Vacancy title:
Head of Finance

Jobs at:
The Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA)

Deadline of this Job:
5:00pm Wednesday 22nd March 2017.

Duty Station:
Kampala, Uganda

Job details:
The Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) is a sub-regional not-for-profit association. it was established in 1994 by 11 member countries represented by their national agricultural research for development institutes. The 11 member countries are: Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

ASARECA is seeking to recruit a qualified Ugandan with high integrity, dedication, and commitment to fill the position of Head of Finance.

Position: Head of Finance
Reports to: The Executive Secretary

Duties and responsibilities budgeting

• Develop, analyze and monitor program budgets; monitor and track obligations and expenditures against budgets
• Undertake budget preparation, management and consolidation including the development and review of relevant standard costs for ASARECA.
• Consolidate the ASARECA annual budget and present through the ES to the BoD for approval
• Monitor and review budgets and advise management as appropriate.
• Prepare quarterly "budget performance reports.
• Assist in the development of the financial strategic plan of ASARECA.

Financial Management

• Manage the smooth running of the financial accounting system.
• Ensure compliance of financial systems with ASARECA policies and procedures, donor rules and regulation and the Government of Uganda laws
• Ensure that the policies and procedures of financial management are consistently applied.
• Maintain proper books of accounts to record expenditure, revenue, assets and liabilities in line with the ASARECA accounting Policies and international Accounting Standards
• Approve all financial transactions of ASARECA and accountabilities of sub- recipients.
• Manage the Banking systems i.e. opening, closure and smooth operation of bank accounts.
• Supervise the finance team in reviewing cash receipts and disbursement transactions such as but not limited to travel, advances and liquidations of sub-grantee expenses, and vendor transactions — ensuring adequacy of supporting documents and appropriate cost accounting allocations.
• Work with the relevant Programs/themes, units, etc. on integrated management of all project finances to ensure effective use of resources in order to achieve program objectives in compliance with all donor requirements.
• Review monthly Financial Reports from field programs for completeness and accuracy; ensure appropriate budget approvals, and submit to the Executive Secretary.
• Provide technical support to ensure effective income tracking including cash flow, pre-financing, timely and accurate payment requests and tracking outstanding amounts due from donors Sub-grantee Management
• Coordinate audit reviews of partner institutions.
• Support financial management of sub-grants including processing advances/liquidations, monitoring/compliance visits and close-out procedures.
• Provide technical assistance to partners on financial compliance and reporting
• Provide technical assistance to sub grantees in the area of financial management and sub contract compliance.
• Coordinate with other programs/theme leaders for training/mentoring of sub grantees.

Reporting.

• Guide and prepare periodic financial reports that show an accurate financial position and performance of ASAHECA
•  Advise senior leadership regularly on financial matters
• Lead the preparation of the ASARECA annual financial report through the ES to the Board of Directors, Development Partners and General Assembly
• Attend Board of Directors’ meetings to report on ASARECA’s financial performance.
• Serve the Finance Committee of the BoD as Secretary and ex-officio member.

Job specifications Qualifications
- Masters / MBA in Finance/Accounting with a professional qualification (ACCA, CPA, CIMA)

Experience

• At least B years relevant experience at senior managerial level working in a donor funded NGO particularly those addressing agriculture and those applying partnership approaches is desirable
• Knowledge of applicable donor rules and regulations such as for USAID, World Bank, DFID, EU, Sida
• Experience in setting up and managing donor compliance monitoring systems. developing and implementing relevant tools
• Proven knowledge of computerized accounting systems software packages, preferably Sun Accounting System
•  Experience of training and transferring skills to other staff members (workshop and one-to—one coaching)

Personal skills and attributes

• High integrity
• Strong financial management skills including proposal budgeting, income tracking, budget monitoring and financial reporting
• Excellent interpersonal, management and team development experience;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Strong leadership skills and demonstrated ability to enforce accountability
• Keen attention to detail and demonstrated ability in financial risk management
•  Proven ability both to solve complex accounting problems and communicate effectively on these with non-specialist staff

Job application procedure
Aspiring candidates should send their application in confidence to the address below by 5:00pm Wednesday 22nd March 2017. Please indicate the job title on the subject line and send (by post or email) your application letter and curriculum vitae (as one PDF document) containing details of your qualifications, experience, present position, current and expected remuneration as well as copies of professional/ academic certificates (as one PDF document). Include day and evening telephone numbers, e-mail address, names. addresses and telephone numbers of three references to:

Head of Human Resources and Administration
ASAHECA
Plot 5 Mpigi Road,
P0 Box 765 Entebbe, Uganda,
E-mail: hr@asareca.org 

For more details about ASARECA and a detailed job description, visit www.asareca.org.  ASARECA is committed to the ethics of equality; gender equality, diversity, inclusion and non-discrimination in all its recruitments.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.