Finance and Controlling Manager

VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT

ONLY OPEN TO LIBERIAN NATIONALS

Finance & Controlling Manager Role

Location: Monrovia, Liberia with occassional field travels

SOS Children’s Villages International is a global organisation established in 1949 that works to meet the needs and protect the interests and rights of orphaned and vulnerable children. SOS Children’s Villages International works through member associations in 136 countries and territories worldwide. SOS Children’s Villages Liberia has been active in the field of children’s rights and committed to children’s need and concerns in Liberia since 1981. We focus our work on children without parental care and children at risk of losing parental care and their communities. The organisation has a wide range of programmes in Monrovia and Buchanan, Grand Bassa County. Our programme include children’s villages, a youth facility, schools, a medical center and family strengthening programmes.

We are looking for a Finance & Controlling Manager for SOS Children’s Villages Liberia. The function reports directly to the National Director and functionally to the Regional Finance and Controlling Advisor. 

POSITION SUMMARY
The Finance and Controlling Manager is the head of the Finance and Controlling Department. She/he is responsible for all financial matters of the Association. She/he is responsible for strengthening internal control mechanisms and enforcing existing financial systems by ensuring compliance with and implementation of financial standards of the Association. The incumbent is also responsible for updating and generating timely financial information for senior management and other levels. The Finance and Controlling Manager will ensure smooth budget planning and monitoring processed, auditing exercises, timely execution of Financial related activities due for international offices and secure financial support field offices, main clients and other partners.

Roles Requirements

Under the leadership of the National Director (ND), the Finance and Controlling (FC) Manager is responsible for:

• providing financial advice and support to the ND and National Management Team to enable them to make sound decisions
  areas of forecasting (long-term perspective), budgeting, liquidity management, engaging in key figure and cost optimization analysis and reviewing operational performance
• developing and monitoring risk management policies and procedures and ensuring that external control mechanisms are in place
• developing and implementing internal finance policies and guidelines regulating processes related to finance as well as internal control in line with the vision, mission, strategy, policies, and standards of the organisation
• leading and supervising the national finance department
• representing the organisation in the field of finance towards external stakeholders
• knowing the tax regulations in a country and following-up on all legal changes that might have financial implications
  timely and qualitative data submission to the Regional/International Office in accordance with the agreed quality standards as set forth by SOS CVI policies and guidelines

Key performance areas and main responsibilities:

Management and Strategic Planning & Budgeting

• Manages the association’s overall financial accounting, monitoring and reporting systems (incl. processes)
• Is responsible for the overall operations of the finance department, including the interaction and communication within and with other departments/ stakeholders as well as the design of an organizational structure adequate for achieving the association’s goals and objectives
• Contributes to the strategic leadership of the association as part of the National Management Team and helps to develop the national strategy and business plan
• Prepares long-term financial prognosis and income portfolio analyses to meet the MA long-term strategic objectives
• Coordinates the budgeting process for the whole association, ensures that the association’s budget is in accordance with the national strategic plan and SOS CVI requirements (i.e. planning letter parameters)
• Is responsible for the overall budget control

· Accounting and Internal Control

• Develops and implements an up-to-date documented system of accounting policies, financial procedures and internal control guidelines (in compliance with local regulations and SOS CVI standards) within the entire association
• Keeps abreast of changes in financial regulations and legislation
• Is ultimately responsible for timely and accurate accounting data submission to the Regional/ International Office
• Performs regular controls and supervision on the field

· Financial Analysis and Reporting

• Defines a set of key financial parameters to assess and steer the current and future financial status of the association
• Engages in key figure and cost optimisation analyses and in benchmarking studies to establish areas of potential operational improvement in the association
• Provides accurate financial information and reports to specific deadlines as requested by different stakeholders (i.e. ND, OIR, CVI Representative, Finance Advisors)
• Ensures that reports related to projects are submitted in due time (e.g. construction projects, projects financed by public grants etc.) and following existing SOS CVI standards and/or special donor requirements

· Funds and Risk Management

• Monitors and analyses MA’s liquidity status (predicting future trends, checking plausibility of forecasted local income and proper reflection of public grants, exchange rate development etc.)
• Ensures that sufficient funds are available to meet on-going operational and investment requirements and informs the National Director in a timely manner on estimated liquidity shortfall proposing solutions
• Ensures counterbalanced income portfolio as well as efficient bank account structure/ conditions of the MA
• Develops and monitors risk management policies and procedures to ensure that programme and organisational risks are minimised

· External Audit

• Ensures the timely submission and is ultimately responsible for the quality and completeness of the consolidated Annual Financial Statements of the Member Association (embedded in an entire audit package according to both, national and SOS CVI standards)
• In case of qualified audit: approves Audit Progress Report (compiled by Chief Accountant) and is ultimately responsible for proper audit recommendations’ follow-up

POSITION REQUIREMENTS:

• Minimum of Bachelor degree in Finance/Audit or any relevant degree in relation with the position and least 5 to 10 years of experience in a similar position
• Experience in managing teams in a fast-paced and multicultural environment
• A good command of oral and written english
• Knowledge of regional financial best practices in implementing budget rules and managing a team of professionals and/or specialist is an added advantage.
• Experience working with budgets and donor projects
• Ability to give advice and direction at a national level
• Virtual management skills and knowledge of collaboration tools
• Good analytical and organisational skills
• In-depth knowledge of Excel as well as good knowledge of Word and Outlook
• Knowledge and experience in project and process management is an asset
• Ability to work flexibly in virtual settings
• Ability to work in a cross cultural environment

CHILD SAFEGUARDING

The Post holder may be required to be in regular contact with children or have access to children and/or young people. As part of these responsibilities, you will support the child safeguarding systems in an effort to promote a culture of keeping children safe. Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

Closing date for submission of applications is 12 th September 2024 at 05 PM GMT. Only the successful candidates will be contacted. Applications shall be reviewed on a rolling basis. There is the likelihood for the role to close before the closing. We encourage candidates to apply early. 

What We Stand For:
SOS Children’s Villages is committed to creating and maintaining a caring and protective environment, which promotes its core values, and prevents and addresses child abuse and exploitation. We strongly condemn all forms of child abuse and exploitation, be it within or outside
of our organisation, and always respond to any case of proven, alleged or attempted abuse within our sphere of influence according to its nature. Efforts ensure that mechanisms are in place to raise awareness, aid prevention, encourage reporting and ease response. They range from human resource development actions such as training and counselling to measures such as suspension, dismissal, and legal action.
The successful candidate will be subject to intensive background checks, including criminal records.