Finance & Administrative Officer - BRC at Kenya Red Cross Society

Purpose of the role:

Support BRC Country Cluster Manager for East Africa and the regional team in ensuring efficient, effective and timely financial management and administration of BRC supported programming in East Africa, including in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Tanzania and other parts of the region as required.

Main Responsibilities:

The Finance and Admin Officer will work together with the International Programme Accountant (IPA) for East and Southern Africa and perform the following duties:

Financial Management of BRC Office in East Africa

• Prepare and reconcile monthly cash and bank books by the first working day of the following month
• Ensure timely and accurate booking of BRC Country Office transactions and timely reporting in line with BRC International Finance deadlines.
• Ensure timely and accurate cash management in the BRC Country Office and liaise with BRC bankers on general banking issues
• In cooperation with the CCM and IPA, to assist on financial sustainability and finance development issues (e.g. Agresso) that BRC will support in the region.
• Ensure the BRC EA Finance and Administration Manual is regularly updated
• Ensure that up to date record of all legal contracts, MoUs and agreements is kept and and complied with.
• Verify and reconcile travel and work advances
• Ensure that there is consistency in the use of Agresso account codes in the office monthly returns and to maintain the integrity of the financial information in Agresso for the office, ensuring entries are correct & up to date
• Ensure that all financial transactions for all projects in East Africa are always correctly reflected in Agresso.
• Ensure that costs of the BRC office in East Africa are correctly accounted for in the corporate budgeting and forecasting processes
• Run financial reports and queries from Agresso to support decision-making and compliance activities
• Support efforts to ensure that BRC Delegates are tax compliant, and the tax contributions are remitted according to Kenya Revenue Authority regulations.
• Work with the International Finance Dept to ensure that all new projects in East Africa are set up in the correct manner
• Proactively identify broader systematic issues within BRC-supported project financial management practice that need addressing; and in liaison with the regional team to agree plan of action as to who will address this with NSs Financial Department and how.

BRC Supported Programmes and Partner National Societies

• Support due diligence, OCA and BOCA assessments of National Societies to develop a clear picture of control weaknesses and priority areas for BRC to support in National Society Development plans.Focal point for BRC financial management capacity building efforts with NSs (involving potential field visits to the project implementation areas to work with regional/provincial/district teams).
• Plan and organise BRC internal audits and Donor initiated audits in relation to BRC supported programmes.
• Ensure that NSs fixed assets inventory lists for projects, in line with their policies and donor/project requirements, are established maintained and updated at all levels.
• Undertake quality control of cash transfer requests from the BRC and the NS, and transmit them to the BRC UKO for further processing.
• Provide technical support to National Societies on procurement processes.
• Provide technical support to NS whilst preparing project and programme budgets.
• Provide technical support to NS to be able to produce accurate and timely financial reports.
• Verify that project financial reports, invoices and supporting documents meet project agreed requirements & timelines and is consistent with the NSs policies and procedures and BRC financial management guidelines as per the back-donor requirements.
• Validate and verify project financial reports ensuring they are correct in terms of entries and calculations; and are consistent with figures presented in supporting documents.
• Ensure budget variance explanations and activities and corresponding budget lines carried forward are correct and consistent with narrative reports.
• Manage and follow-up with National Societies’ Financial Department as required; and escalate to BRC Country Cluster Manager (CCM) for East Africa / BRC ESA IPA as necessary.
• Collaborate and support BRC Programme Managers and Programme support Officer on day-to-day basis, on financial programme matters

Administration management

• Ensure compliance of administrative procedures in the BRC Office and be focal point for this with the rest of the East Africa team.
• Facilitate and coordinate visitor’s hotel and taxi bookings.
• General office administration including management of office supplies, inventory and assets.
• Ensure that the financial and administrative aspects of all service agreements are up to date.
• Undertake other appropriate duties as assigned.

Person Specification

• Bachelor Degree in Accounting / Finance
• Knowledge of standard internal control procedures and practice
• ACCA/CPA qualification preferred
• Experience and knowledge of international donor procedures
• Computer literate with advanced knowledge of Excel, Word, and computerised accounts systems*
• Sound knowledge of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (sound double-entry book-keeping)
• Strong analytical and reporting skills
• Demonstrated skills with accounting software (Navision or Agresso preferred)
• Demonstrated capacity to produce results timely and rigorously
• Minimum 3 years auditing and/or finance management experience
• Minimum CPA Section 4
• Experience in budget preparation and follow-up
• Experience in financial management with, or auditing of, Non-Government Organisations preferred