Senior Finance Manager - Africa Region at VisionSpring

Description

• Are you ready to use your finance and accounting acumen to restore vision for millions of people in frontier and emerging markets? 
• Would you like to work for an organization that combines the best of business and social impact practices?
• VisionSpring, an international social enterprise, seeks a highly motivated Sr. Finance Manager with international experience to support our growing Finance team. 
• The incumbent is responsible for managing day-to-day local bookkeeping, maintaining accurate and timely financial records by entering, processing, and reconciling transactions in accordance with established procedures and formats for business units located in Africa. 
• S/he will prepare reports and schedules to facilitate budget preparation, tax filing, monthly and annual financial reporting, and successful year-end audits. 
• The incumbent will serve as the primary finance liaison to the sales and operations teams, managing accounts receivable, accounts payable, and expenses for field teams, and ensuring financial compliance for restricted grants. 
• This position will be supporting the operations of countries in Africa and will report to the Global VP Finance and to the Regional Director, Africa.  
• The Sr. Finance Manager may be located in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya or Uganda. 

About Us

• VisionSpring increases lifelong earning, learning, safety, and well-being through eyeglasses for people vulnerable to poverty. We believe in the wonder of clear vision for everybody. 
• We sell and deliver radically affordable optical products and services, and develop markets for eyeglasses—a 700-year-old technology that has failed to reach 1 billion people in need of vision correction, most of whom live on less than $4 a day.
• We serve low-income consumers, not as beneficiaries but as customers. Our customers expect quality, affordable products and eyecare services, and will spend limited discretionary income for the immediate and tangible benefits of vision correction.
• As a social enterprise, we are purpose first. We blend philanthropic and earned revenue, draw on non-profit and business practices, and use sales and efficiency metrics and social impact measures to bring vision correction to ever more people. 
• We catalyze collaborative action in an expansive, multisector partner network and use our evidence and experience to influence systems change and close the global clear vision gap.
• We believe in scaling our impact, not our organization. We are a lean team of doers.
• Our big goal: Everyone who needs eyeglasses will have them by 2050.

What You'll Do
Bookkeeping:

• Overall responsibility and accountability for the day-to-day financial operations.
• Support the accounting and reporting process for all countries in Africa region.
• Provide journal entries and accruals at the end of each month.
• Approve/support payment processing and customer receipts, maintaining both accounts payable and accounts receivable, respectively.
• Reconcile local bank accounts daily.
• Provide oversight to the general ledger that supports active financial management and donor reporting.
• Complete responsibility for legal entity accounting & local reporting.
• Troubleshoot bookkeeping-related problems.
• Attain optimal resolutions when matters go awry.

Reporting and Budget Preparation:

• Analyze financial data for purposes of timely monitoring of progress/performance, financial outlook, and forecasting.
• Drive SKU-wise / category-wise profitability analysis and monitoring.
• Monitor cash flows and fund requirements.
• Prepare monthly, quarterly, and year-end financial reports for review – internal, external, and Board as per schedule.
• Drive annual business planning for VisionSpring’s work in multiple countries in Africa and other regions (as required).
• Prepare / support preparation of donor reporting.
• Perform additional administrative tasks as directed.

Audit Preparation:

• Work with the Global Finance Leadership to provide reports and schedules for annual audit and tax filings, including 990 and 1099 reporting.
• Support timely completion of global audit requirements of VisionSpring.
• Monitor changes in financial and accounting protocol/laws in countries in the region to maintain compliance.
• Coordinate timely completion of required audits in each of the countries.
• Complete responsibility for legal entity audit and compliance.

Global Finance Support:

• Serve as the primary finance liaison to the Sales teams, managing customer invoicing, accounts receivable, and field team expenses.
• Work with the Operations teams managing vendor payments linked to purchasing activities for goods available for sale. Must be experienced in cost accounting for, and reporting of, goods available for sale in a B2B environment and service accounting.
• Coordinate vendor payments through VisionSpring’s payment platform to ensure accurate recording of all payments and maintenance of supporting documentation.
• Manage the financial recording of all restricted grants and ensure the accurate coding of expenses assigned to such grants.
• As VisionSpring expands in key market countries, support and oversee local bookkeeping and accounting, financial review, and support.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree required in Accounting, Finance, or another relevant field. Chartered Accountant (CA) / Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or equivalent will be preferred.
• Strong understanding of the practices and procedures of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) or International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as applied to financial accounting and reporting.
• Minimum of (5) years of professional bookkeeping experience.
• Must have general accounting experience using computerized accounting systems, such as QuickBooks, SAP, or others. working knowledge of SAP (minimum 2 years experience) will be an added advantage.
• Ability to prepare and analyze financial statements and reports.
• Technology savvy, including excellent Excel skills.
• Fluency in spoken and written English language with high verbal/written communication skills.

Preferred experience:

• (1) Working with organizations that have multi-country operations in Africa; and/or (2) Working with an organization having both product and service offerings.
• Must be highly organized and detail-oriented.
• Must meet the highest standards of ethics and personal integrity.
• You will impress us if you have any of the following: (1) CA or studying for CA; (2) Work with organizations that have international operations especially not-for-profit; (3) Experience supporting an annual external audit process; (4) Experience in an FMCG business, nonprofit organization, or enterprise with job/project-based accounting (percentage of completion accounting method); (5) Experience preparing financial updates for leadership, including contributing to PowerPoint presentations.

About You:

• You are a proficient and experienced finance and accounting professional: You Excel at making sure debits and credits are recorded correctly. For you, it’s more important to do it right the first time. If you are unsure about the right way to record an entry, you find out how it should be done before recording it quickly.
• You value precision and easily keep track of the smallest details: Numbers are prepared on time and you strive for accuracy. You create clarity for external parties – investors, auditors, and vendors.
• You are analytical: You can read and understand budgets and financial statements, and you are quick to notice when line items don’t add up.
• Your world needs to be predictable, so you make it so: Instinctively you adhere to routines and timelines and help others appreciate the need for structure and repeatable processes. You are always looking for a better way to get recording and reporting done more efficiently.
• You can roll with punches: You recognize and expect that some weeks will be more intense than others. You are ready to deliver at the highest level to close the books every month, complete audits, and file taxes on time.
• You have a critical eye and are not afraid to be the first person to speak up: if anything looks amiss. For you, organizational accountability is personal.
• Friends would describe you as trustworthy and structured, smart with a low ego, resilient, and highly ethical.

Compensation

• Based on experience, education, and location.
• We offer comprehensive benefits, including health insurance.