Regional Finance Manager at Danish Refugee Council

Overall purpose of the role

• Under the management of the Regional Head of Support services, the Regional Finance Manager has a regional focus and provides the due support (including sometimes direct support) and guidance to each Country Office in order to ensure that the Region’s countries perform financially. Financial performance includes but is not limited to, budget development, financial reporting, follow-up of expenditure against budgets, cost control management and risk mitigation.
• The Regional Finance Manager is in charge of the Finance Department of the Regional Office and is fully responsible for the financial responsibilities related to the Regional Office, while performing oversight on the country offices.
• Furthermore, The Regional Finance Manager should ensure a good and efficient cooperation, communication and collaboration with the Finance Department at the HQ (in Copenhagen, Denmark).

Management & Coordination

• To ensure the efficient management and supervision of the staff members of the Finance Department of the EAGL RO this includes daily supervision of the tasks, follow-up of the targets defined and appraisal of the staff members
• To monitor compliance of the financial rules and regulations within the EAGL RO and for all its staff members;
• To contribute as much as possible to an efficient communication and relevant sharing of information, with HQ, Country Offices and different donors in regard to financial matters, including forthcoming audits, financial reporting and financial risks;
• To guarantee the follow-up in terms of any payment, reimbursement, reporting to be done at the EAGL RO level;
• To work efficiently and in good collaboration with the others Regional Managers/ Coordinators of the at regional level, specifically; IT Department, Program Sector Leads, Human Resources Department and the Supply Chain Department;
• To visit regularly the countries covered by the EAGL RO and to provide technical guidance to the Finance Managers and Finance Coordinators in the relevant countries.

Finance (Budgeting, Accounting & Reporting)

• Participate in the development of regional project budgets to ensure compliance with internal and donor regulations.
• Provide quality assurance of budgeting activities in the country operations, paying attention to compliance and adherence to the regional program and financial strategies.
• To ensure efficient and strong budget follow-up and cost control of the projects managed by the EAGL Region (including timely closure of the monthly accounting, achievement of the shared costs rules, timely booking of reconciliations);
• Ensure costs and funds are allocated in support of the funding of the regional office function;
• To reinforce the financial rules and regulations in the EAGL Region and for each project managed by the EAGL Region, including the quality and compliance standards of the financial supporting documentation;
• To participate in the follow-up of the financial monthly management reports;
• To check, if necessary and if requested, the monthly accounting for Country Offices covered by the EAGL region (in coordination with the Finance Department at the HQ);
• To ensure monitoring of the EAGL RO bank accounts and the situation of the liquidity, including submitting the Bank Transfer Requests;
• To monitor the financial management of the EAGL RO, by following-up the budgets consumption and by controlling the funding coverage and costs engaged, while updating regularly the Master Budget of the EAGL RO;
• To produce donor, internal and statutory reporting as required for the regional office entity, with close collaboration with relevant internal and external stakeholders;
• To regularly analyze the financial data obtained at the EAGL RO level and also per country, and provide reliable data to the senior management.

Audit, Compliance and Risk

• To accommodate and support donor financial audits of projects at the EAGL Regional Office, in good coordination and communication with the Finance Department at the HQ;
• To accommodate and support internal financial audits of projects in the EAGL Region, in good coordination and communication with the Finance Department at the HQ;
• To check and monitor the full compliance of the financial documents of the EAGL RO expenses, considering the internal requirements of DRC but also the external requirements in terms of compliance (donors and potential legal obligations in the relevant country);
• To provide guidance to the Country Offices for the respect of compliance in each country, supporting them in regards to the internal compliance requirements while also advising for the external compliance requirements;
• To identify potential financial risks in the EAGL Region and ensure they are reflected on the risk registers and issues log.

ERP System (DRC Dynamics)

• To ensure efficient support for each Country Office in terms of the implementation of DRC Dynamics for the Finance Track;
• To contribute to the development and elaboration of new learning materials for the Finance staff members in the EAGL region (in cooperation with the Finance and Systems Departments at the HQ);
• Ensure that DRC Dynamics Finance Track is used to its full capacity within the EAGL RO;
• To ensure that financial procedures and workflows in DRC Dynamics are well-respected in each Country covered by the EAGL RO and to provide regularly updates to senior management.
• Participate in systems review and development as required.

Capacity-Building

• To support work related training of the staff of the Finance staff at the EAGL RO, including accounting, procedural and systems related needs;
• To contribute to the capacity-building of the Finance staff members in the Country Offices covered by the EAGL RO using field visits and online interaction;
• To participate in the personal developmental section of performance appraisal of all finance staff in the region.
• To actively support talent management initiatives with the wider DRC finance community.

About you

In this position, you are expected to demonstrate DRC’s five core competencies:

• Striving for excellence: You focus on reaching results while ensuring an efficient process.
• Collaborating: You involve relevant parties and encourage feedback.
• Taking the lead: You take ownership and initiative while aiming for innovation.
• Communicating: You listen and speak effectively and honestly.
• Demonstrating integrity: You act in line with our vision and values.

Experience and technical competencies:

• Minimum five (5) years of senior leadership experience in operations management roles with at least three (3) years of experience in a similar role in an international NGO.
• Proven leadership skills and a competence in people management.
• Significant experience of grant management and understanding of institutional fund-raising.
• Proven significant financial management experience.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal and influencing skills with a well-developed ability to motivate and persuade at high levels.
• Proficiency (written and spoken) in English.
• Significant understanding of the different contexts of the EAGL Region

Education

• Master’s degree in International Development, Economics, Political Science, Public Affairs, Business Administration or Management, or another relevant field is required;
• Professional Accounting or Financial qualifications (CPA K/ ACCA)