Finance Coordinator - Budgeting and Reporting at Plan International

ROLE PURPOSE

• The purpose of this role is to support the preparation and management of the organization’s budgeting system and working with departments budget owners to create and monitor operating budgets.
• The post holder is responsible for preparing and providing financial reports, accompanying narrative as well as analyses to programs and management teams.

DIMENSIONS OF THE ROLE

The post holder will contribute towards;

• Preparation of budgets for grant proposals and management of all budgets at the Country Office and Project Field offices.  
• Budget tracking and monitoring – budget vs Actual reporting.
• Master budget preparation and updates.
• Donor financial reports preparation.

ACCOUNTABILITIES

Support budget preparation and budgetary monitoring and control of the entire Country Office’ budget for effective implementation of financial plans. To do this, the role will:

• Support the preparation of the annual plans and budgets of all departments/projects as part of the preparation of the Country Office’ annual budget.
• Support in the budgeting processes and communications; regularly working with department heads/project budget owners across the organization to monitor and revise budgets throughout the year as well as the life of project(s), as required.
• Support to coordinate project budgets in accordance with approved budget and closely monitor grant performance for major institutional donors.
• Work with program and grants staff in preparing and/or revising donor budgets to support new proposals or realignments and ensure adequate coverage of country operating cost.
• Support to address donor requests related to budget, budget management, reporting, re-alignment and audit.
• Maintain a finance unit proposal budget tracker for monitoring and accountability.
• Monitor project spending, identifying instances of variances and recommend to project teams, possible remedies to these identified variances.

Prepare financial and other reports to aid the preparation of the overall country office’ financial report for dissemination and decision-making. To do this, the role will:

• Ensure project budget vs actual reports are prepared timely, on a monthly basis and discussed with project teams. Follow-up with action points and their implementation.
• Periodically review the monthly budget vs actual spending reports and update the monthly reporting tracker for the Finance Manager’s (Budgeting & Reporting) attention.
• In collaboration with project teams, support in the provision of monthly variance analysis as well as justifications for the variances.
• Regularly review projects’ transactions listing and budget lines’ burn rates for compliance with donor regulations as well as Plan Inter financial management policies and procedures; flag up instances of non-compliance to project managers, unit heads and the Finance Manager – Budgeting and Reporting.
• Prepare donor financial and other relevant reports including forecasts, invoice listing, inventory movement reports, asset registers, risk registers etc. as required with adequate supporting narratives including variance explanations, for appropriate internal review and onward submission to the Grants Department/Donor Focal Persons.
• Build capacity of Plan International finance and non-finance colleagues, partner staff and other Plan stakeholders on budgeting, budget management, financial management and reporting, internal controls and audit actions planning and execution.
• Ensure compliance with donor regulations across all Plan International projects whilst staying abreast of changes in regulatory environment related to donor/grants compliance.
• Carry out any other assigned tasks.

Learning and knowledge management

• Share innovative ways of improving on already existing ways of getting tasks completed within the team and supporting the proper documentation of all financial aspects of the programmes.

Dealing with Problems

• Ability to manage competing priorities and expectations from internal and external stakeholders and remain calm and resilient in the face of pressure.
• Manage multiple work with distant colleagues to form a virtual efficient team.
• Use Plan procedures to settle conflicts among colleagues.
• Refer, whenever necessary, any case to the Finance Manager – Budgeting & Reporting.

TECHNICAL EXPERTISE, SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

Essential

• Degree in Accounting or equivalent.
• Minimum of 3 years’ experience in Finance and Grants Management.
• Very good knowledge of Microsoft excel.
• Preferred Skills: knowledge of and experience with key donors in the industry is strongly preferred.
• An excellent skill in donor budget preparation & reporting.

Desirable

• Excellent and demonstrable experience in grant and financial management.
• Knowledge and understanding of Nigeria’s policy environment.
• Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including good listening skills, influencing, negotiation and coaching.
• Creates strong sense of purpose and commitment within own part of operations and with stakeholders.
• Holds self and others to account to deliver on agreed goals and standards of behaviour.
• Demonstrates a high degree of professionalism/integrity.
• Provides good and adequate support to enable programmes to meet its agreed financial and program outcomes.
• Actively seeks for support in addressing difficult issues in the discharge of duties.
• Strategic thinking and effective contribution to own work and Organizational development.
• Sound judgement and decision-making in complex situations.
• Strong emotional intelligence including self-awareness.
• Lead by example to motivate high performance of others.
• Very strong commitment to continuous learning.