General

War Child Holland (WCH) is an independent and impartial international non-governmental organization, investing in a peaceful future for children and young people affected by armed conflict. We strive to empower children and young people while enabling adults to bring about positive and lasting change in the lives of conflict affected children and young people.

Objective of the Job

Finance and Compliance Officer will support all aspects of financial, partnership and compliance management of the War Child Holland Uganda country office. S/he will work collaboratively with field and country office teams to ensure compliance with WCH internal policies and procedures as well as donor and statutory regulations. Under the direction of the Finance Manager, S/he will be responsible for financial and compliance functions including; perform and report on internal controls, financial monitoring and capacity building, budgeting, Donor reporting, partner financial management and support the Program Department. This position will provide timely reports and assistance to the Finance, Operations and the Program teams to ensure that financial resources are used efficiently and effectively.

Position in the organisation and essential functional relations

The senior Finance & Compliance Officer reports to the Finance Manager.

Other essential working relations include; Regional financial advisor, senior finance Officer, country accountant and finance assistant.

Roles and responsibilities

Control and Compliance (30%)

1. Responsible for ensuring full compliance with donor requirements and WCH policies and for providing management with all financial and compliance administrative aspects of projects while adhering to local laws and regulations.

1. Support the FM Plan, perform and report on internal verifications to ensure that financial control, financial guidelines of donor requirements and other control procedures are in place and properly implemented and managed in the organization.

1. Performing procedures to identify occurrence of financial errors (poor/lack of proper supporting documents, miscoding, non-compliance with WCH’s delegation authority, procurement threshold, incurring excess expenditure without prior approval, non-compliance with donor requirements) or fraud (theft, bribery, forgery, misuse of assets, etc.) and bringing any findings to the attention of the FM and the senior management (CD, PM & OM).

1. Review thoroughly all financial documents of projects funded by major donors and ensure the expenditure incurred fully comply with donor requirements before any donor audit takes place.

1. Ensure compliance with all tax liabilities.Donor Grant Management & Financial Reporting (30%)

1. Assist the FM with the management of donor funds and timely production of donor reports, internal quarterly and annual financial reports.

1. Assist budget holders with preparation of donor and organizational budgets; ensure compliance with donor regulations.

1. Assist the FM in the process of obtaining explanations of variances between budget and actual spending, income etc.

1. Coordinate with the relevant programme staff and ensure monthly review of BvAs and incorporate feedbackPartnership and Engagement (30%)

1. Review financial reports and transactions provided by the partner on a timely basis, and provide feedback to partners (as required) and keep PM and FM, RFA informed

1. Support and maintaining proactive links with partners to ensure compliance Donor requirements, WCH policies and national laws.

1. Provide support, supervision and oversight function of partners compliance to ensure that the overall project implementation complies with donor and WCH regulations and policies;

1. Work closely with the implementing partner finance/Grants team to ensure compliance by providing trainings and regular technical assistances and assist with budgetary and finance needs.

1. Participate in the assessment of the financial management capacity of WCH’s partners, identifying capacity gaps on annual basis, recommend actions to address the gaps and make follow ups with relevant staff for timely implementation.

1. Review partners’ external audit reports and following up any issues raised in the audit reports.

1. Make recommendations to the FM and Management on the performance of WCH’s partners with special focus on the key areas that require management attention for immediate improvement (findings rated as high risk).

1. Assess the finance skills of both finance and key non-finance staff of partner organizations by using the partner assessment tool and other relevant tools.

1. Preparation of monthly cash flow and ensuring adequate monetary levels of partners.Capacity Building (10%)

1. Support the FM train and develop the capacity of WCH’s finance teams to ensure that a good standard of financial management is maintained

1. Under take financial training of budget-holders, to assist them in enforcing financial controls & making decisions based on financial reports.

1. Other financial duties and general systems support

1. Support training of staff in procurement, budget management and systems policies and procedures as appropriateOther

1. Adhere to the standards of conduct outlined in Code of Conduct (CoC) with Associated Policies; the Child Safeguarding Policy and the Anti-Trafficking Policy.

1. Support and promote the standards outlined in the WCH and donor Code of Conduct and related policies to the team.

1. Undertake other related duties as may reasonably be assigned by the PM, FM, RFA and Country Director. 

    

    

   Qualifications, Experiences & Skills;

    

   Required skills & Qualifications

   ESSENTIAL

   Education, Qualifications & Experience Required:

                Qualified Accountant (CA/CMA/ACCA/CPA degree) or Master’s degree in finance 3-5 years’ experience in a similar position, ideally in a lead agency consortium

                Experience of working on projects funded by major international donors, particularly ECHO, EU and DFID.

                Experience in developing staff technical and management capacities

                Experience in managing finance/compliance for complex grants in sensitive settings.

                Fluent in English

                Familiarity with broader systems development including procurement, logistics, HR and IT.

                Experience of working/living in insecure and sensitive environments

                Ability to work under pressure to meet tight deadlines

    

   DESIRABLE

                Ability to build productive working relationships within a multicultural and multidisciplinary team

                Positive attitude of "can-do", solution-oriented.

                Ability to cope with stress, to work under pressure in often strict deadlines.

                Ability to work on own initiative and in team

                Excellent knowledge of Microsoft Office.

                Experience of a flexible approach to managing and prioritising a high workload and multiple tasks in a fast-paced environment with tight deadlines.

                Experience of proactively identifying and addressing issues

                Ability to work with a high degree of professionalism.