Project Accountant at Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG)

The Policy Innovation Centre (PIC) is the first national institutionalized behavioral initiative in Africa supporting government and stakeholders to make behaviorally informed decisions and generate evidence for impact driven interventions in critical thematic areas (Governance, Health, Gender & Social Inclusion, Education, Digital & Financial Inclusion). The PIC is positioned to support the delivery of better policies and innovative solutions for high impact interventions across Africa. The PIC is an initiative of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG), a leading think tank in Africa redefining evidence based policy advocacy.

 We seek a highly motivated Accountant who will coordinate and contribute to the implementation of projects’ policies and procedures in compliance with PIC’s established accounting standards, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and legal requirements to support high-quality programs.

Key Responsibilities
The  Accountant will be responsible for the following:

• Responsible for grant management and compliance issues. Ensure adherence to records in line with donor and PIC Internal requirements.
• Support timely contract development and approvals, both at the level of PIC and partners, ensuring both internal PIC and donor requirements are adhered to.
• Institute best practice accounting and financial reporting procedures for projects and partners. Facilitate processing of financial transactions for assigned project accounts using the PIC set financial management system.
• Ensure accurate keeping of all books of accounts for PIC, supporting documentation for transactions are accurate and complete, and authorizations are accurate and up to date.
• Prepare scheduled financial reports to aid decision-making for projects, budget maintenance and financial resource management.
• Provide information to project staff and partners on financial accounting policies and procedural compliance issues and deliver training and other capacity-building activities as may be needed.
• Liaising with the NESG finance team to ensure that all inter-fund balances are promptly settled.
• Monitoring all project budgets by ensuring that expenses charged to the project and spending are on track.
• Ensure adequate response and monitoring to implement recommendations of all financial audits and partner capacity assessments.
•  Support the development and monitoring of PIC annual country budget.
• Provide monthly status updates on projects that include budgets, modifications, disbursements, due dates in line with donor reporting requirements and PIC internal reporting guidelines,
•  Other related duties as assigned,

Qualifications

Essential

• B.Sc / BA Degree in Accounting, Finance and Business Administration or its recognized equivalent, and 5 - 7 years relevant experience.
• Or MS/MA degree in Accounting, Finance and Business Administration or its recognized equivalent, and 3 - 5 years’ relevant experience.
• Minimum of 3 years of supervisory experience in office management and administration.
• Demonstrable experience in managing grant portfolios of donor-funded organizations, and familiarity with donor and local contractual procedures is a strong requirement.

Desirable 

• Familiarity with multiple donors and government financial regulations, policies and practices is an added advantage.

Knowledge, abilities, and skills

• Knowledge of accounting principles, fiscal control, local and donor contractual requirements and regulations.
• Skilled in budget development, relevant accounting software, database spreadsheets and Management Information Systems.
• Ability to work independently and with large multifunctional teams (project staff, subcontractors, and grantees).
• Demonstrated analytical skills in the interpretation of budgetary, financial, and management information.
• Strong communication, time management and organizational skills. Ability to prioritize and handle high pressure situations.
• Ability to effectively communicate financial and internal control issues to staff with little or no financial background.