Finance Manager at International Alert

International Alert (Alert) is one of the world’s leading peacebuilding organisations, with over 30 years of experience supporting communities, advising governments, organisations and companies on how to build peace. International Alert works with people directly affected by conflict to build lasting peace. Together, we believe peace is within our power. We focus on solving the root causes of conflict, bringing together people from across divides.

Job Position: Finance Manager

Job Location: Abuja (FCT)

Job Description

1. This post holder will have overall responsibility and line management for finance and administration functions for Alert’s Nigeria programme.
2. The Finance Manager will work under the supervision of the Country Director and will work with closely with programme/project managers/budget holders and implementing partner staff, in line with Alert and donor policies and procedures, and Nigerian law.

Job Responsibilities

1. Manage Alert Nigeria’s financial systems
2. Maintain office accounts in accordance with local legislation, Alert’s finance systems and donor requirements.
3. Prepare and submit all internal and donor finance reports, forecasts and fund requests in a timely, accurate and compliant manner.
4. Ensure that the accounting package (MS D365) is maintained and utilized in an appropriate and effective manner. This will include uploading the monthly accounts and then running the subsequent reports (e.g monthly monitoring budgets)
5. Ensure that all expenses are authorized and efficiently processed, with effective controls and segregation of duties
6. Maintain and update a country operational budget and ensure costs are managed with fair allocations.
7. Be proactive in identifying gaps and surpluses and proposing remedial action including preparing budget realignments.
8. Develop the capacity of the programme and finance teams in field offices to ensure that a high standard of financial management is maintained
9. Organize and participate in monthly expenditure reviews with budget holders
10. Effectively monitor and trace income and expenditure on all commercial contracts, and manage payments of consultants and invoicing of donors.
11. Coordinate and prepare for audits, ensuring all necessary documentation is available
12. Prepare budgets for new proposals, working closely with programme team
13. Ensure adequate controls over cash and bank management are constantly monitored and updated to minimise the risk of fraud and misappropriation
14. Review existing systems on an on-going basis in order to develop and improve internal controls, in compliance with Alert’s policies and procedures.
15. Ensure that sufficient funds are maintained in bank and cash accounts and initiate requests to Head Office for additional funds
16. Assist with investigations into alleged fraud and irregularities
17. Direct line management responsibility of finance staff in Abuja and field offices.
18. Conduct month end reallocations of prepayments and miss-allocation of expenditures.
19. Ensure all tax and statutory payments, registration, reports are made to the relevant agencies in a timely manner
20. Oversee effective grant management by implementing partners in collaboration with project managers
21. Conduct or oversee partner assessments (financial and operational) and provide training and coaching to partner staff as needed
22. Develop and issue partners with sub-contracting and other partnership agreements, ensuring compliance with agreed terms
23. Ensure timely transfer of agreed funds to partners
24. Monitor and review partner financial reports
25. Maintain regular relations with grant partners on issues of finance and administration
26. Support partners in the development of sound finance systems and the management of funds, as required
27. Build the capacity of programme and partner staff in partner financial management
28. Reallocate/liquidate funds in accurate project activities in line with partner reports.
29. Manage daily and strategic IT needs
30. Ensure Alert’s automation system is kept updated and to acceptable standards, modify back-end with improvements from time to time.
31. Additionally, as need arises increase the database of automation, bringing in more workflows for other departments.
32. Ensure the smooth running of Alert Nigeria IT systems; ensure staff have appropriate access and understanding of IT tools
33. Manage computer equipment, office supplies and other project assets (including inventories)
34. Lead on IT system improvements and act as the country office focal point for IT related services, workflows, document archiving etc.
35. Coordinate with London IT department to set up new email address and freeze email address for leavers.
36. Ensure field offices are running at optimal capacity with limited administrative constraints
37. Participate in the management of Alert Nigeria and contribute to organisational development
38. Ensure understanding of programme strategies and activities
39. Participate in the development and implementation of Nigeria Country Strategy and be an active member of the country Senior Management Team
40. Liaise closely with Alert’s London office, especially the Finance team, ensuring streamlined finance management between Nigeria and London, and providing required information in appropriate formats
41. Serve as primary focal point for communication with donor finance staff
42. When delegated, represent Alert Nigeria and participate in workshops
43. Any other reasonable duties which contribute to the smooth running of Alert, as required by the Country Director. Travel requirements
44. This position is based in Abuja, with regular travel to other regions of Nigeria, particularly the north west and north central.

Job Requirements
Essential Requirements:

1. Master’s Degree or equivalent in a relevant subject and Professional Certification
2. Experience: Minimum of 5 years
3. Extensive experience in finance and administrative management for an international NGO project/country office and at a similar level
4. You will also have an entrepreneurial Spirit and an ability to identify practical solutions and make programmatic developments feasible and sustainable.
5. Demonstrable extensive experience in grants management as well as an understanding of major donors including UK government, EU, UN agencies
6. Experience in people management, supervision and support
7. Proven experience and skill with budget preparation and analysis, financial reporting preparation and presentation
8. Strong accounting skills and experience, including management of the general ledger, journal, entries, payroll, payables and balance sheet
9. Excellent communication, networking and inter-personal skills including the ability to communicate effectively (write, speak, and prepare reports) in English. Knowledge of Hausa would be an advantage
10. Considerable experience in working in partnerships with local organisations and building their financial capacities.
11. Excellent computer literacy and knowledge of Microsoft Office applications – Word, Excel, Power point, etc.
12. Ability to prioritise, to work under pressure and to tight deadlines and deliver high-quality outputs, with minimal supervision
13. Personal and professional integrity, flexibility, initiative and a “can-do” attitude and meticulous
14. Attention to detail
15. Willingness to travel to difficult locations

Desirable Requirements:

1. Qualification in Accounting, Banking and Finance, Management; ACA/ACCA/CIMA
2. Experience of using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Systems
3. Understanding of Microsoft Power Suite (i.e. Power automate, Power Apps and Power BI)
4. Experience in managing Microsoft Sharepoint

Talents At Alert:

1. We have introduced Talent Management to our business model as we believe talented people are crucial to the success of our work.
2. We believe all individuals are talented and success comes in matching the right talents to the right roles.
3. For this role, the skills, qualifications and experience listed below are important, but we believe that to be successful in this job you will have a talent for systems thinking and systems management, and in particular for protecting systems from risk.
4. You will have highly developed communication skills and a talent for presenting complex technical (finance and administration) information, tools and concepts in an accessible way, including to non-technical staff.
5. You will have an ability to build the kind of relationships, both internally and externally, that will gain cooperation and constructively ensure compliance.

Application Deadline
25th September, 2023.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their CV and Cover Letter to: nigeria@international-alert.org cc: pnyulaku@international-alert.org using the Job Title as the subject of the mail.

Note

• Interviews and shortlisting will be on rolling basis.
• Females are strongly encouraged to apply
• While applying please state your annual salary expectations.
• The applicants must have a right to work in Nigeria.