Senior Finance Officer at Search For Common Ground’s International

Location: Yola, Adamawa

Summary of Position

• The Senior Finance Officer will be responsible for a range of bookkeeping responsibilities as well as providing support on finance and project budget management functions. Carrying out and recording relevant financial transactions as well as coordinating the financial coding of these transactions will all be part of your daily routine.
• You will oversee the maintenance and reconciliation of bank records and, as SEARCH receives funding from a number of donors. You will be responsible for maintaining ledgers and contributing to the regular financial reporting. You will also oversee the petty cash disbursements and reconciliation.
• You will have a close working relationship with the Finance Manager and other finance and Accounts coordinator as well as building good relationships with the project leads, some of whom are based in other parts of the country.

Major Duties and Responsibilities
Book-keeping:

• Maintain accurate and up-to-date books of accounts;  review general ledger accounts regularly to ensure accurate postings;
• Accurately and promptly process all accounting transactions, including operating expenses, procurement, travel, consultant payments, vendor payments, and transfer of funds to the other SEARCH sub-offices in Nigeria. Also, ensure recovery of advances and accounts receivables;
• Maintain and ensure consistency in the application of accounting rules and procedures, including safeguarding of cash and checks;
• Assist the Finance Manager to prepare the Monthly Financial Report (MFRs);
• Ensure proper documentation of vouchers and receipts, financial reporting, proper coding of expenses, distribution of payments, tracking petty cash distribution and bank deposits;
• Work closely with the Admin and Logistics Coordinator and other Finance and Accounts Coordinators to ensure timely payments for goods and services rendered to SEARCH;
• Support Finance Manager to strengthen financial and accounting systems - identifying gaps, weaknesses and issues and recommending and implementing solutions;
• Support Finance Manager to develop and update financial policies and guidelines;
• Provide support during the grant and organizational audits;
• Process journal entries and trial balance information
• Consolidating accurate data entry into the Microsoft dynamic great plan (GP) accounting system for monthly reporting
• Effectively support the Grants and Administrative Manager in preparing internal audits as per donor policies where appropriate
• Responsible for review of partner’s report and upload

Financial Reporting:

• Monitor financial transactions and accounting reports, and reconciliations of accounts to ensure accurate and up-to-date financial information.
• Prepare donor reports and financial reports for the SEARCH Finance Committee and SEARCH Board and management reports for project managers
• Prepare and Process monthly financial records (MFRs)
• Generate and assign barcode to financial reports

Petty Cash Management:

• Oversee the petty cash disbursement and ensure proper reconciliation and replenishment.
• Verify all petty cash receipts for compliance
• Perform cash count with the Admin officer and ensure the cash count form is signed by both parties.
• Ensure regular update of the petty cash log and adequate supporting documents.
• Ensure petty cash advances are retired in line with SEARCH policies.

Other duties:

• Deputize for the Finance Lead in his/her absence
• Keep colleagues appraised of developments in own area as appropriate
• Contribute to staff meetings, and other internal meetings with appropriate content, views and suggestions
• Fulfil requirements of internal staff management processes including performance reviews, supervisory meetings, etc.
• Develop strong relationships with all SEARCH colleagues and partners to enhance their understanding of finance and build their knowledge; in particular, develop strong relationships with non-financial staff in remote offices, who will be responsible for day-to-day financial reporting and accounting

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• Manage day-to-day workload of finance assistant as directed by the Finance Manager
• Support and develop the capacity of finance assistant in field offices as directed by the Finance Manager

Job Requirements

• 3 - 5 years experience as finance/accounts officer or coordinator or similar
• B.Sc qualification in Accountancy or its equivalent
• Good understanding of accounting principles
• Effective oral and written English skills.
• Good level of proficiency in Microsoft Word and Excel
• Good administrative and organizational skills and ability to keep documentation tidy and accessible
• High level of attention to detail and accuracy
• Ability to plan and organize multiple simultaneous tasks efficiently
• Ability to work independently and ask for clarification where needed
• A demonstrated commitment to high professional ethical standards and a diverse workplace.