Accountant at Palladium

Job description

Project Overview And Role

The Feed the Future Kenya Investment Mechanism (KIM) Program is a five-year project that will unlock financing and investment by addressing two principal market failures that have discouraged investors from financing certain segments of the clean energy and agriculture sectors: 1) insufficient quality consulting services (financial, transaction advisory, strategy and business performance), and 2) limited availability of financial products tailored to agriculture and clean energy.

To address these failures, KIM will create a sustainable, market-based ecosystem for finance and investment through mobilizing capital into the horticulture, dairy, livestock, and clean energy value chains (VCs), and facilitating an enabling environment conducive to investment. This program will mobilize private capital into target VCs through innovative smart incentives and building partnerships with key actors that can deliver access to market, know-how, and technology to drive VC competitiveness. Concurrently, KIM will lead policy reform efforts focused on removing barriers inhibiting large-scale investment into the target sectors, therefore unlocking further finance. The two objectives of KIM will result in the project serving as an investment platform that mobilizes substantial capital from the public and private sectors and builds partnerships between stakeholders in the financial ecosystem, ultimately contributing to USAID's overall goal of fostering broad-based, sustained, and inclusive economic growth in Kenya.

The Project Accountant is responsible for establishing and maintaining the project's financial system, including accounting procedures for invoicing, payroll, and all project expenses as well as overall budget management of the project.

Responsibilities

• General Responsibilities
  
  • Liaise with the home office's Accounting department, Operations team, and Project Director to manage and troubleshoot project accounting issues as they may arise;
  • Reconcile project accounting and provide back-up documentation of all financial transactions into monthly accounting package to home office;
  • Establish and maintain electronic accounting tracking mechanisms, per Palladium and USAID accounting standards;
  • Conduct monthly audits of local expenditures as reported by the Field Office, including local bank reconciliation and US dollar expenses;
  • Review all local expenses for billing purposes;
  • Produce accurate and timely financial reports;
  • Maintain all accounting records;
  • Act as first point of contact with local bank;
  • Monitor vendor invoices and disburse payments upon approval of the COP.
• Budget Management
  
  • Oversee finance and accounting procedures;
  • Review monthly budget reports to ensure accuracy;
  • Indicate project activity numbers for billings and expenses so that the Operations Associate can input into budget tracking tool;
  • Prepare monthly cash forecasts for COP's review and approval.
• Procurement
  
  • Oversee the financial aspect of procurement of goods and services for the project, ensuring compliance with Palladium and USAID policies;
  • Review invoices for local services for the project.

Requirements

• 3 years of experience in finance and accounting, BA preferred;
• Experience with USAID accounting/financial procedures preferred;
• Microsoft office suite proficiency and the ability to operate spreadsheet and word-processing programs at a highly proficient level;
• Proactive problem-solving, decision-making and good judgment skills;
• Demonstrated ability and commitment to manage confidential information;
• Attention to detail and ability to effectively and efficiently perform multiple tasks and balance competing priorities;
• Strong written and verbal communication skills in English;
• Ability to communicate effectively with managers, colleagues, service providers and clients;
• Professional and mature demeanor and conduct.