Posted date | 1st August, 2024 | Last date to apply | 9th August, 2024 |
Country | Pakistan | Locations | Islamabad |
Category | Development Sector | ||
Type | Full Time | Position | 1 |
Status | Closed |
CARE International in Pakistan is seeking a dynamic, commercially astute, articulate, technically strong, insightful and influential leader with the ability to operate at both strategic and operational levels to lead its financial and operational management and contribute strategically to its Senior Management Team. The post-holder will lead the development and implementation of comprehensive financial and operational policies and procedures for the organization, directly supervising the Finance and Operations Departments. The successful candidate will have a high degree of technical competence and adaptive management approach to focus on strategic planning, execution, and ensuring that all activities are in compliance with CIP’s financial and operational management policies and procedures, donor rules and regulations, contractual obligations, and Government of Pakistan’s laws and regulations.
Job Summary
S/he will oversee financial management of the organization and monitor cost pools in collaboration with the Program and Program Support teams, to make recommendations to the Country Director, for timely and accurate donor reporting, compliance and risk management. The individual will prepare budgets, annual accounts, manage funds and taxation issues whilst producing financial analysis that can help the Country Director in informed decision making. The position will also advise the Country Director and SMT in balancing the structures and operations against the allocated financial resources. S/he fosters a value-based organizational culture, ensuring that approved internal controls have been implemented and monitored and will exercise conscientious stewardship in all financial matters of CIP.
S/he provides oversight of the day-to-day financial operations at the CO level and is accountable for organizing and providing high level quality financial services to CO programs, projects and units staff. S/He works closely with the Shared Services Center (SSC) and Regional Management Unit (RMU) and CO senior management to ensure appropriate financial support and resources are available. S/He ensures that a strong collaboration is developed and nurtured between Finance, Program and other program support units in the CO for successful implementation of the projects.
S/he provides oversight of day to day operations management to key departments including finance and grants, procurement, Admin and Transport, and IT to ensure timely support is provided to run programs effectively. In addition, s/he will ensure that all operations departments follow CARE and donor policies for compliance.
The Director Program Support (DPS) position has direct reporting line to the Country Director. Dotted line functional reporting is also owed to the Shared Services Centre (i.e. Finance and Accounting ) and Regional Management Unit - RMU (i.e. Regional Business Services Director-Asia).
II. Responsibilities and Tasks
#1:% Job Responsibility of time: 35%
Finance and grants management system strengthening and strategic financial analysis
The Director Program Support is expected to lead risk management and quality assurance of the CO’s financial management system and regularly produce high quality management level analysis to inform timely decision making by the Country Director (and other members of the SMT as relevant). The DPS will proactively drive attention to value for money and guide the SMT to make savings in order to maximise resources to advance CARE’s humanitarian and development mandate. S/he will ensure that the organisation’s financial systems are robust, compliant and support current activities and future growth.
- Develop sound financial management systems in field offices for transparency, compliance and risk management;
- Prepare quarterly management accounts with summary analysis note for CD and rest of the SMT to guide timely decisions;
- Contribute fully to the development of the organisation’s strategy across all areas of the business, challenging assumptions and decision-making as appropriate, and providing reliable financial analysis and guidance on all activities, plans, targets and business drivers;
- Exercise vigilance and lead suspected fraud and loss reporting and related investigations;
- Represent CARE to Government Departments for matters related to finance;
- Effectively manage cash flow and exchange rate gains and losses;
- Ensure document security policy standards are upheld;
- Work with senior teams to grow the business, formulating strategies and plan;
- Take appropriate actions to address all issues noted (e.g. collect receivables; prevent overspending, match funding, etc.);
- Accountable for the overall quality of the CO financial reports and communications of issues to CO management, RMU and SSC;
- Perform quality reviews and analyses of CO books as well as any financial performance reports and provide feedback to CO management to improve financial management. The reviews and analyses include but are not limited to: bank reconciliation; balance sheet; income statement; grants/contracts reports; unrestricted and private contributions reports; actual expenses vs. budget; shared program costs and cost recovery; payroll allocation and timesheets; etc;
- Work closely with the ACDP, Director Humanitarian and Director Business Development, Communication and Advocacy on engagement of new partners for projects;
- Ensure timely due diligence of existing and new partners according to the CARE and donor policies;
- Ensure each partner capacity development plan is developed and implemented with clear timelines and actions taken;
- Ensure timely liquidations of each partner and ensuring no aging report exceeds more than 60 days for partner or staff advances;
- Lead BVA meetings with ACDP and Director Humanitarian on monthly basis and keep CD informed of any under performing projects. Furthermore, work closely with ACDP and provide necessary support to ensure project has 95% spending with clear spending plan;
- Develop KPIs for finance, grants, admin, logistics, procurement and IT department and report to CD against the KPIs on monthly basis;
- Bring operational efficiency to the organization by providing innovative solutions for finance, grants and operations functions;
- Ensure robust system is in place for field offices and support to the field staff in finance, grants and operational areas;
#2 Job Responsibility % of time: 10%
PeopleSoft Operations Management and CO Data Processing - the CO Director Program Support plays a crucial coordination and management role in PeopleSoft operations to ensure the system is functioning properly and is being effectively used by CO staff. S/He provides day-to-day oversight of PeopleSoft operations, and ensures adequate and efficient process flows and controls over accounting functions. S/He ensures financial data are processed in the system accurately, and reported to donors, management and other partners timely.
- PeopleSoft operations, workflows, roles and user management: ensures users are setup in the system and trained appropriately; workflows are developed and implemented adequately; budget holders and other users are trained properly in their roles; ensures policies, procedures, user manuals and other quick reference guides are available to CO staff and disseminated; ensures the maintenance and management of PeopleSoft chart fields (e.g. fund code and project ID requests, activity ID, category ID, etc.) and other tables (vendor files, cost allocation tables, users table, etc.) are performed timely and satisfactorily; investigates any system issues experienced by users, document and escalate to SSC appropriately;
- Accounts Payable, Treasury and Cash functions: Determines CO short and long terms cash needs and coordinates cash requests and approvals, including the submission of cash flow projections; ensures vendors are paid and account receivables are collected timely; ensures staff receive proper training and are effectively using the cash related modules (e.g. Account Payable, Cash Management);
- General Ledger, Accounts Receivable and other modules: Ensures journal entries (e.g. payroll, allocation, etc.) are processed timely and accurately, cash receipts are recorded properly, and all modules (e.g. procurement, asset management, etc.) are used by CO staff adequately;
- Data processing and period closing functions: accountable for ensuring that the period closing processes defined for Business Units (BUs) are performed timely and adequately; accountable for the preparation and submission of complete, reliable and timely financial reports to CO managers and donors, local entities and other partners as relevant; ensures that reports prepared by SSC (e.g. USG awards) are completed and submitted timely; supervises the quality and integrity of financial data and supporting documentation and ensures completeness of data recorded in the system. This includes, but is not limited to the following transactions: a) Accounts Payable vouchers. e.g. cash disbursements, settlement of cash advances; b) General Ledger journal entries. e.g. payroll allocation, adjustments, accruals; c) Cash Management module. e.g. cash transfer processing and dispatching; d) Asset Management entries. e.g. depreciation entries; e) Account Receivables. e.g. donor receipts; f) Budgeting and Forecasting. e.g. budget data created in Adaptive Planning or other budgeting tool;
- Budgeting and Forecasting functions: ensures all budgets (e.g. project proposal, annual operating budgets, etc.) are prepared in Adaptive Planning or budgeting tool in use by the organization; coordinates and supervises the preparation of CO forecasts and future years budgets; leads the preparation of the CO shared program cost (SPC) budgets and implements CARE policy and guidelines related to fair sharing of support costs; supervises the monitoring of actual expenses against budgets and ensure partnership between CO finance staff and budget holders and all managers who make budget decisions in the CO to ensure costs expenses are managed properly within the approved budgets;
#3 Job Responsibility % of time: 25%
Administration, Procurement, Logistics, IT and Fleet Functions
- Ensure that policies & procedures pertaining to general administrative functions of the CO (administration, procurement and transport) are developed and properly implemented, in line with CARE International and donor guidelines;
- Promote innovation and significantly strengthen team performance for efficiency and effectiveness with particular attention to Value for Money and Timeliness of action;
- Analysis of consumption trends, stock levels and other areas to reduce costs;
- Review procurement documents as per CARE policy;
- Implement CARE new supply chain policies and procedures and change management under Procurement transformation project
- Sign Purchase orders, contracts according to the authorization limit ensuring the process is fully compliant with CARE and donor policies;
- Negotiate and manage lease agreements and other major contracts;
- Ensure framework agreements are in place according to the procurement policies;
- Supervise the maintenance and repair of all vehicles, generators (should we procure any), inclusive of monitoring maintenance schedules, fuel usage, registration and insurance;
- Ensure that the fixed asset register is complete, accurate and up to date and that CARE's insurance coverage is adequate;
- Ensure that the CO complies with all C/USA and US government anti-terrorism policies;
- Constantly look for ways to improve all administrative function in terms of efficiency and effectiveness;
- Ensure CO fleet requirements are properly planned and manage effectively as per CARE Fleet management policies
- Supervise all IT processes to ensure that services are delivered efficiently and effectively to clients in all offices of CARE Pakistan. This includes working with the IT Officer to ensure that hardware, software, and channels of communication (verbal and data) are up-to-date and cost effective;
- Develop and implement an IT strategy aligned with CARE Pakistan's overall goals. Ensure that IT systems and infrastructure support current and future needs.
- Seek support from the regional and HQ IT focal points to ensure that IT infrastructure and system is secure and updated.
#4 Job Responsibility % of time: 10%
Staff Management and Development, Talent Management and Capacity Building – the Director Program Support is responsible for finance staff and operations staff and talent management and development as well as capacity building in financial management for finance and non-finance staff in the country office.
- Continuously strengthen team capacity by placing emphasis on uplifting technical performance, innovation and reinforcing demonstration of CARE core values;
- Assess training and development needs of finance and non-finance staff within the CO;
- Identify gaps in skills, develops training materials and provides training in accounting and financial management and Supply chain as needed;
- Participate in the elaboration and leads the implementation of the CO’s Annual Performance Assessment policy and processes to include the preparation and monitoring of Individual Operating Plan (IOPs) for all Program Support Staff
- Ensure compliance with CARE performance management policies and procedures for all Program Support Staff
- Ensure succession plans are developed and implemented for Program Support staff in a way that assures CO staff receive high quality support services at all times;
- Work with the human resources unit as well as SSC and RMU to develop and manage talent in the CO Program Support Unit.
#5 Job Responsibility % of time: 15%
Compliance and Control functions:
- Controllership and Accounting functions: ensures CO compliance with CARE’s accounting policy and procedures and generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP); ensures CO accounting systems and procedures comply with CARE's global policy and procedures; protects the organization assets through internal controls; ensures the CO payroll and other non-PeopleSoft systems provide adequate controls; reviews all leases and other contracts that require current and future use of the organization's assets and make any relevant recommendations to the CD;
- Compliance and Audit support functions: ensures CO compliance with donor rules and regulations; ensures CO preparedness for annual financial and donor audits; facilitates internal and external audits conducted in the CO; assists the CD in preparing CO responses to audit findings as well as planning and implementing audit recommendations;
- Assist the ACDP, Director Humanitarian, Director Business Development, Communication and Advocacy, programme staff and CD in new business development by leading/ensuring the finance department in preparation of high quality and timely budgets and budget notes for project proposal;
- Ensure that CARE’s grants and contracts compliance protocols are consistently satisfied to manage organizational risk. This includes simplifying minimum procedures; instituting forms and checklists for each stage to ensure quality assurance; and training and monitoring staff’s adherence.
#6 Job Responsibility % of time: 02%
General CO oversight and support
- Any other tasks or responsibilities based on organizational and programming need as assigned by Line Manager;
- Visiting field offices regularly and review internal controls to strengthening policies and procedure and managing risks effectively.
- Safety and Security is everyone’s responsibility within CI through full compliance and accountability (as per Principle –ii of the CARE International Safety & Security Principles);
#7 Job Responsibility % of time: 03%
Legal
- Ensure compliance of local laws and regulations;
- Ensure compliance with local taxes and respond any FBR queries
- Prepare finance and other related documents for the renewal of MOU;
IV. Qualifications (Know-How)
Education/Training
Required
- Master’s degree in business administration, Finance or Accounting. or Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance or Business Management or equivalent with additional 3 years of experience;
Desired
- Professional certification like CA, CFA, CPA, ACCA, CIMA
Experience
Required
- At least 10 years of relevant experience in financial and grant management, budgeting, accounting, financial reporting, program support functions, or related roles, preferably in the humanitarian or development sector, out of which at least 3 years should be spent in senior manager roles managing similar functions.
- Five (5) years in the same capacity and/or as Finance Controller or Finance Manager in country office environment;
- Thorough knowledge of financial and accounting practices and procedures.
- Demonstrated track record in developing robust financial management systems in multiple risk environments where CARE Pakistan works.
- Demonstrated experience of managing annual audits through external audit firms;
- Experience in managing diverse teams.
- Demonstrated experience of managing local partners and due diligence;
- Demonstrated experience of managing $ 5 to 8 million per annum budget for a country office.
Desired
- I/NGO working experience.
- Demonstrated experience of managing people soft will be preferred.
Technical Skills
Required
- A thorough understanding of financial accounting, reporting and grants and contract management processes;
- Contemporary knowledge of GoP financial and tax regulations and all related statutory compliance requirements pertaining to INGOs;
- Experienced in preparation for project and organizational audits, management response and corrective action.
- Experience in setting up internal controls to manage risks effectively.
- Skills in cost analysis and cost control to ensure efficient allocation and utilization of financial resources.
- Skills in identifying, assessing, and mitigating financial risks.
- Applied knowledge of key donor regulations and compliance requirements (e.g. USAID, FCDO, ECHO, EU, DFAT, GAC, UN agencies etc.);
- Experienced in preparing high quality management accounts and analysis;
- Organizational level and project level budgeting and budget monitoring experience;
- Financial management system development experience;
- Strong IT skills and knowledge of diverse and latest technologies and financial software systems;
- Strong team management skills to sustain high performance;
- Good coaching, mentoring, training facilitation, and team building skills;
- Superior attention to detail; high quality written documentation;
- Proficient in written and spoken English and Urdu.
- Ability to quickly learn new systems, processes and procedures and adapt local practices to global standards
Competencies
Required
- Aligned to CARE’s Core Values: Transformation; Integrity; Diversity; Equality; Excellence.
- Demonstrated commitment to Gender and Diversity;
- Professional representation skills;
- Ability to handle high levels of pressure and perform critical decision-making;
- High integrity and openness combined with commitment to good governance;
- Highly motivated, with an enquiring mind and passion for excellence and innovation in pursuit of business growth and success;
- Effective interpersonal, written and oral communications skills;
- Excellent analytical and problem solving skills;
- Customer focused while handling multiple priorities.
Desired
- Adaptability;
- Building Partnerships;
- Communicating with Impact;
- Facilitating Change;
- Excellent leadership, coaching and negotiation skills.
V. Freedom to Act / Impact
CONTRIBUTORY (provides support and contributes to the overall success)
General Accountability
- Prepares financial reports; identifies problems or issues that play adversely against CO performance in financial management and recommends appropriate solutions to the CD (and SSC and RMU as appropriate).
- Interprets accounting, financial management, grant and contract polices & procedures.
Financial Accountability
This role is a position of trust. It is expected that the Director Program Support demonstrates high levels of integrity, fairness and transparency. The Director Program Support has the authority to sign commitments and/or expenses (e.g. purchase orders, petty cash vouchers, travel/cash advances and expense reports) based on the CO policy and authorized signatory list.
VI. Contacts/Key Relationships
The position reports to the Country Director (see organizational chart) and has dotted lines to RMU. The position also interacts with Atlanta Headquarters, auditors, partners and institutional donors.
VII. Living Conditions
Position is based in Islamabad with 30% travel to field areas (CARE’s field offices and partner offices and field sites) and occasionally overseas.
CARE participates in the Inter-Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this Scheme, we hereby request information from the candidate’s previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the candidate left employment. All offers of employment are subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms his/her understanding of these recruitment procedures.
Note: Individuals can apply using Brightspyre or send their resumes directly to [email protected] clearly mentioning the position title in the subject line of the email, before the stated deadline. Please share your current as well as salary expectations along with the CV.