Finance Officer at Plan International

Role Purpose

• The purpose of this role is to provide timely, accurate financial information and ensure that Grants expenditures are in line with specific FAD/donor requirements. The role’s support is to the World Bank ANRIN project in Niger state.

Dimensions of the Role

• Communicates within Plan International Nigeria and with partners and related government institutions. The post holder will contribute towards grant and financial management of the office and programmes, interfacing with both operational and programme team members. The post holder will also contribute towards the organisational development of Plan International Niger project implementing partners
• Budgets – Monitor the budget of the World Bank ANRIN project in Niger state
• Reporting – Support financial reporting on the World Bank ANRIN project in Niger state
• Area of Responsibility – World Bank ANRIN project in Niger state

Accountabilities
Grants Administration:

• Assist with the grants set-up in SAP.
• Support the full cycle of grants management activities beginning from pre-award assessments, monitoring/compliance visits and close-out procedures.
• Track grantee contractual obligations, e.g., pre-award conditions
• Support the Finance Coordinator to prepare the annual grants budgets for the project.
• Support the KP06 budget preparation and periodic upload in SAP.

Capacity Building and Support:

• Provide technical assistance in terms of accounting (use of SAP), financial management, financial policy formulation, and systems of internal control to all partners/grantees to ensure compliance in terms with donor rules and regulations.
• Support the assessments of partner/grantee organizations as directed by the Finance Coordinator.
• Review partner budget and provide assistance and guidance where necessary including the monitoring and interpretation of project budgets versus actual expenditures.
• Support train staff and partners on donor policies, rules and regulations.
• Facilitate timely partner advance request and liquidation in SAP.
• Review Partners/grantee liquidation and recommend for approval.
• Conduct and document regular partner visits to ensure compliance with grant agreement.
• Ensure receipt of timely and accurate accounting and financial reports from partners.
• Monitor the partner burn rate and offer timely advice to the partner and programs team for prompt action and decision-making.
• Monitor and track grants related performance measurement indicators and liaise with Finance & Grants Coordinator to implement strategies to improve performance.
• Explain donor requirements and organizational financial policy & procedures to staff and ensure compliance.
• Prepare and review on a monthly basis, donor-specific bank reconciliation statements and receipts/deposits reconciliations.
• Support the preparation of financial reports based on donor requirements.
• Ensure proper filing (electronic and hard copy) of grants financial reports.
• Periodically update the financial reporting matrix.
• Ensure that partners used the standard reporting templates and formats for their reports.
• Prepare the monthly Project burn rate - expenditure traffic tracker.
• Prepare the monthly Project cost recovery tracker.
• Support the preparation of the Project funding/grant tracker.
• Prepare the Projects expenditure tracker.
• Support the CO in recharging costs to the Project
• Fulfill Plan’s Child Safeguarding and other Policies at all times.

Travel Advances:

• Ensure that filing of travel advances, per diem calculations and travel reconciliation forms are reviewed;
• Ensure that all travel and purchase advances are liquidated on time.

Others:

• Perform any other project related duties as specified by the Finance Coordinator and/or the Finance Manager-Development.

Human Resource Development:

• Supports and builds capacity of programmes staff to ensure a high level of quality finance and grants management.
• Supports the orientation, on-going development/training and builds capacity of partner staff when required in line with Organizational requirements.

Learning and knowledge management:

• Shares relevant grant and financial information within the Programme team supporting the proper documentation of all grant and financial aspects of the programmes.

Resource Mobilization:

• Support resource mobilization efforts through contribution to budget preparation for proposal writing and related engagements.

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 and work with distant colleagues to form a virtual efficient grants and finance team
• Use Plan procedures to settle conflicts among colleagues;
• Refer, whenever necessary, any case to the Finance Coordinator or Finance Manager Development.

Communications and Working Relationships:

• Working contacts inside and outside the organization; include the purpose and level (high, medium, low) of the contact
• Prepare and submit relevant financial reports for domestic and international consumption using SAP.
• Provide timely responses concerning queries linked with the Project.
• Provide support to Plan International Nigeria’s development programme delivery and resource mobilization.
• Work with other members of the Finance and programme units to ensure effective and efficient programme delivery.

Technical expertise, skills and knowledge
Essential:

• Degree in Accounting or equivalent.
• Minimum of 3 years’ experience in donor funds grants administration.
• Experience working with sub-grantees required.
• Fluency in local language and English required.
• Preferred qualifications: knowledge of and experience with the key donors in the industry is strongly preferred.
• Experience providing capacity development assistance to sub-grantees strongly preferred.

Desirable
Skills & Knowledge:

• 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 it’s agreed financial and program outcomes.
• Actively seeks for support in addressing difficulties in execution 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.
• Leads by example to motivate high performance of others.
• Very strong commitment to continuous learning.

Physical Environment:

• Travel to field offices and Country Office to support grants and finance functions where necessary.

Level of contact with children:

• Low contact: No contact or very low frequency of interaction. The job responsibilities of this position require the post holder to have very infrequent