensure monthly allocation of support costs to appropriate and active awards;
• Ensure proper accounting for partner advances and liquidations, periodic monitoring of partners on-site for spot checking adequate documentation of transactions, and reconciliation of partner related accounts;
• Ensure timely recognition of GIK income and expenditures;
• Review and check recognition of monthly and year-end accruals and deferral adjustments per SCI policy.

Planning and Budgeting

• Supports development and periodic revisions of the SCI Master Budget and annual/periodical projections of expenditures and funds in coordination with Awards, PDQ and the rest of the finance team;
• Work with the Director of Finance to ensure that a meaningful suite of reports and analysis is developed in order to enable a thorough understanding of the current position and support forward planning and decision making. These will include a top line reporting system by area, a master budget and funding gap analysis by area/field offices/departments;
• Build strong relationships with all stakeholders on budget development, realignments, revisions and rephrasing where required;
• Ensure that the thematic, cross thematic and operational cost of donor budgets are accurate, well developed, phased correctly and are available for uploading into the financial system in a timely fashion;
• Ensure that all budgets are entered into the financial system Agresso and phased correctly;
• Develop and tailor budget templates, tools, and justifiable costing strategies in accordance with SCI policy;
• Acts as gatekeeper to ensure budget quality, full cost recovery and implementation feasibility when comparing with master budget.
• Supervise and monitor use of tools such as Cost Allocation Methodology(CAM) at proposal stage, budgeting process and actual spend to support full cost recovery for SCI;
• Participates in developing an organizational long term funding strategy for programme and collaborates with all departments in the funding gap analysis;

Award Management

• Monitor completion of financial reports for awards/contracts. Work with awards focal persons to ensure proper accounting and closing of books upon receipt of completed reports and documents from various sub-offices
• Provide guidance to finance and non-finance staff and coordinate efforts to ensure compliance with donor requirements
• Ensure timely and accurate information is provided through Award Management systems
• Oversee and monitor sub grantees/ grants as required per SC policies and procedures
• Develop sub-grantees through training and capacity building
• Support to ensure that donor financial reports and additive reports align

Reporting 

• Produce monthly financial reviews (MFRs) and Monthly Management controls (MMC) with full commentary;
• Ensure all relevant budgets versus actual reports are provided to the Awards management team and senior management team on a monthly basis in order that budget monitoring meetings can be held and explanation for the variance is documented and action plan are laid out;
• Ensure all donor financial reports are produced and issue in timely manner. Work closely with Awards unit to streamline the donor reporting requirements;
• Manage the production of statutory reports in accordance with the local and generally acceptable accounting standards;
• Ensures the applicability of ER/CAM requirements through maintaining essential KPIs;
• Organizes and facilitates workshops training to CO reporting users to improve their understanding of the financial and management reports. Support all area/field office finance units with development and training opportunity related to their role;
• Ensures that Field offices have access to the information they need including producing effective reports and variance analysis to enable them to understand what is recorded and reported.

Create and lead a high performing finance team

• Set the team direction based on goals and objectives from the Finance Strategy;
• Develop and maintain a high performing team;
• Be a great business partner to all stakeholders;
• Create and monitor key performance metrics in a score card;
• Deliver on work plan and other commitments;
• Hold self and own team accountable for delivering on performance metrics;
• Give clear and regular feedback to own team on performance and adhere to HR submission needs;
• Manage career paths and develop the team.

Any other relevant duties assigned by FD and CoP

SKILLS AND BEHAVIOURS (our Values in Practice)

Accountability:

• Holds self accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
• Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities – giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved

Ambition:

• Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves (and their team), takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages others to do the same
• Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
• Future orientated, thinks strategically

Collaboration:

• Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, members and external partners and supporters
• Values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
• Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to

Creativity:

• Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
• Willing to take disciplined risks

Integrity:

Honest, encourages openness and transparency

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• Recommended a minimum of 7 years management experience in a corporate or an NGO environment, of which four years at a senior management level within the finance department of a national or international organization
• Batchelor Degree from recognized University in Accounting or Finance; CPA or equivalent degree (CA, ACMA, ACCA) is an advantageous
• Excellent analytical skills – the ability to analyse complex financial data and design and produce effective management information
• Excellent experience of budgeting and budget management
• Excellent experience of working with and coordinating consortium team members
• Excellent understanding of financial systems and procedures
• Excellent experience of computerised accounts packages, Excel, PowerPoint and Word
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills
• Ability to manage a complex and diverse workload and to work to tight deadlines
• Ability to build a small, proactive team, motivating staff and working collaboratively with colleagues and providing support and advice as necessary
• Willingness and ability to dramatically change work practices and hours, and work with incoming surge teams, in the event of emergencies
• A full appreciation of the value of co-operation within a team environment
• Understanding of Save the Children’s vision and mission and a commitment to its objectives and values
• Written and verbal fluency in English

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

Essential

• Excellent analytical skills – the ability to analyse complex financial data and design and produce effective management information
• Excellent experience of budgeting and budget management
• Excellent experience of working with and coordinating consortium team members
• Excellent understanding of financial systems and procedures
• Excellent experience of computerised accounts packages, Excel, PowerPoint and Word
• Understanding of Save the Children’s vision and mission and a commitment to its objectives and values
• Written and verbal fluency in English
• Ability to manage a complex and diverse workload and to work to tight deadlines

Desirable

• Ability to build a small, proactive team, motivating staff and working collaboratively with colleagues and providing support and advice as necessary
• Willingness and ability to dramatically change work practices and hours, and work with incoming surge teams, in the event of emergencies
• A full appreciation of the value of co-operation within a team environment

 Additional job responsibilities

• The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.