Senior Accountant at Management Sciences For Health - MSH

Job ID: 13-9862
Dept/Unit: GEN (General)
Project/Program: P000 - Proposal
Reports To: COMU Director

Overview

• The Senior Accountant is responsible for safeguarding the assets (financial and physical) of MSH Nigeria and ultimately the partner donors against fraud, loss, or misuse.
• The Senior Accountant is responsible for ensuring that money expended in the field is done in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, MSH policy, and all costs principles imposed by the donor agency.
• He/she assures that all costs are reasonable and necessary for the completion of the office projects and MSH’s mission.
• The Senior Accountant is aware of, and adheres to, MSH’s procurement integrity standards in all activities.

Specific Responsibilities
Financial Accounting:

• Ensure that required financial controls are in place to avoid unauthorized use of funds, and that prior authorization is obtained before any payment.
• Examine all financial documents for payment (i.e. purchase requests, purchase orders, local consultant invoices and request reimbursements) and ensure the completeness, accuracy and validity of financial data, including accounting classification and computations.
• Monitor all bank accounts, and review and reconcile bank accounts on a monthly basis.
• Record financial transactions into QuickBooks; submit each month’s expenses following the prescribed procedures by the 5th business day of each month for upload by Corporate Accounting into Navigator, the corporate accounting system.
• Ensure on-time, accurate data entry, completing the journal entries for non-routine expenses as necessary.
• Monitor MSH Nigeria bank account transactions and reconcile account with project expenditures as part of the month end close process.
• Ensure Audit Compliance utilizing principles of audit and performance. Provide an audit interface between MSH corporate accounting, MSH Internal Audit, MSH external audit firms, and donor auditors including preparation of audit workpapers when requested.
• Provide routine financial statements and reports to MSH Nigeria management.

Financial Management:

• Manage cash flow, including funds transfers from MSH headquarters and local currency exchange, per MSH policies and procedures.
• Audit petty cash on a regular basis to ensure adherence to MSH policies; replenish as necessary.
• Oversee the issuance and collection of project and staff/consultant travel advances, reconciling advance accounts each month. Follow up on outstanding advances which have not been liquidated in the timeframe prescribed by MSH policy, and resolve any queries through dialogue with individual employees and their supervisors.
• Monitor the maintenance and operations of all banking transactions to ensure that adequate funds are available all times to cover MSH Nigeria operations.
• Prepare regular project reimbursement, billing requests, and accompanying financial reports for submission to MSH/USA office.

Qualifications and Experience

• University degree in Accounting or equivalent certification from a business technical school.
• Experience as an Accountant or understanding of key aspects of accounting.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office programs, particularly Excel spreadsheets, or comparable software.
• At least 5 years’ experience in implementing accounting functions and supervising accounting staff.
• Capacity to deal with multiple tasks and be able to adhere to tight deadlines, and excellent time management skills.
• Ability to use basic accounting software (i.e. Quickbooks).
• Demonstrate good judgment and sound financial common sense.
• Ability to create and monitor budgets. Understanding of the basic tenets of cash control, asset management and bank reconciliation.
• Understanding of principles of adequate documentation and of audit, and performance necessary to ensure audit compliance.
• Written and verbal proficiency in English including business terminology.