Senior Associate Regional Accountant at Winrock International

Department:                    Finance

Position Overview:

The Senior Associate Regional Accountant (SARA) will be based in Nairobi. They will support finance and accounting for the project offices under the direct supervision of the Regional Accounting Manager (RAM). The Senior Associate Regional Accountant (SARA) will review accounting transactions of the assigned portfolio of projects and provide support on onboarding, training, and guidance to Project Finance staff, as needed. Additionally, the SARA will assist in preparing financial transactions and reporting for the Nairobi Regional Office, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements.

The purpose of this position is to provide project finance support through reviews, training, and guidance to project accounting staff, as well as to prepare financial reports for the Nairobi Regional Office.

POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES

Major Responsibilities

Organizational functions:

• Assist in ensuring compliance with various local laws and regulations, including annual submissions of audited financial statements and other required local filings for the Nairobi Regional Office.
• Elevate organizational issues and concerns to supervisor for appropriate action(s), as necessary.
• Assist in preparing financial reports for the Nairobi Regional Office
• Prepare expenditures for all financial activities in Nairobi in QuickBooks and submission to RAM for review and approval.
• Prepare monthly remittances to government agencies.
• Initiates Nairobi – QuickBooks data entry and maintenance; generation of monthly financial reports and schedules.
• Assist in preparing Nairobi Regional Office monthly wire requests and ensure financial reports are complete, accurate, and compliant with Winrock policies and procedures.
• Elevate financial/accounting-related problems to the supervisor to offer resolution, as and when seen appropriate.
• Prepare vendor files and related accounting records, such as leases and contracts; ensure file maintenance is compliant with Winrock’s retention policies, procedures, and local requirements.
• Prepare accounts’ payables, receivables, payroll support, staff advances, and accruals schedules, ensuring that they are complete, tracked and monitored regularly.
• Support the preparation of local annual audits, including procurement of audit services.
• Perform any other relevant duties as assigned.

International Accounting

• Review project accounting functions of assigned portfolio of projects/offices.
• Ensure assigned project offices submit QB financial reports and support documents within the set deadlines.
• Review of field office vouchers for assigned project portfolio and ensure accuracy and completeness of the supporting documents, in compliance with Winrock’s and Donor’s policies and procedures
• Reviews monthly projects schedules and reconciliations e.g., bank, salary, petty cash, assets, and liabilities, etc.
• Support orientation/training for new project accounting staff on Winrock’s financial, administrative, and operational policies and procedures (or re-training of existing staff whenever there are new or revised policies and procedures).
• Supports internal and external audits and reviews as necessary.
• Coordinates with the supervisor on project/field visits and monitoring activities.
• Review completeness and accuracy of project/field offices’ monthly reports package submission.
• Provide guidance to Project/Field Offices on accounting issues appropriately and escalate any accounting issue to the supervisor.
• Translate International Accounting presentation materials from English to French.

POSITION QUALIFICATIONS

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Finance, Accounting, or related field plus professional qualification in CPA, ACCA or its equivalent is required.

Experience:

• At least two years’ experience in finance and accounting, minimum of one year in international development.
• Experience in working with an international non-governmental organization at a regional level would be an added advantage.
• Experience in financial, administrative, and/or procurement of donor-funded programs; USAID or other US Government agencies experience preferred.

Computer/Technical Skills:

• Excellent knowledge of MS Office – Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, including SharePoint cloud storage.
• Strong analytical and computer skills, especially spreadsheet and financial analysis.
• Excellent knowledge and experience with accounting software and databases. User knowledge of QuickBooks database preferred.

Communication Skills:

• Good communication skills – both written and verbal. Ability to communicate effectively with a multicultural workforce.

Language:

• Fluency in written and oral French required.

Required Travel:

• This position requires 20% travel nationally and internationally, as needed and when global travel circumstances allow. (While 20% travel is required for this role, due to COVID 19, non-essential travel has been suspended until further notice)

Position-Specific Skills:

• Understanding and knowledge of accounting principles, practices, standards, laws. and regulations.
• Ability to work effectively as a team member with diverse groups, multicultural workforce and appreciation of cultural differences is required.
• Ability to coordinate multiple simultaneous tasks, good time management and attention to detail.

Physical Demands:

• Typical office environment with continual sitting or standing required.