POSITION : Grant Finance Manager
ORGANISATION : African Parks – RCA
LOCATION : Central African Republic
REPORTING TO : Finance Manager
EXPECTED START DATE : As soon as possible
BACKGROUND:
African Parks is a non-profit conservation organization that takes on the complete responsibility for the rehabilitation and long-term management of national parks in partnership with governments and local communities. We currently manage 22 national parks and protected areas in 12 countries covering over 20 million hectares in: Angola, Benin, Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Sudan.
Chinko’s mosaic of ecosystems is one of the incredibly rich and unique area in African continent. In fact, the Chinko Conservation Area (CCA) is an important area for endangered wildlife as well a vast ecosystem with complex interactions and is the only managed protected environment in the remote eastern part of CAR.
Most recently, a “functional landscape” of about 64,645 km2 which the government of the CAR assigned the mandate to APN to develop a comprehensive conservation strategy and land-use plan.
JOB OVERVIEW:
The Grants Finance Manager is responsible for the financial management of all grants funding the organization. He manages a global budget for the entire organization and ensure compliance with each donor rules and regulations. He works closely with the Accounting Team and Heads of Department. He reports to the Head of Finance and Administration.
His daily duties consist of but are not limited to;
Donor Management;
- Maintain all documentation related to a grant up to date (contact, financial & narrative reports, payment, audit report, work plan, approvals, etc…) into the CRM system;
- Communicate with the donor or the Chief of Party via Fundraising team to ensure the transmission of all required information to the donor;
- Ensure visibility of each donor for all
- Ensure compliance with each donor rules & regulation (produce all donor financial report, request mandatory authorization to donor, train and communicate internally on donor rules & regulation
- Manage all donor audits
Budgeting and Forecasting;
- Contribute to Producing all financial reports (Actual Vs Budget) for all donor individually as well as for the entire organization on monthly basis.
- Communicate internally on budget position
- Review and monitor budget performance per program and/or per department, make recommendations to improve performance.
- Establish the amount of donor income that need to draw and ensure proper recording.
- Produce, analyze, control, forecast the funding gap position of the organization.
- Use all his knowledge to optimize and reduce the unfunded position of the organization.
- Ensure that all financial reports due to donor are received on time
- Is responsible for the quality of the financial information reported to donors (as well as internally)
- Lead the yearly budget process for the entire organization
- Craft budget for proposal and ensure allocation of unfunded expenses first (reduction of funding gap) and proper coverage of activities.
- Master the financial forecast of the organization over 5 years (Business Plan), and anticipate the closing of short terms projects.-
- Draft and propose budget amendment for grants that need it
Accounting;
- Review the allocation per program (Donor and budget line) of all transactions (purchase order & contract, travel authorization form & mission order, expenses claim, staff time allocation) prior to entry into the accounting system.
- Control availability of budget before approval of expenses.
- Provide guidance and coaching to accounting staff to ensure accuracy, correctness and completeness of transactions recorded
Cash Management;
- Produce reimbursement request for all expenses not advanced by donor in the shortest delay.
- Follow up collection of money claimed and allocate amounts received between programs.
- Monitor cash position on grants on advance basis.
- Forecast the global cash position of the organization depending on level of cash advance and delays to obtain next tranche.
- Ensure that the organization remain in a positive cash position
Fixed Asset Management; (In collaboration with the
- Ensure correct allocation and recording of each fixed asset per donor
- Ensure proper branding (Donor visibility) of all asset
HR & Payroll; (In collaboration with the Chief Accountant and HR manager)
- Review the allocation of the payroll per program
- Control and approve time allocation for all staffs required to produce time sheet
- Communicate on remaining time budget to all staffs required to produce time sheet
- Supervise that HR are compliant with each donor rules & regulation
Due Diligence and Audit
- Co-ordinate donor audits
- Provide draft responses to the audit management letter, including coordinating inputs from operations, law enforcement, human resources, administration and other units as necessary, and forward to the Head of Finance for review
- Record and follow up audit findings. Ensure closure and resolution of all of them in the timeframe agreed with the Head of Finance.
- Guaranty the eligibility of all expenses (no ineligible expenses) and the absence of major audit findings.
Archiving
- Manage the archivist and supervise the archive system (physical and numerical)
- Set up control process, to ensure the archiving of all required documentation related to all transactions
- Is responsible for the quality of all documentation supporting all expenses
- Guaranty the safeguard of all documentation related to donor according to each donor rules.
- Ease access to the information archived in case of audit
General
- Provide leadership and guidance in all matters pertaining to finance/budget/donor and give advice and support to everyone needing it
- Provide training to staff on Donor rules and regulation and more generally on APN financial policies and procedures, budgeting methods
- Assist with writing and maintaining of the procurement policy.
- If need can sit as a member of the procurement committee.
- Assists with implementing new systems (accounting, payroll, stock, etc…) and training of user.
- Carry out any other relevant tasks that may be assigned from time to time by his management.
How Success look like
- All reports & budget are produced on time with the level of quality required.
- Funding gap is monitor and reduced.
- All donor audits are closed on a timely manner with no expense’s ineligible nor major audit findings.
- Each program budget, as well as the global organization budget are respected.
- Program staff receive all information & support needed for them to execute their activities
Qualifications and Role requirements
- A 5-year degree in account Sciences or Finance Management, with a further Business and administration qualification being advantageous;
- At least 5 years of proven operational experience in the finance/accounting management sector.
- A strong work ethic with a demonstrated ability to analyze complex contracts in a solutions-based manner;
- Excellent planning and organizational skills and Administrative skills;
- Attention to details; Punctuality and Team Management skills and strong team player;
- Adaptability to constantly changing environments;
- Diplomacy and ability to build good relations.
- IT – Word, Excel, Power Point and Outlook;
- Excellent ability to build and manage relationships with a wide variety of people and cultures.
How to apply
To apply, please email your CV and cover letter to centralafrica.hr@africanparks.org by Friday, 23th of February 2024. Please mention the position name in the subject line of the email.
Female candidates are strongly encouraged.
In case you do not hear from us within two weeks after the closing date, this means that your application was not successful.
We thank you for your interest in working for African Parks.