Finance and Administration Delegate at The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)

Vacancy No:IFRC01596
Location: Nigeria
Duration:06 Months
Category of Staff: Delegate
Grade: To be determined

Job Purpose
Reporting to the Head of Abuja Cluster office and under the technical supervision of the Head of the Nigeria Operation, the Finance and Administration Delegate will:

• Integrate the Country Cluster Support Team and is accountable for creating financial value, optimizing support and positioning the Finance Team as the operation partner.
• Be responsible for the funds, budget, administration, contractual matters and insurance of the office, as well as for training and advising the national staff in financial and administrative matters.
• Supervise the Finance team and Administration Units for an efficient support system.
• Provide a general support and advice to the Head of Nigeria Operations, the program managers on all program related financial issues from the budgeting to the final evaluation.
• Work closely with the Nairobi finance technical team in order to provide efficient finance management support.

Job Duties and Responsibilities
Coordination:

• Coordinate operational services for the economic, efficient and effective management of the International Federation financial resources and promote cooperation with the operating NS.
• Closely collaborate with ICRC’s Finance Focal person in financial and administrative matters as the movement partner involved into this operation.
• Support all ongoing operations in terms of financial and administrative management

Budgeting:

• Coordinate the compilation of the Nigeria complex operation budget and financial plan, under the direction of the Head of the Nigeria complex operation and the Head of Abuja Cluster
• As the management of Emergency Operations, needs Appeal budgets prepared by budget holders (BH), the Finance and Administration Delegate will :
• Coordinate the budget preparation among ops coordinators and finance staffs.
• Lead the budget revisions and advise on their realism, consistency and compliance.
• Provide quality technical advice to the ops coordinators in the revision of their budgets.
• Develop tools that facilitate the work to gather the financial data and prepare the budgets.
• Provide guidance in terms of trends analysis to give better estimations for the budgets.
• Review and validate the finance section of funding proposals to ensure that it includes all the associated costs and therefore the IFRC is fully recovering all the costs.
• Monitor the level of implementation of the budgets and provide feedback to the management team.

Donor Reporting:

• Review the finance sections of funding proposals for donors.
• Compile accurate, regular and timely financial and narrative reports for the Federation and for donors, in coordination with the regional Finance Unit, if required by service agreement(s) or any other MoUs signed with partners.
• Coordinate the donor financial reporting process ensuring that the reports are prepared and send to the donors before due dates.

Financial and Administrative Management of the office:

• Line manage, recruit, advise, support and train the locally-hired financial, administrative and support staff of the Cluster-office, and arrange for their remuneration according to rules and regulations adopted within the office.
• Administrate the accommodation, per diem, visas and travel arrangements for delegates and visitors.
• Maintain accurate registers of the assets and property of the Cluster office, and ensure that accurate office systems are in place and maintained.
• Advise and provide timely and accurate financial information to management team, assisting them to interpret and understand the financial information that allow them to take better decisions based on the current and future situation.
• Coordinate the provision of regular management reports to allow the project managers to review and monitor effectively their projects and make effective operational decisions.
• Conduct regular meetings with the management team and program coordinators to explain the overall finances.

Financial and Administrative Management of the Operation:

• Manage and control the funds and financial assets of the operation.
• Cash flow and cost control management
• Payments, Cashier, Bank signatory and payroll functions management
• Develop policies to avoid unnecessary risks from either exchange rate fluctuations or physical losses.
• Review cash request analysis and ensure that the office is having enough cash to run its activities.
• Provide consolidate cash forecasts and pursue forecasting system.Maintain accurate registers of the assets & property of the delegation
• Ensure that accurate office systems are in place & maintained, accounting, authorization & internal control procedures environment & expenditures are within approved limits for each project & that the transactions are performed in compliance with the procedures & policies in respecting the donor conditions.
• Ensure that the income or expenditure reallocation is completed on time.
• Coordinate the validation of a maximum amount allowed by a project to spend to avoid expenditures in excess of these limits.
• Supervise that the expenditures are according to the budgets, analyze, investigate, address & report significant variances.
• Build & maintain knowledge & understanding of the in-country activities
• Manage direct line reports & assigned resources (financial, equipment, etc.) soundly.
• Lead, direct & motivate staff to ensure quality service, compliance, accuracy & timeliness.
• Monitoring of Key Performance Indicators in order to ensure that there is an adequate financial management of the operation projects at all levels.
• Preparation of ad hoc analysis reports to the management team (e.g. financial implications & budgets for the existing plans, allocation of shared costs, etc.)

Internal Control:

• Monitor provision of supplementary services are being done according to the procedures & we are collecting the invoices on due time. If not, escalation to seek for a solution Safeguard & optimize the use of financial resources trough an appropriate internal control environment, with an emphasis on:
• Policies & procedures
• Effective budgetary control, oversight of bank & cash portfolio
• Pursue from contractual agreements to practical implementation of the financial procedures to ensure satisfaction in terms of proper financial control.
• Track, monitor & control financial commitments.
• Coordinate with the regional Finance Unit the development & implementation of adequate policies for the treasury & cash management.
• Monitoring of the items in the balance sheet to ensure all of them are reconciled, properly booked & there is no dormant balances.
• Monitoring of the closing of the month as per the global time table.
• Review & validate staff requests before submitting them for approval to the Head of Abuja Cluster, the Head of Abuja Cluster & the HeOps, the Region Finance Coordinator & the Regional Director.

Audit & Risk Management:

• Implement corrective actions to manage financial risks.
• Oversee audit processes by preparing, facilitating, & ensuring smooth processes.
• Provide direct input to these reviews & clarify queries at source.
• Provide feedback on formal basis for management input to the final documents.
• Follow up on outstanding issues

Capacity Building:

• Support & train Delegates, Local Staff on finance management.
• Advice the NS on how to improve the financial reporting component of its operations & train the key finance staffs
• Ensure alignment with guidelines & policies & provide advice in the use & benefit of international accounting standards & ensure that audit recommendations are implemented.
• Lateral Relationships (Ensure effective working relationship in Abuja Cluster office & at the regional & global secretariat level with NS counterparts and leadership.)

Education

• Relevant university degree or equivalent qualification in Finance or Accounting - Required
• Relevant advanced university degree (master`s or equivalent) or equivalent qualification in business administration or auditing - Required
• Basic Delegates Training Course or equivalent knowledge - Required

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years’ experience in a finance/accounting role or in leading and managing finance for operations programs in a humanitarian organization in developing countries and in complex emergencies or similar contexts - Required
• Experience of preparing budgets, cash flow statements and financial plans - Required
• Experience of working with Federation accounting systems - Preferred
• Experience of writing narrative and financial reports - Required
• Acquainted with International Federation policies, procedures and systems - especially with Secretariat accounting systems - Required
• Experience in counterpart support and mentoring - Required
• Experience in internal or external audit - Required
• Experience in Finance and Administration team management - Required
• Experience of working for the Red Cross/Red Crescent in particular working with National Societies - Required

Knowledge, Skills and Languages:

• Good stress management skills - Required
• Good analytical skills and solution focused person - Required
• Excellent communication skills - Required
• Ability to work well in a multicultural team - Required
• Flexible and adaptable to changing working conditions - Required
• Good Knowledge of the region is an asset - Preferred
• Willing and able to travel whenever required for work purposes - Required
• Self-supporting in computers and excellent practical knowledge of computers (Windows, spreadsheets, word processing, accounting applications…) - Required
• Self-motivated and proactive, with good judgment and initiative, high degree of integrity, discretion, and personal conduct - Required
• Fluent in written and spoken English - Required

Competencies and values:

• National Society relations
• Communication - Teamwork and Team building
• Professionalism – Integrity - Diversity
• Judgement-Decision-making
• Results focus and accountability
• Managing performance