SENIOR FINANCE AND OPERATIONS OFFICER ZAMBIA

Amref Health Africa is the largest international health development organisation based in Africa. Working with and through African communities, health systems and governments, Amref Health Africa’s vision is to bring lasting health change in Africa and is committed to improving the health of people in Africa by partnering with and empowering communities, and strengthening health systems. With headquarters in Kenya, Amref Health Africa has offices in Ethiopia, Uganda, South Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Southern Africa and West Africa providing services to over 30 countries. Employing over 900 staff and with an annual operating budget of approximately $100 million, Amref Health Africa is a knowledge resource for donors and partners. For more information on Amref Health Africa, please visit www.amref.org.

Amref Health Africa in Zambia is inviting suitably qualified applicants for the position Senior Finance and Operations Officer to be based at the Head Office in Lusaka.

Senior Finance and Operations Officer (01)

Main purpose of the job

To provide timely, accurate and efficient accounting, budgeting and financial management support for the Zambia Country Office in line with Amref Health Africa Finance Manual and donor grant agreement.

To ensure effective utilization of project funds through Budget performance monitoring and to ensure preparation of Financial Statements to Donors and management in accordance with donor regulation and organizational policies.

RANGE OF SERVICE PROVIDED

for external customers

• Preparation of annual statutory financial statements.
• Communication with donors and partners
• Communication with external auditors
• Communication with Country Office staff.
• Communication with Amref Health Africa offices in the north.
• Assist customers with general information.

for internal customers

• Preparation of monthly management accounts.
• Review of donor financial reports.
• Approval of Purchase Requisitions within set authority limits.
• Approval of staff imprests within set authority limits.
• Communication with internal auditors
• Resolving intercompany transactions with Country Offices.
• Process imprest requisition to staff within reasonable time.
• Supervising the work of Programme accountants and work allocation

Specific Key Responsibilities:

• Prepare annual operational budgets for projects by determining funds available for budget, determining activities scheduled for the year and their cost and translating these to an operational budget in Amref Health Africa format
• Fully participate in the proposal development process and ensuring that Budgets for new proposals are prepared in line with the Amref’s and Donor budgeting guidelines.
• Periodically monitor the Programme Budgets Performance through BVA Analysis and ensuring that performance is within the expected ranges.
• Ensure that approval of expenditure for the various projects is timely and in line with the donor approved budgets and organizational policies.
• Monitor cash balances per project
• Make cash call downs on projects as appropriate
• Supervise, allocate and delegate work to programme accountants
• Review the work done by the Programme Accountants, ensuring that they are accurate, timely and done in compliance to the donor rules and regulations as well as Amref policies and procedures Appraise/Evaluate the work performance of the programme accountants, recommending areas of improvements
• Continuous mentoring of the Programme Accountants and interns. This includes preparing quality donor reports, guidance in finance policies and procedures and interpretation of the SOP’s
• Provide reports and review progress on a month by month basis of the performance of all Cost Centres with a view to improving performance and resolving challenges
• Review staff debtors’ reports and taking the necessary decisions on recoveries to be made for long outstanding debts.
• Review of monthly income and expenditure statements with Programme Managers to ensure expenditure is in line with donor budgets.
• Short-term action plans and expenditure scheduling
• Processing, approvals and coding expenditure (claims, imprest, surrenders, field office returns and Procurement Requests) and internal recoveries in accordance with approved work plans and budgets
• Regular review meetings with Programme/Project Managers to resolve and discuss various financial and accounting issues and queries
• Preparation of periodic budgetary control statements to determine financial performance of the relevant Programme and individual projects within the programme
• Provide financial technical support to project field teams
• Review of donor financial statements and reports and cash requests as specified in the respective grant agreements and other internal financial reports
• Review of monthly progress reports to the management on project funding status and cash management
• Ensure reports are timely, complete, accurate and in accordance with donor requirements
• Take lead in supporting internal and external audits conducted in the program
• Preparation of Financial Statements and supporting schedules for audit
• Take lead in resolution of audit findings by implementing audit recommendations.
• Supervise the HR, procurement and admin staff to ensure optimal performance and execution of tasks
• Ensure efficient processes and workflows are in place within all Support functions to efficiently support program delivery
• Ensure all support units track and implement audit recommendations
• Chair the Support Services Committee and ensure its fully operational and meeting regularly
• Advise Senior Management of any strategic decisions that need to be taken on Support units
• Provide guidance and leadership on all logistical and administrative tasks of the programme, including fleet management
• Maintain Amref Zambia’s asset register and liaise with key stakeholders on asset management and disposal.

Requirements and Qualifications

1. Education

• Degree in Accounting, Business, Finance or related field
• Full professional accounting qualification, CPA (K) /ACCA

2. Experience

• 7 years accounting experience in financial and project accounting preferably in the NGO environment
• Experience in handing multi-currency transactions
• Experience working with major ERPs/Accounting packages.