Finance Manager at Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF)

Job Description

Reports to

Finance Director, London

Location

Nairobi, with international travel (c. 25%)

Main purpose of the role:

The FBP is the critical interface between the finance function and the Africa programme management team, playing a key role of representing finance in the Africa team and representing the Africa team in finance. The FBP will provide commercial and financial input to the design and delivery of our programme investments. They will provide added value support to the Africa team, by performing modelling for cost benefit analysis and ad hoc data analysis as required. It also involves technical oversight and support to ensure that CIFF’s grant monies are safeguarded and utilised in the pre-agreed manner. The FBP is responsible for the due diligence assessment of CIFF’s grantees including internal controls, processes and procedures and ensuring grant activity is properly reported.

The FBP will work across the portfolio of Childhood Development & Adolescence activities in Africa which focuses on improving the survival, health and well-being of children, adolescents and their mothers.

The position is based in the CIFF office in Nairobi and involves significant travel to the programme implementation sites in East Africa, and across the continent in order to work closely with the CIFF Africa team, based in Nairobi & Addis Ababa, and our partners in monitoring the expenditure on CIFF’s grants. Some travel will also be required to the UK.

The reporting line is to the Finance Director, based in London. There will also be a dotted reporting line into the Africa Director based in Nairobi.

Position Responsibilities

Principal Accountabilities

• Advice on the finance structure of grant proposals
• Analysis and negotiation of grantee budgets
• Management of the payment approval process
• Financial, governance and risk due diligence prior to investment approval
• Onsite audits of grantees post-investment
• Working with grantees to strengthen their financial and operational controls
• Support the Africa Director with other financial management responsibilities in the CIFF Kenya office

Key Tasks:

• Decision support
• Provide added value, commercial and financial advice on relevant aspects of programme design and delivery
• Carry out financial modelling and analysis to support programme decision making
• Act as a trusted advisor to the Africa leadership team
• Grantee Assessment
• Prior to investment approval, reviewing the budget submitted by the grantee for reasonableness and accuracy. Budgets should also comply with CIFF’s internal policies and be compatible with the Foundation’s priorities and financial resources. Where appropriate, suggest changes to the proposals and agree internally.
• Working with the sector teams to identify financial and operational risks which may impact on programme strategy and develop mitigating solutions to the identified risks for the grantees to implement.
• Supporting partners in building financial reporting tools, giving guidance where necessary on data analysis and interpretation once tools are operational.
• Supporting the Finance and Operations team and Portfolio Managers in analysing the quarterly financial reports submitted by the grantees and in preparing summaries of progress and performance.
• Responsibility for on-site audits of the financial expenditure and internal controls of grantees.
• Preparing reports on the results of onsite audits / reviews of grantee, and making recommendations on the system and procedures under review.
• Analysing trends and findings from prior year audits to ensure that all key lessons from previous reviews are implemented
• Monitoring high value funding to overseas entities, undertaking variance analysis and investigating to ensure funds are used for their intended purposes.
• Preparing financial or grantee assessment-related dissemination materials for CIFF and as needed, for distribution to other stakeholders.
• Responsibility for the quality of the data on CIFF’s grantee database, Fluxx.
• Grants accounting and controls
• Working with the finance team to support management reporting, e.g. analysing key trends in granting activity and disbursements and using this analysis to develop internal reporting and to benchmark future grant budgets.
• Supporting the finance team in the statutory reporting of grant and programme related investment activities and for complex mixed motive investments.
• Working with the management of the grantees to implement a control system which ensures that all major risks of the grantee are identified and mitigated, whilst meeting CIFF’s grant stipulations.
• Working with the Fluxx team in developing the effectiveness of this grant management tool to support all aspects of the relationship with Grantees.
• Ensuring compliance with Charity Commission audit and financial best practice guidance.

Person Specification

• Bachelor’s degree 2:1 or above
• Qualified accountant with demonstrable experience working in Kenya and the East Africa region and a strong audit background
• Previous exposure to the non-profit sector would be highly desirable, particularly if it has been gained within a practice with a strong NGO client base
• Experience within Internal Audit would be particularly helpful
• Experience of working with SMEs would also be of value
• Understanding of the financial risk environment within the international development sector
• Good understanding of effective governance models and risk management frameworks
• Excellent quantitative and qualitative analytical skills, in particular advanced excel skills and intermediate modelling skills
• Ability to work unsupervised
• Willing to adapt to changing priorities, and flexible enough to respond to the demands of a growing organisation
• Possess strong interpersonal skills and work well as a team player
• A flexible and friendly attitude with the willingness to learn and enjoys working in a high achieving environment
• Excellent English written and oral communication skills
• Ability to present financial information in a compelling way for diverse audiences
• Excellent attention to detail essential
• Strong personal motivation to work in the not-for-profit sector