Lead Accountant

at Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI)
Location Kampala, Uganda
Date Posted March 10, 2023
Category Accounting
Audit
Finance
Management
NGO
Job Type Contract
Currency UGX

Description

Overview

The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries, while strengthening the capabilities of governments and the private sector in those countries to create and sustain high-quality health systems that can succeed without our assistance. For more information, please visit: http://www.clintonhealthaccess.org.

 

CHAI is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and is committed to providing an environment of fairness, and mutual respect where all applicants have access to equal employment opportunities. CHAI values diversity and inclusion, and recognizes that our mission is best advanced by the leadership and contributions of people with diverse experience, backgrounds, and culture.

 

Under the supervision of the Associate Director, Finance and Operations, the Lead Accountant will provide professional accounting, financial, compliance, payroll and treasury support to the CHAI Uganda’s office while working closely with staff across all levels of the organization, including CHAI's Boston-based finance team.

 

The Lead Accountant will be based in Kampala and will supervise a Finance Coordinator, building their capacity and ensuring smooth running of accounting. Because of the fluid nature of our work, specific responsibilities may change over time and these responsibilities listed here should not be construed as being comprehensive but rather indicative of what is expected.

Responsibilities

Accounting, Reporting, and Internal Controls

  • Manage financial month end closing and year end processes including ensuring timely submissions to Boston’s finance and government regulatory agencies
  • Enhance implementation of internal accounting and control procedures.
  • Review and maintain the integrity of all monthly balance sheet reconciliations conducted by the Finance Coordinator for accuracy
  • Supervises the Finance Coordinator in making sure all financial entries in QuickBooks have followed the application of GAAP and any prevalent CHAI standards in reporting financial data
  • Supervises the Finance Coordinator in making sure there is an implementation of a safe, robust, and easily retrievable financial documentation and filing system for both hard and soft copies
  • Perform quarterly reconciliation between the GL and the asset registers to ensure information recorded on the GL matches what is reported in the register. In addition, carry out physical verification as per CHAI policy.
  • Review remittances of all applicable taxes in accordance with legal requirements in the country
  • Contribute to the improvement of financial systems and processes in the Country Office (CO), recommending changes to provide timely and appropriate financial information to budget owners and donors
  • Coordinate and liaise with Boston’s Accounting team on financial reports and follow up on supplemental information as required

Payroll management

  • Review payrolls and validate employee’s payroll and benefits (Pension, Severances, Tax, Insurance
  • Working in collaboration with HR, conduct a monthly payroll reconciliation to ascertain that payroll registers reconciles with the financial entries as per General Ledger (GL) distributed
  • Monthly checks to confirm if all remittances were submitted to all relevant tax authority by the due dates without any errors
  • Monthly reconciliation between the General Ledger and timesheets for grants with timesheets requirements

Treasury         

  • Manage the country treasury function (cash, bank, receivables, and payables) and ensure adequate resources are available for both administrative and programmatic spending
  • Manage local payments & process wire requests to Boston
  • Manages monthly cash forecasting and cash requests from Boston treasury team
  • Liaise and communicate with Boston finance team to ensure good flow of information, including raising awareness on areas of risk or concern

Compliance & audit

  • Support development and implementation of policies, systems, and procedures to ensure quality financial, transparency, and adoption of best practices
  • Conduct quarterly spot checks to ensure internal control are being adhered to.
  • Prepare and coordinate annual statutory audit, donor specific audits/assessments and CHAI internal audits
  • Ensure follow-up with audit observations and maintain an up-to-date remediation log (corrective action plan log)

Qualifications

  • First degree, preferably in Accounting, Finance, or other related field; Master of Business Administration (MBA) is an advantage
  • Minimum of 5 years work experience in finance and/or related field
  • Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, and advanced financial analysis and modeling skills
  • Sound commercial acumen, analytical with the ability to interpret data/statistics

 

Added Advantages

  • ACCA/CPA qualification
  • Experience working in an audit firm
  • Knowledge of Quick Books
  • Experience with grant management and working for an International Not-for-Profit Organization

 

Personal Qualities

  • Highest standards of ethics and integrity
  • Ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously, set priorities and work with a busy team
  • Ability to work collaboratively with diverse finance and non-finance teams
  • Flexible, resilient and ability to work in stressful situations
  • Ability to work independently while contributing to the overarching team goals
  • Ability to produce excellent work with urgency
  • Good interpersonal and communication skills (written and oral)
  • Ability to pro-actively identify problem areas
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