United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Programme Finance Adviser

Contract Type: Permanent

Report to: Senior Programme Finance Adviser

Working with:

All staff in UK finance

Country Finance Managers
Country Directors

UK programme team

War Child International offices

Responsible for: Indirect support and capacity building to local Finance Managers and Country Directors

Location: London, UK with travel to War Child’s country programme locations (approx. 25%)

Overview:

War Child works with children who, as a result of conflict, live with a combination of poverty, exclusion and insecurity. These children might include street children, child headed households, children conscripted into armed groups, and children who have been put in prison. Our mission is to support and improve the care and protection of children and young people who live with a combination of insecurity, poverty and exclusion in some of the worse conflict-affected places. We look forward to a world in which the lives of children are no longer torn apart by war. This is a vision that can only be realised through the collective actions of children themselves, communities and their leaders, organisations like War Child, governments and key decision makers.

War Child’s strategic plan anticipates significant growth in the number of children we support and the funding we need to make that happen. The Programme Finance Adviser is essential to support that growth and to help War Child operate more efficiently. We currently work in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Jordan in response to the Syria crisis.

The UK finance team comprises the Head of Finance, one UK Finance Adviser and one UK Finance Assistant; and the international team includes one Senior Programme Finance Adviser and two Programme Finance Advisers. Of the two Programme Finance Advisers: one supports the Asia/Middle East portfolio in Iraq, Afghanistan and Jordan, and this role will support the Africa portfolio in Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo. The role holder will need to be flexible to meet the demands of the organisation as they arise.

Purpose of Post:

The role acts as the financial business partner for the Africa country teams, and provides technical support in accounting, compliance, reporting and proposal development. The role works closely with the finance and programme teams and is key in embedding and enhancing quality during a period of exceptional growth and continuous improvement in War Child.

The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate good use of initiative and encourage a culture of innovation.

A) Job Specification: Task and responsibilites:

Budgeting and Financial Reporting

· Support to Programmes Directorate and overseas Country Directors and Finance Managers in the preparation and presentation of multi-currency budgets, forecasts and cash-flows.

· Support Country Directors and Finance Managers in the preparation of annual country budget planning and quarterly reforecasting.

· Set up and ongoing review of country budget-variance-analysis reports.

· Review restricted income and expenditure against programme implementation and follow up with Programmes Directorate and country programmes to ensure timely spend in line with donor regulations.

· Analysis and follow up of monthly financial reporting packs from country offices, including review of balance sheet reconciliations, restricted & unrestricted expenditure, foreign exchange and intercompany transactions.

· Review country cash requests for accuracy and completeness, and recommend appropriate payment plans to the Head of Finance to enable timely and efficient implementation of War Child’s country plans.

· Manage the allocation of time and cost to programmes and activities supported by restricted funds, promoting full cost recovery across the organisation.

· Co-ordinate the production of the financial elements of donor reports with the relevant managers.

· Provide technical support & troubleshooting to country finance teams with War Child’s finance system.

· Ensure accounts are accurate, meaningful (according to donor requirements and relevant to Programmes) and prepared on a timely basis.

· Coordinate action plans following internal and external audits, ensuring the recommendations are adopted and improvements documented.

Capacity Building

· Where requested, carry out field visits to country programmes in order to perform finance capacity assessments of both the War Child finance function in country, and that of any partner organisations with whom we work.

· Provide ongoing technical support and coaching to country Finance Managers and Country Directors and the wider Programmes team as regards accounting and financial matters.

· Support the Country Directors in their evaluations and ongoing development of the in-country finance teams.

Other

· Support the Head of Finance in preparation for and responding to the annual statutory financial audit for the consolidated group.

· Support the Senior Programme Finance Adviser in providing adequate finance inductions to any new member of the programmes team (UK based and international) to enable them to carry out all financial management elements of their role.

· Perform other duties as required from time to time by the Senior Programme Finance Adviser in order to support delivery of the wider organisational strategy.

B) Person specification – Essential Criteria:

War Child’s office is a lively and fast-paced environment made up of a growing team of extremely dedicated staff & volunteers. We’re looking for someone who can fit in well and bring their personality, creativity and professionalism to our finance team and the wider charity.

Experience and mandatory criteria:

· Minimum 3 years’ financial management experience in an NGO organisation

· Experienced in multi-currency accounting and reporting

· CCAB qualification or equivalent (part qualified will be considered)

· Experience of grant management and working with donor institutions

· Fluency in English

· Ability to communicate in French

· Right to work in the UK

Technical Skills/Expertise:

· Experienced in financial capacity building

· Proven financial analysis and forecasting ability with high attention to detail

· Familiar with a range of computerised accounts packages and a highly experienced and competent user of MS Excel and other MS Office packages

Competencies (Soft Skills):

· A results oriented and problem solving approach to work and challenges

· Excellent communication and interpersonal skills to deal with a variety of internal and external stakeholders and the ability to build effective working relationships, particularly in multi-cultural environments

· Good organisational skills with the ability to plan ahead, to work well under pressure and manage priorities to meet deadlines in a changing and challenging environment whilst making effective decisions

· Flexibility to change and create for continuous improvement and to contribute towards a culture of innovation along with knowledge impact

· Ability to collaborate and form effective partnerships with internal and external stakeholders

· Commitment to War Child’s aims, values and mission

Desirable Criteria:

· Working knowledge of current charity accounting requirements and practice

· Experience of working with donor institutions such as DfID, UNICEF, EU and major trusts such as Comic Relief

· Experience of working with PS Financials accounts package

C) Contract Terms

Working Hours: Full time (37.5 hours per week)

Probation: 6 months

Start date: As soon as possible

Location: London, UK, with travel to War Child’s country programme locations (approx. 25%)

Salary: £39,375 per annum

Leave: 28 days pa pro-rata, increasing by one day for each year’s service up to a maximum of 5 additional days

Pension: Matching contribution to your private pension up to 5% of gross salary

Other: As defined in standard War Child contract terms

· Download and complete War Child Application Form from https://www.warchild.org.uk/who-we-are/jobs/programme-finance-adviser-africa All applications must recruitment@warchild.org.uk or the War Child office by 11:59pm on Sunday 5 February 2017. Please note CVs will not be accepted. get