Finance Specialist at DAI

Start date: November, 2021 – August 6, 2025

Background:

The purpose of the five-year (2020-2025) “State Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness” (“State2State”) Activity is to increase the accountability, transparency and effectiveness of selected state and local governments (LGAs) in Nigeria. This will be achieved by: strengthening governance systems (with a focus on public financial management [PFM] and procurement, as well as monitoring and evaluation) related to the delivery of services in key sectors (basic education, primary health care, and water, sanitation and hygiene [WASH]); increasing government responsiveness to citizen needs and priorities; and improving government and civil society capacity to manage conflict (through work on prevention, mitigation and reconciliation with the same sectoral partners, not stand-alone assistance to the police or judiciary). State2State will achieve this purpose by facilitating the strengthening of subnational governance systems in a sustainable manner, supporting the efforts of local reformers and building on locally-derived solutions including, to the extent possible, reforms already working in other parts of Nigeria.

Position Objectives:

The Finance Specialist position will support the Senior Accounting Manager to manage the State2State finance/accounting activities and ensure strong financial management and performance of the project.

Responsibilities:

The Finance Specialist will:

• Support the Senior Accounting Manager and work closely across project teams on problems involving accounting systems and financial planning.
• Be responsible for providing the appropriate financial and operating information as necessary.
• Allocate project funds among the various program activities.
• S/he will support the Senior Accounting Manager in coordinating the annual and other financial audits—including preparation of supporting schedules and information—respond to auditor questions and consolidate report formats.
• Ensure that all transactions follow DAI/USAID standards, regulations and policies.
• Help establish and maintain adequate system controls to protect against financial misstatement, in accordance with applicable government accounting and administrative regulations.
• Record all financial transactions in Field Accounting System (FAS) on daily basis.
• Ensure accurate and timely processing of invoices, advances and reimbursements, checks, and wire transfer payments.
• Upload the expenses into Oracle based on DAI’s schedule.
• Perform monthly bank reconciliations and routinely monitors bank account balances.
• Ensure that payroll is recorded in the accounting system.
• Audit travel requests and expense reports for accuracy and compliance.
• Follow procedures to ensure accurate and timely payment and reconciliation of travel advances, reimbursements for staff and partner travel.
• Review and monitor outstanding advances report by paying close attention to advances that have not been settled after 30 days of issuance.
• Ensure that WHT is remitted as at when due as provided by tax law.
• Ensure that processed payment vouchers are printed and signed by responsible officers, merged with other support documents and uploaded on SharePoint on a monthly basis.

Perform other tasks as assigned.

Reporting:

The Finance Specialist will report to the Senior Accounting Manager.

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, business administration, public administration, economics, or other relevant field is required. An advanced degree is preferred.
• At least 7 years of experience in finance and accounting. Previous experience working on US Government funded projects highly preferred.
• Strong training, communications, and personnel management skills.
• Previous supervisory experience highly preferred.
• Strong oral and written communication skills.