Finance Manager at World University Service of Canada

The Role

• The Kenya Finance Manager is a key member of the Management Team of the WUSC team in Kenya. They will hold overall responsibility for financial management of WUSC programming in Kenya, under the supervision of the Kenya Country Director and Ottawa-based Director of Finance. The Finance Manager ensures that national legislation is adhered to, and that WUSC’s financial standards are applied in terms of accounting, financial control systems, internal / external reporting processes, in order to ensure an efficient use of resources. They will lead, and provide technical support and capacity building to the finance and administrative staff in the country and possibly the East Africa region.

Responsibilities:

• Manage program finances and develops adequate accounting systems and internal financial control mechanisms to include day-to-day finance operations in accordance with WUSC policies and procedures.
• Lead budget review processes, including coordinating with partners to ensure budget components are realistic and meet program needs and donor requirements.
• Collaborates with Operations colleagues to conduct comprehensive due diligence and organizational capacity assessment of partners in the pre-contracting stage;
• Support the program team and project partners to build and develop accurate budgets and forecasts and monitor progress with program teams.
• Work closely with the programs and program development teams to develop budgets for project proposals.
• In conjunction with WUSC HQ, develop, coordinate and enforce financial policies and procedures.
• Ensure that payroll is processed accurately and on time, and that the relevant reports and schedules (such as statutory deductions and staff benefit schemes) are generated accurately and sent to relevant sources on time.
• Make regular visits to project field offices to review field operations and ensure compliance with financial policies and procedures.
• Provide training and guidance to field staff and project partners when necessary.
• Oversee the finance team to monitor and review all project accounts GL, advance reconciliations, bank reconciliations and balance sheet accounts.
• Ensures that country office internal controls are in place and are followed and continuously identify opportunities for improvement
• Prepare for annual, donor and internal audits by ensuring availability of an accurate and updated General ledger, related schedules and documentations for audit
• Troubleshooting and management of financial issues that arise during program implementation risk management to ensure funding is being utilized as intended and budget balances are monitored.
• Ensure implementation of financial controls to monitor and forecast cash requirements to meet administrative and program expenditures, forecasting monthly cash requirements for program/projects and making advance requests to the Ottawa office and other donor offices to ensure Kenya office liquidity is maintained.
• Take initiative to make recommendations as needed to ensure efficient and effective use of project financial resources; carry out a cost benefit analysis where necessary
• Engage with program staff across the organization to monitor and review program budgets throughout the year and life of the project (s)
• Continuous monitoring and tracking of actual expenditure against budgets per award
• Provide variance analysis for quarterly reports and annual budget revisions for each project.
• Preparation of monthly burn rate reports and keep program teams updated on burn rates per project per award on a quarterly basis
• Key liaison between WUSC Kenya and its banking institution to ensure any and all emerging issues are resolved amicably, maintaining and regularly updating the bank signatories.
• Assist with the development and reconciliation of organizational indirect cost rate

Line Managers:

• Kenya Country Director
• WUSC Director of Finance (HQ)

Position Requires Close Collaboration with

• WUSC HQ – Finance Analysts
• Project Managers
• Deputy Country Director, Kenya

Position Supervises

• Senior Finance Coordinator
• Finance Officer

Qualifications and Experience

• A Master’s in Finance, Business Administration, Commerce or equivalent
• A professional qualification in Accounting e.g. CPA (K), ACCA or equivalent qualification
• Over 7 years professional experience in a similar post (preferably an INGO)
• Experience in the evaluation of Accounting regulations and Tax matters
• Experience managing large budgets with multiple consortia partners
• Experience working with donors and their unique reporting requirements (CIDA, BPRM, EU, DFID, USAID)

Other Competencies

• Strong managerial skills
• Ability to guide in the setting of financial objectives and monitoring delivery against goals
• Strong analytical, communication and problem solving skills
• Ability to identify and articulate problems and provide solutions in a concise and clear manner