Finance Manager

ROLE PURPOSE:

Save the Children has a small global advocacy office in Addis Ababa (alongside offices in Brussels, Geneva and New York) that is registered with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the name of “Pan African Office”. The office has responsibility for (i) engaging with international and regional institutions such as the African Union Commission and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and (ii) providing support to Save the Children Advocacy across the African continent.

The Finance Manager will carry out the day-to-day finance tasks of the Addis office and will support the Director in their budget management responsibilities.

Role Dimensions:

As well as payments to suppliers in Ethiopia and across Africa, this role is responsible for making payments on behalf of SCI’s AULPAO in a variety of currencies (mainly Ethiopian Birr and USD. The role is also responsible for ensuring all other aspects of the team’s duties such as - Personal expense claims, Mobile phone charges, Conference calls, Courier charges, Health provider, AP bank reconciliations, control accounts reconciliations and monthly BVAs.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

• Developing the annual organisational budgets for the Addis Advocacy Office, in consultation with the Advocacy Office Director and with the finance team in the SCI office in London
• Manage Advocacy staff payroll and maintain accurate and up to date payroll records
• Ensuring accurate calculation and distribution of salaries and other benefits to employees
• Administering and reviewing all financial plans and budgets, monitoring progress and changes and producing short term projections in collaboration with the implementation team
• Producing accurate and timely financial reports according to donor requirements
• Preparing reports which summarize and forecast the organisation’s financial position in areas of income and expenses and communicating with the Advocacy Office Director and Centre Finance business partner
• Financial management of restricted grants from a variety of donors (Norway MFA, SC Members, etc…), including liaising with SC Members and donors when reporting
• Recording all transactions (suppliers, salaries, cash) in Agresso (SC Accounting system)
• Minimize financial risk and exposure to exchange rates
• Maintaining a monthly cashbook and ensuring payments and receipts are correctly coded and that monthly cash book and bank statements are submitted to SCI-Centre on a timely basis
• Preparing monthly cash requests for funds required from SCI-Centre on a timely basis
• Preparing monthly management accounts and annual accounts by providing information and answering queries
• Liaise and update Implementation teams and Centre Finance on any changes regarding the Addis Advocacy office awards
• Support Centre Finance business partner to produce internal/external reports in a timely manner
• Support Centre Finance business partner with any ad hoc queries
• Keep track of costs re-charged to members for staff payroll, benefits, reimbursements, etc.
• Assisting with the annual audit and any internal audit or donor audits by providing information and answering queries
• Local and international procurement of goods and services, checking supplier invoices, paying suppliers on a timely basis by cheque and/or via online banking
• Checking staff expenses and paying staff expenses on a timely basis once authorised
• Work with the Ethiopia Country Office for the latter to perform a Controller function on a monthly/quarterly basis at SCI AULPAO.
• Develop and carry out training for AULPAO colleagues on invoice payment and expenses processes. 

SKILLS AND BEHAVIOURS (SCI Values in Practice)

Accountability:

• Holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
• Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.

Ambition:

• Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same
• Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
• Future orientated thinks strategically and on a global scale.

Collaboration:

• Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters
• Values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
• Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.

Creativity:

• Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
• Willing to take disciplined risks.

Integrity:

• Honest encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates the highest levels of integrity

Job Requirements

QUALIFICATIONS 

• Minimum BA in Accounting and/or financial management  
• A qualification in finance would be an advantage.

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

Essential:

• Minimum of five (5) years of proven experience in Accounting in a dynamic, preferably international, organization.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and problem-solving skills
• A strong results and delivery orientation
• Experienced in capacity building, and holding others to account for their delivery
• Proven ability to maintain excellent attention to detail; the ability to work quickly and accurately when facing tight deadlines and a heavy workload
• Excellent MS Excel and analytical skills, and the ability to work with large amounts of data.
• An energetic, flexible and proactive approach with the ability to work both independently and co-operatively within a team setting and maintain good working relationships
• Ability to work within set guidelines for the payment of invoices/expenses and identify instances when the guidelines are not being followed
• Adaptable and flexible with a willingness to work with other members of the team to deliver a common goal
• Pro-active and solution-oriented
• Strong communications skills including fluent written and spoken English and Amharic

Desirable:

• Knowledge of Agresso finance system
• Experience in making international payments

Additional job responsibilities

• The job duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the post holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.

Equal Opportunities

• The post holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and procedures

Health and Safety

• The post holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures

How to Apply

Please attach a copy of your CV and cover letter with your application, and include details of your current remuneration and Application salary expectations. A copy of the full role profile can be found at http://www.savethechildren.net/careers

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

All employees are expected to carry out their duties in accordance with our global anti-harassment policy.