Head Of Finance at icipe - African Insect Science for Food and Health

The Head of Finance (HoF) will provide financial leadership to a strong team of finance professionals and have primary strategic day-to-day responsibility at the Centre to ensure the existence and adherence to fundamental principles of financial management—financial accountability, internal controls, recordkeeping, compliances, financial integrity, planning, budgeting, cash-flow management and financial reporting. The HoF will support planning, monitoring and decision-making processes to achieve best value in utilising resources, and providing quality information, financial analysis, training and professional advice.

Responsibilities

• First, provide overall supervision of the processes of recording, classifying and summarising financial transactions and interpreting the results, ensuring that all transactions of the Centre are recorded, and that supporting original documentation for all transactions is easily accessible. Second, provide necessary approvals for transactions and processes within set policies. Third, provide custodianship to all financial policies and procedures.
• Ensure continuous development and improvement of all supporting financial and management information systems for the Centre, ERP systems, project costing, and mapping of accounts and analysis codes.
• Ensure that effective internal controls are in place to safeguard financial assets of the Centre, and that records systems are maintained in accordance with generally accepted accounting standards.
• Ensure compliance with all applicable financial regulatory laws and rules for financial reporting in all jurisdictions where the Centre operates.
• Oversee the coordination and activities of independent external auditors for the Centre and project audits, ensuring that all compliance issues are met and that the preparation of annual financial statements is in accordance with both the Centre’s standards and international standards.
• Oversee the preparation of periodic financial statements, financial management reports, cash flows, special analyses, and information reports for use by the Budget holders, Centre’s Senior Management Committee (SMC) and Governing Council Members. Equally important, ensure that the finance unit meets all its financial reporting requirements—statutory, management and contractual—on a timely basis.
• Establish and maintain strong relationships with programme/project managers, identify their needs, and deliver enhanced business solutions. Provide support to other business support units in financial related matters. Additionally, provide recommendations to strategically enhance financial performance and opportunities. Analyse costs and expenses and guide programme/project managers, as well as analyse financial statements to pinpoint trends and potential problem areas.
• Analyse cash flows, monitor banking activities, oversee the management investments in line with set policies, to ensure adequate cash flow to meet the Centre’s needs and optimisation of investments held.
• Represent the Centre externally to various stakeholders, e.g. governments and funding agencies.
• Serve on tender, planning and policy-making committees.
• Recruit, train, supervise, and evaluate Finance Unit staff.
• Play a key role in the development of the Centre’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

Qualifications

• A master’s degree in finance or accounting.
• Ten (10) years of experience in a senior-level finance and accounting position. § Professional accounting qualification – CPA, ACCA, CA, or similar accreditation.

Core Competencies

• Experience crafting financial strategies and managing diverse accounting teams.
• Knowledge of contracting, negotiating, and change management.
• Knowledge of finance, accounting, budgeting, and cost control principles, including international standards.
• Solid project cost accounting and project management skills.
• Ability to analyse financial data and prepare financial reports, statements, and projections.

Other desirable attributes

• Strong interpersonal skills, ability to communicate and manage at all levels of the Centre, particularly with staff at all locations.
• Strong problem-solving skills, and the ability to provide sound advice based on accurate and timely analyses.
• A high level of and a strong sense of timeliness and results orientation.
• A high level of skills in written and verbal communication.

Reporting

This position reports to the Director of Finance & Administration (DFA).

The selected candidate should be available to start as soon as possible.