Regional Finance Manager at World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF)

 Lead Financial Management of CIMMYT’s Operations in AFRICA

• Oversees financial accounting and month-end reporting for CIMMYT operations in Africa. Supervises finance staff at CIMMYT country offices in Africa, who report to the candidate functionally.
• Monitors performance of Country Finance team operations through the development of a transparent set of KPIs.
• Works closely with HQ Finance Managers to ensure worldwide development implementation and compliance of CIMMYT financial policies, procedures, practices, and the ERP.
• Further develops and maintains an adequate level of financial governance by sustaining an adequate level of internal control framework.
• Works with CIMMYT’s finance country managers to design and customize financial and administrative management structures where appropriate.
• Responsible for the timely consolidation of all financial accounting operations in Africa into CIMMYT’s ERP.
• Works with scientists and country finance managers to ensure scientific and administrative staff are trained and competent in financial policies, procedures, and systems.
• Coordinates with the Regional Director the development and follow-up of the Country office's work plan.
• Supervises fluent process for cash flow monitoring and timely replenishment.
• Reviews hosting agreements in Africa for financial aspects and finance processes, which host centers provide (or services given by CIMMYT to other CGIAR centers).
• Budget review of CIMMYT’s country offices' annual budget in coordination with the country managers.

Leadership in developing efficient, effective, and service-oriented finance processes to benefit Scaling up and Impactful Research for Development activities

• Instills efficient Development Finance processes.
• Takes a leadership position in effectively using CIMMYT’s new ERP implementation and maintenance in the region.

Coordinates and contributes to the successful Combined Assurance model:

• Coordinates timely Internal Audit & External Audit responses, including regional project audits.
• Oversees the operational effectiveness of the Internal Controls over Financial Reporting (ICOFR) framework in the region.
• Ensures and oversees that adequate segregation of duties and Restricted Access is maintained at the CIMMYT country office operations.
• Contributes to the Enterprise Risk management framework covering the African operations.

Business partner of the Regional Director and peer colleagues from the African Operations Chapter team.

• Support the regional operations team by providing meaningful financial reports for data-driven decision making.

Requirements

• Master’s degree in accounting or finance, complemented with an internationally recognized professional accounting designation, like: CPA, CA, ACCA, or CMA.
• At least 8 years of experience in similar roles or activities, ideally gained in private and Non-profit environments and covering activities in multiple countries.
• Experience managing funding agreements related to international development programs from donors like USAID, BMGF, GIZ, AFD & EU.