Programme Accountant

Finance & Economy

Overview

Ensure adherence to financial policies and provide governance support.

You have:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting or bachelor’s degree in a relevant field such as Accounting and Finance.
• At least 3-5 years of experience in Accounting, Finance and Administration, preferably in an INGO or humanitarian setting.
• Strong knowledge in accounting, finance, administration and practices.
• Excellent organizational and multitasking skills with attention to detail.
• Have strong computer literacy skills in word, excel, internet/email and accountancy packages like Aggresso/ UNIT 4 and Quickbooks.
• Ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines.
• Spoken fluency and written proficiency in English.
• Proficient in spoken Krio.
• Commitment to Trócaire’s Vision, Mission and Values and sympathetic understanding of the Catholic Church’s role in relief and development.
• Demonstrates an active commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment.
• Self-motivated with proven ability to take initiative and learn on-the-job.
• Willingness to travel frequently and stay in rural areas in country.

Description

Key Objectives:

1. Ensure that implementing partners adhere to the Trocaire's financial policies, donor requirements, and local regulations by regularly reviewing financial reports, conducting audits, and providing financial capacity-building support.
2. Collaborate with program teams and implementing partners to prepare, monitor, and manage project budgets, ensuring funds are transferred, allocated efficiently and spent according to project objectives and donor grant expectations.
3. Identify financial risks related to implementing partners, propose mitigation strategies, and establish robust systems to enhance transparency, accountability, and value for money in project delivery.

Key duties and responsibilities:

Finance and Governance in Partner Organisations with the direction and supervision of Line Manager:

• Lead on reviewing partner financial reports alongside programme team members and ensure that Trócaire and donor requirements are being met.
• Lead on reviewing the partner BVA and budget with the partner on a quarterly basis. Revise forecasts and make adjustments as per need.
• Review Trócaire records ensuring that partner financial reporting is up to date and properly maintained, in accordance with Trócaire and donor requirements.
• Lead an ongoing process to appraise partner organisations financial controls and systems in line with the Trócaire partner governance and finance manual. This will include field visits, desk audits and other methods as appropriate. Ensure recommendations are implemented in agreement with the partner.
• Provide support to the finance and accounts departments of partner organisations to enable them to produce and submit accurate expenditure reports. Support will include design of accounting and reporting systems, design of spreadsheets, training and on-going financial guidance.
• Lead on raising partner payments, ensure the monies are in line with the partner MOUs, partners are paid the correct currency, and the payment liabilities exist on the financial accounting software.
• Work with the wider Trócaire team to provide tailored and phased financial capacity building support to each of the needs of the partner.
• Participate in all programme team meetings to ensure a full understanding of all programme work and any financial implications arising.
• Ensure a monthly, quarterly and annual partner capacity building assessment report is submitted to the country Head of Programme, Head of Finance and Administration and the International Accountant.
• Participate in delivering training to partners on compliance with donors’ financial requirements.
• In the event of a major issue in relation to financial management at partner level, especially in the management of donor funds, the programme accountant may be required to be deployed to a partner organisation to ensure that financial management and reporting are carried out in accordance with Trócaire and donor requirements.
• With the direction of the Head of Finance and Administration Vet and assess potential new partner financial systems and processes.

Financial Control and Reporting with the direction and supervision of Line Manager:

• Lead in the development of quarterly donor reports for all partners and country office finances. Ensure that donor reporting meets all donor financial reporting requirements.
• Lead in project audit preparations in collaboration with partners and external auditors.
• To ensure that the programme team’s finance activities meet the financial reporting requirements and deadlines as specified by the Head of Finance and Administration.
• Guided by the Head of Finance and Administration, ensure that the relevant Trócaire organisational financial policies and procedures are adhered to and implemented in a standardised manner across all of the country programmes.
• Closely monitor all finance programme activities, keep the country programme manager and the Head of Finance and Administration updated and advised of all situations which have the potential for a negative impact on internal controls or financial management.
• Assist with donor, external and internal control audits as required, and in the implementation of recommendations both internally and with partners.
• Assist with investigations into alleged fraud or irregularities at partner organisations.
• Uploading and saving all partner and donor reports and documentation on the system server, Saleforce and in hard copy form in files.

Budgeting with the direction and supervision of Line Manager:

• Assist the country programme team and other budget holders in conducting the budget process for the assigned portfolio of partners, ensuring that appropriate levels of technical support and guidance is provided to all budget holders during the process of preparing the budget and subsequent reviews and revisions.
• Facilitate and update monthly BvA + Forecast with partner reports for the monthly programme and Finance BvA review meetings.
• Support in the development of IF Template for IF Grants and ICSP Workbook updates
• Review with all programme budget holders monthly reports as available on Agresso/UNIT 4 and facilitate with programme staff follow up of any issues or variances arising.

Internal Systems and Processes:

• Assist and suggest improvement of work processes and increase efficiency within the programme function.
• Assist the Head of Finance and Administration to create partner Agresso/Unit 4 Yearly Code and Partner Liability booking on UNIT 4.
• Bring to the attention of the Head of project (HOP) and the Head of Finance and Administration any issues arising from the programme team use of the global accounting package (Agresso/UNIT4 or Partner Quickbooks).
• Assist in the establishment and maintenance of a donor financial management system in order to ensure efficient & accurate reporting to donors.

Capacity Building and Team Collaboration:

• Provide technical financial advice and expertise to the country programme teams.
• Facilitate and assist the Head of Finance and Administration in providing basic training and guidance to the country program staff for skills improvement in the areas of budget preparation and monitoring, budget revision, reporting, and internal controls.
• Assist in the induction and orientation of country programme staff.
• Support and provide guidance to Local implementing Partner on monitoring the Partner Procurement follow up tracker.

Ad-Hoc responsibilities

• Manage all project Partners related to tradition donors, small grants and other donor Project grants implementations.
• Any other tasks, which may be assigned from time to time by the Head of Finance and Administration commensurate with the general trust of this job description.

Benefits

For the candidate with the required experience and passion for the role, Trócaire offers a competitive package of salary and benefits. Only national candidates are eligible for this role and women are strongly encouraged to apply.

Closing date for application/Deadline: 22rd May 2025

Requirements

Essential Requirements

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting or bachelor’s degree in a relevant field such as: Accounting and Finance.

Experience:

• At least 3-5 years of experience in Accounting, Finance and Administration, preferably in an INGO or humanitarian setting.
• Experience in working with local implementing partners will be an added advantage.

Skills:

• Strong knowledge in accounting, finance, administration and practices.
• Excellent organizational and multitasking skills with attention to detail.
• Have strong computer literacy skills in word, excel, internet/email and accountancy packages like Aggresso/ UNIT 4 and Quickbooks.
• Ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines.
• Spoken fluency and written proficiency in English.
• Proficient in spoken Krio

Qualities:

• Commitment to Trócaire’s Vision, Mission and Values and sympathetic understanding of the Catholic Church’s role in relief and development,
• Demonstrates an active commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment.
• Self-motivated with proven ability to take initiative and learn on-the-job.
• Willingness to travel frequently and stay in rural areas in country.
• Able to work irregular hours on an occasional basis.
• High level of reliability, dynamism, objectivity and integrity.
• Strong value driven in line with Trόcaire.Others:
• Ability and willingness to travel within country and internationally
• Commitment to principles of safeguarding of programme participants
• Commitment to gender equality principles
• Financial integrity, reliability, confidentially, honesty and stewardship of project funds

Knowledge:

• Technical knowledge in the areas of Accounting and Finance procedure and policies, government tax and levies.
• Ability to draft and review budgets and financial repotrs strict compliance in line with Trocaire’s and donor requirements.

Other:

• The job description above is not prescriptive; it simply outlines the key tasks and areas of responsibilities and priorities. These key tasks are subject to change when necessary.
• Cross cultural awareness and sensitivity.

Safeguarding Programme Participants-Children & Adults

Trócaire is committed to safeguarding people within our programmes from exploitation and abuse and has specific policies on this commitment (including a Global Code of Conduct) which outlines the expected behaviour and the responsibility of all staff, consultants and other organisational representatives. More information on Trócaire’s safeguarding policies available here.

Diversity and inclusion

We welcome diverse applicants to join our inclusive workforce.

Trócaire is an equal opportunities employer. We are an organisation that embraces diversity and inclusion. We welcome applicants from diverse backgrounds to bring their experiences and perspectives to Trócaire.

Diversity and Inclusion statement available here

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Potential interview questions

Added 2 days ago - Updated 5 hours ago - Source: trocaire.org