The Accountant will support the finance section to accomplish its activities on a timely basis. S/he will undertake projects budgeting and expenditure monitoring in accordance with generally acceptable accounting principles and donor contractual requirements, as guided by the AMBSO Financial policy. S/he will also serve as both the financial management and compliance resource to the projects staff.

Key duties and Responsibilities

Manage study budgets, expenditure monitoring, financial reporting and contractual matters to ensure timely and effective implementation of AMBSO activities.

Budgeting and Accountability:

• Support the annual and other periodic budget preparations for the organization.
• Execute budget management and monitoring
• Lead the process of drawing annual work plans with a focus on budget preparations
• Establish appropriate unit costing by aligning activity budgets to the work plans.
• Develop monthly tracking tools to facilitate checking of donor compliance in respect to budgets utilization and ensure that thresholds are adhered to.
• Reconcile the project finances and grants and ensure that all costs are linked to the grants.
• Monitor budget utilization and communicate any relevant budgetary issues.

Cash disbursements:

• Ensure timely advance of funds to facilitate project implementation as well as safe custody of all cash funds in line with AMBSO’s Financial Policy.
• Review and process day to day financial requests (payments, receivables, accountabilities) in accordance with IFRS/IAS and AMBSO institutional policies.
• Ensure timely receipt of accountabilities for all funds disbursed for field activities and other payments with support documents i.e. receipts, LPOs Vs GRNs, signature sheets etc.
• Assist and/or lead with cash flow management and periodic bank reconciliation and other balance sheet items.
• Ensure that a clear and transparent paper trail is adhered to for all financial transactions, and that all filing and archiving is done in line with the institution and donor requirements.
• Perform month-end-closure of transactions (i.e. posting of entries, allocation of shared expenses, and completion of adjusting entries) with accuracy and complete the supporting documents.
• Perform weekly physical Petty Cash count to ensure that the Excel cash book tallies with electronic cash book.

Financial Reporting:

• Prepare and submit timely and accurate financial reports in accordance with donor reporting requirements.
• Analyze financial reports and provide recommendations to the project/study Coordinators/Investigators on future forecasts and planning.
• Prepare timely and accurate financial reports as required by Management.
• Submit timely financial reports using templates that comply with the donor-requirements.
• Respond to donor financial queries and recommend appropriate actions.
• Support AMBSO in the use of the financial analysis for sound project financial management.
• Support the budget holders in writing sound project narratives in relation to expenditure reports and financial risks.
• Ensure that all apportioned and operational costs are recovered by the end of the financial period.
• Organize and support both internal and external audit exercises.

Grants and Compliance:

• Manage all project audits and also implement all audit recommendations.
•  Ensure adherence to financial controls, donor compliance, processes and procedures.
•  Provide training on financial management & compliance and ensure compliance and audit readiness.

Dealing with Problems:

• Managing a budget that is utilized by staff he/she doesn’t directly supervise.
• Perform supervisory roles for the staff within the section.
• Perform any other duty assigned by the Supervisor.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience

• The prospective candidate should hold a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, Commerce, Business
  administration or equivalent.
• He/she should have a minimum of 3 years’ solid working experience in a similar capacity in institution
  with multiple donors including from the United States Government.
•  Experience in budget negotiations with sponsors is an added advantage.
• Experience in working in a research setting particularly managing contract trial agreements.
• ACCA/CPA certification is a MUST.
• Experience in grants management and donor funding is required.
• Must have proficiency in in use of Microsoft Applications (desired applications inclusive of Excel,
  Power Point and Word and in the use of computerized accounting packages. Specific experience with ERP software; Tally, QuickBooks and Navision software would be an added advantage.
• Good team leadership experience with strong analytical skills.