| 01. Job Title | Finance Manager – Partnership |
| Reports to: | Country Financial Controller |
| Direct reports: | Finance Officer – Partnership |
| Liaises with: | Sector Coordinators, Finance Department, Systems and Programme Staffs in all operational areas and Partners |
| Job Location: | Freetown with regular travel to field based |
| Contract Details: | Fixed term |
| Job Purpose: | You will assist the Country Financial Controller (CFC) in the day-to-day operation of the finance function, partner management including capacity building, training, reporting and development of budgets. You will ensure that all relevant partner compliance and Concern Policy requirements are adhered to, and data integrity is maintained, while reviewing financial data from various partners. You will ensure adequate internal controls are in place and give recommendations to the CFC as necessary. You will also act as focal person for the support to Concern field offices and may be deployed to the field offices to provide support as needed. The position will in part deputise for the CFC and will closely work with the finance team on a daily basic. |
| Main duties & Responsibilities: | Partner Financial Assessment (including INGO partners)- Undertake assessment of new & potential national partners, using Concern’s CILPAT tool, on a timely and comprehensive basis. Summarise findings, ensure assessment is signed off by all relevant staff and maintain documentation on each partner file
- Undertake annual reassessment of current partners to identify any risk areas and/or capacity building needs
- Undertake assessment of new & potential international partners, using Concern’s ‘light-touch’ CILPAT tool, on a timely and comprehensive basis.
- Carry out Systems Review visits in accordance with the Partner Monitoring Programme.
- Perform regular Transaction Audits/expenditure verification of partners in accordance with the Partner Monitoring Programme
- Ensure programme staff are aware of their responsibilities regarding monitoring of partners. Ensure sign off from appropriate senior Programme representatives is obtained on the CILPAT, Partner Monitoring Programme and Annual Risk Review
- Ensure Partner Reports and findings are circulated to all interested parties within Concern and the Partner. Ensure all documentation relating to Concern‘s financial relationship with the partner is filed correctly and updated where necessary
Partner Monitoring (including INGO partners) - For each partner, prepare a partner monitoring schedule, based on frequency as identified during the CILPAT assessment and visit accordingly
- Review financial reports, cashbooks and supporting documents provided by the partner to above timeline, bringing any ineligible costs and budget variations to the attention of the Programme Managers and the CFC
- Make periodic visits with programme staff to Concern’s project sites to ensure that adequate monitoring systems are in place to minimize the risk of loss or misuse of funds
- After each field visit prepare and disseminate a Partner Visit Report, clearly identifying action points, responsibility and timelines
Partner Contract Management - Assist the partner, in conjunction with the programme staff, on review and preparation of partner’s budget.
- Ensure the partner is able to submit regular and accurate financial reports using the template provided by Concern.
- Review partner financial reporting template ensuring correct budgets are used and the correct formulas are in place.
- For any issues or concerns noted in any partner finance report, obtain appropriate explanations from the partner staff and if unresolved refer the issue to the CFC before recommending the release of the following tranche of funds.
- Incorporate any weaknesses found during the monitoring visits into the partner report and include actions to address the weakness into the partner financial action plan.
- Review partner report and prepare and upload partner expenditure journals and carry out a funds reconciliation with the balance sheet
Partner Communication, Documentation and Reporting - Ensure regular communication with programme staff and attend programme/partner review meetings on a regular basis
- Ensure partner reports and findings are circulated to all interested parties within Concern and the partner.
- Ensure all documentation relating to Concern’s financial relationship with the partner is filed correctly and updated where necessary.
- Review all hard copies of partner documents and ensure copies are given to CWW
- Undertake sample payment verification reviews for all partners including consortia partners as per contractual deadlines
- Advise the CFC of any anomalies with partner or CWW finance policies and procedures.
- Communicate with the partner staff to ascertain financial policies are understood and the required documentation is sent to CWW on time.
Partner capacity building - Ensure plans for addressing any weaknesses found during the partner assessment are built into a partner finance action plan.
- Deliver training to the partner as per the requirements of the partner finance action plan, and on an ad hoc basis where necessary.
- Ensure that necessary partner reporting deadlines are met and CFC is kept informed of any concerns over meeting due dates.
Field Offices Support - Financial Reporting, Budget and Audit
- Assist the Donor accountant and CFC during preparation of annual budgets (ABs) and budget revisions (BRs) for partners
- Review partner financial reporting on regular basis and advise the CFC and budget holders on areas which require special attention.
- Participate in the annual country level external audit and as well as donor and partner audit processes
- Assist the CFC to handle queries related to partner, donor, internal and external audits and provide/facilitate feedback (responses) to issues and recommendations raised during/post audits
- Undertake a quick review of audit test (e.g. Matching partner reports to TL) before commencement of audit
- Work closely with CFC in follow up, and implementation of recommendations by Auditors and Regional Accountant (RA)
- Participate in the production of financial statements (accounts) for external auditor and for any ad-hoc year end reports for Dublin.
Staff Management and Capacity Building - Directly line manage and supervise Finance staff as directed by CFC
- Coach and mentor CWW and partner national finance team who have potential to rise to more senior level positions in the organisation.
- In consultation with the CFC, provide on the job training to CWW and partner national staff on regular basis including during partner/ field visits
- Deliver training on finances issues to non-finance staff where a need is identified in all partner / field office and remote locations
- Deliver training on fraud & corruption to non-finance staff where a need is identified in all partner / field office and remote locations
Field Office Support - Provide support to field offices on financial tasks as assigned by CFC
- May be assigned to cover gaps in finance function in field offices
Other Technical tasks - Follow up and support on mapping of partner budgets against Concern Chart of Account
- Assist the CFC at partner level finance meetings and take the lead on any action points
- Work closely with the CFC, Finance Coordinator and other finance team on year end closing activities
- Providing, as requested, cover to key finance functions during staff absence especially Finance Coordinator.
- Complete any others reasonable tasks as requested by CFC
Other Duties - Actively participate in collective exercises such as preparation or updates of Preparing for Effective Emergency Response (PEER) plan, Security Management Plan (SMP); proposal development; Concern strategic plan and other Concern initiatives.
- Promote and protect the reputation of Concern in external settings, ensuring the organization’s experience and expertise is well communicated and consistently presented, and that we are seen as a professional organization.
- Ensure the efficient and transparent use of all Concern’s resources in order to maximize the benefit to the targeted communities.
- Promote accountability and ensure compliance with Concern’s Code of Conduct and Associated Policies (Programme Participants Protection Policy, Child Safeguarding Policy, and Anti-trafficking Policy), Anti-Fraud Policy and Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS), including the complaint and response mechanism (CRM), to ensure maximum protection of programme participants and the efficient and transparent use of Concern’s resources.
- Promote Equality, especially gender, within the organization and across programmes, in line with Concern’s Equality Policy and, and ensures targeting and project implementation is informed by How Concern Understands Extreme Poverty (HCUEP).
- Undertake other related duties as may reasonably be assigned by the Country Management Team or by Line Manager.
- Ensure adherence to Concern policies and procedures.:
- All managers are responsible for upholding and promoting Concern’s values, demonstrating leadership on workplace equality, diversity and inclusion, and role modelling a positive safeguarding ethos.
- All managers are required to actively participate in any emergency response as and when required.
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| Person specification: | Education- Required: Bachelors level university degree related to accounting; part qualified ACA, ACCA, CIMA accountant with strong experience
Desired: - Masters level university degree related to accounting; Qualified ACA, ACCA, CIMA accountant
Job related Experience and Knowledge - At least 5 years’ experience in finance
- At least 3 years’ managerial level experience
- At least 2 years NGO experience
- Experience of partner management would be highly desirable
- Computer literacy, particularly in Microsoft Office programmes such as Word and Excel as well accounting packages & other database competencies
- Experience in developing finance, programme & support staff on the technical aspects of finance
- Ability to work under pressure to meet tight deadlines
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| Emergency response | Concern is committed to responding to emergencies efficiently and effectively in order to help affected people meet their basic needs, alleviate suffering and maintain their dignity. To this end, when emergencies strike and Sierra Leone Programme is to respond, all staff are required to actively participate in the response, regardless of location and contribute to the efforts aimed at achieving the humanitarian objective of the organization |
| HIV & AIDS | Concern Sierra Leone is committed to respond to HIV & AIDS and to a supportive working environment for those infected or affected. Each staff member is required to contribute to achieving this commitment by: - Raising awareness and being updated on HIV & AIDS issues.
- Protecting him/herself and colleagues.
Sharing information with colleagues and avoiding stigma and discrimination. |
| Gender Equality | Concern Worldwide in Sierra Leone recognizes that the establishment of equality of opportunity between men and women is fundamental to both the achievement of fairness and to poverty elimination. Therefore, each staff member of Concern is expected to be sensitive to equality issues in their relationships with colleagues and in their work and to participate in implementation of gender mainstreaming plans, both at the workplace and in programmes. |
| Safeguarding at Concern: Code of Conduct and its Associated Policies Concern has an organisational Code of Conduct (CCoC) with three Associated Policies; the Programme Participant Protection Policy (P4), the Child Safeguarding Policy and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Policy. These have been developed to ensure the maximum protection of programme participants from exploitation, and to clarify the responsibilities of Concern staff, consultants, visitors to the programme and partner organisation, and the standards of behaviour expected of them. In this context, staff have a responsibility to the organisation to strive for, and maintain, the highest standards in the day-to-day conduct in their workplace in accordance with Concern’s core values and mission. Any candidate offered a job with Concern Worldwide will be expected to sign the Concern Staff Code of Conduct and Associated Policies as an appendix to their contract of employment. By signing the Concern Code of Conduct, candidates acknowledge that they have understood the content of both the Concern Code of Conduct and the Associated Policies and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these policies. Additionally, Concern is committed to the safeguarding and protection of vulnerable adults and children in our work. We will do everything possible to ensure that only those who are suitable to work or volunteer with vulnerable adults and children are recruited by us for such roles. Subsequently, working or volunteering with Concern is subject to a range of vetting checks, including criminal background checking. |
