Budgeting and Reporting Coordinator

The Danish Refugee Council (DRC), an international non-governmental organization (NGO), has been providing relief and development services in the Horn of Africa since 1997. DRC promotes and supports solutions to the problems faced by refugees, internally displaced people (IDPs), and migrants. DRC Ethiopia began operations in 2009 and has been responding to the needs of refugees, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and vulnerable host communities ever since.  DRC Ethiopia currently has programs implemented through five area offices (AO) in Gambella, Tigray, Somali (Jijiga & Dollo Ado) and Afar regions, as well as its country office (CO) in Addis Ababa.

Responsibilities and tasks

Master Budget Focal Point

• Development of a country master budget for SMT informed decision making which is to be updated quarterly, based on DRC Policy Briefs in line with DRC Dynamics implementation.
• Serve as the country focal point for DRC Dynamics Budget Management and Master Budgeting, including providing support and troubleshooting on any issues raised and providing training to other staff on DRC Dynamics Budgeting and Master Budget management.

Budgeting

• Provide cost allocation based on gaps and ensure all actual gaps for each area are considered and taken into account when budgeting for each proposal.
• Timely budget preparation and ensure a timely and well-coordinated budget preparation with all the program sectors and field offices.
• Manage the ETH internal budgeting tool with fixed lines to ensure all relevant costs are accounted for therefore minimizing risk for missed costs.
• Ensure flagged amendments are concluded (including NCEs)
• Ensure timely preparation and submission of budgets for new project proposals
• Ensure that new budgets follow internal DRC guidelines, external donor guidelines and respect the 80-20 rule.
• Work closely with the Finance Manager and Head of Support Services to ensure inclusion of relevant support costs in new budgets and cost recovery of funding gaps as reported in the country master budget.
• Suggest corrective action to be taken by SMT to fill the gaps.

Budget Follow-up

• Ensure Budget Follow Ups (BFUs) are setup in DRC Dynamics as soon as grants are signed and serve as the main focal point for setting up the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for each budget in Dynamics according to donor guidelines and budget templates.
• Coordinate the budget follow-up and forecasting tool that will show financial progress against the program achievements. Follow up with each Area Manager and Budget Holder on spending and eligibility of costs incurred/posted to ensure a 100% utilization on grants.
• Enforce regular monthly BFU review process where the Country Office reviews feedback from the field level BFU reviews, in collaboration with the Grants Coordinator, Head of Program, and Head of Support.
• Monitor burn rates and implementation progress and flag grant underperformance and compliance issues to relevant FO AMs, Program Managers, and the Senior Management Team. Support follow-up actions to resolve grant challenges.

Donor Reporting and Compliance

• Timely reporting – ensured reports are submitted to the donor on time and better quality
• Donor compliance – ensure donor rules and regulations have been communicated and complied with (flexibility, …)
• Co-funding – introduced a co-funding template to help identification of transactions
• Ensure all close out documents are in place (fraud declaration, asset register..)
• Review on a monthly basis the Rolling Action Plan for financial reports due to donors in the coming month.
• Balance out the BFU report and prepare the financial report in the Donor format for submission to RO and HQ
• Support Finance Manager on preparation of Ethiopia statutory report and coordinate the audit process.
• Update the Annual Performance Indicators for Finance on a monthly basis and submit to Finance Manager and HoSS for review/feedback.
• Follow up and ensure that partners are reporting on time. Review partner submitted reports and do expenditure verification.

Financial Management

• Setup and organize project BFUs in a way that enables Area Managers and budget holders to ensure effective budget monitoring and control
• In cooperation with the Deputy Finance Manager, proposing and drafting necessary adjustment or rebooking of entries on and ongoing basis
• Provide the systematic financial analysis to each HoP &AM on the BFUs on the utilization of the budgets as planned

Installment follow-up

• Track installments and ensure requests are submitted to donor and proper/timely follow up is in place.
• Flag any issues with installments to HoSS and HoP for follow up.

Partnership Management

• Build and strengthen the capacity of partners in the area of financial management. Plan and organize regular trainings and other capacity building initiatives such as exchange visits to ensure that partners/subrecipients acquire and maintain the skills required to manage financial resources provided by DRC and other donors.
• Support the financial assessment of new grant proposals and budgets from partners.
• Carry out the review of quarterly financial reports received from partners – identify, investigate, and report.
• Carry out partner financial monitoring visits during the term of their grants to review supporting documents underpinning financial reports and ensure that these comply with donor (e.g., US Government) requirements.
• Provide financial and donor compliance training and capacity building for partners as required.

Experience and technical competencies: (include years of experience)

• Minimum 7 years proven progressive experience in finance related positions
• Minimum 3 years’ experience working for INGOs
• Proven experience in working with financial management of projects funded by humanitarian donors
• Solid knowledge and understanding of financial compliance and procedures
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to work under pressure
• Excellent skills in the use of computers (MS Word, Excel, Power Point);

EDUCATION: (include certificates, licenses, etc.)

• Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting

LANGUAGE: (indicate fluency level)

• Excellent verbal and written English and Amharic

Source: https://job.drc.ngo/jobs/job?id=170981