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Vacancy

Finance Officer

Deadline: Friday, October 7, 2022

Organisation Background

The Science for Africa Foundation (SFA Foundation) is a non-profit, public charity organisation that supports strengthens and promotes science innovation in Africa. The goal of the SFA Foundation is to address the continent’s most pressing developmental needs by generating scientific knowledge that solves problems and informs decision-making.

We serve the African research ecosystem by funding excellent research and innovation ideas; enabling interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers, building and reinforcing environments that are conducive for scientists to thrive and produce quality research that generates new, locally relevant knowledge.

The SFA Foundation takes a holistic approach to the development of science. Our programmatic initiatives are crafted to cater to the entire science ecosystem and span across the value chain from early discovery sciences to translation sciences and target cross-cutting gaps.

Our commitment to strengthening the entire research ecosystem is reflected in the creation of major science and innovation programmes implemented through a well-established grant-making scheme, advocacy and promotion of scientific excellence, emphasis on intra-Africa collaboration and evidence-based policy-making mechanisms.

Position Overview

Position Title

Finance Officer

Department

Finance & Grants

Reporting To

Finance Manager

Position Location

Nairobi, Kenya

The Finance Officer will support the Finance Manager in ensuring effective and efficient utilization of SFA Foundation resources, adherence to statutory compliance, cash management, financial disbursements, and maintenance of ledgers. The incumbent will be responsible for processing financial transactions, processing of payments, staff reimbursements, maintaining all financial records, preparation of monthly financial reports including the review and reconciliation of key accounts as assigned.

Principal Duties & Responsibilities

Cash Management

  • Process and disburse funds to grantees by ensuring funds are available to facilitate smooth implementation of projects as per grantees agreement and payment request memo
  • Timely processing of payments to suppliers and consultants as detailed in the Service Level Agreement. This shall include preparation of payment vouchers, bank transfer instructions and cheques for signature and dispatch, stamping invoices paid and filing
  • Monitor bank balances to ensure timely inter-bank transfers and healthy cashflows are maintained
  • Prepare monthly bank reconciliations every month and prompt resolution of outstanding or reconciling items
  • Maintain accurate and updated records of bank correspondences, bank Instructions and confirmations
  • Maintain custody of the safe, petty cash and cheque books and ensure approved requisitions for staff travel and purchase office supplies are disbursed in time.
  • Serve as an agent of the organization to the bank and negotiate for suitable forex exchange rates with treasury dealers.

Financial Accounting

  • Promote accountability through accurate posting of financial data including invoices, reimbursements and correct coding of expenses in the financial system
  • Ensure financial processes are adhered to for true and fair reporting, including examination of physical documents, conducting accuracy tests
  • Validate data entries related to payments and receipts for compliance and accuracy before approval and posting. Ensure correct coding before posting
  • Taxation – ensuring proper charging of Withholding Tax and Value Added Tax (VAT) and payment of the same on a timely basis to the relevant authorities
  • Payroll processing- Initiate the process of payroll administration, consolidating additions/deductions and submit the payroll changes to HR for verification, the Finance Manager and Head of Finance for approval.

Budgeting & Reporting

  • Participate in the preparation of departmental budgets and monitoring their expenditure to ensure funds are utilized appropriately
  • Run monthly budget analysis reports to review budgets vs actuals, with trends, insights, concerns, and recommendations clearly elaborated as requested
  • Provide technical support on financial reporting matters to the Programme team.

Account Administration

  • Facilitate internal and external audit processes by ensuring all supporting financial information required is available before commencement of the annual audit exercise
  • Maintenance of Fixed Assets Register in the Finance system
  • Participate in committees as assigned in the execution of its duties and mandates and advise the procurement committee on financial matters
  • Perform any other assignment that may be given by the Finance Manager.

Person Specifications

Academic Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree in Finance/Accounting or related field

Professional Qualifications

  • Complete professional qualification in CPA-K/ACCA;

Experience and Knowledge

  • At least 3 years relevant experience in financial and accounting role
  • Experience in an International Not for Profit Organisation an added advantage.Working excel and analytical skills
  • Knowledge of accounting software preferably NetSuite
  • Proficient use of computers especially MS Office.

Key Competencies

  • Excellent Analytical and Numerical Skills: Identifies patterns, similarities, and differences in data/information and evaluates the implication
  • Planning and Organizing: Proactively plans, organizes workload across the team, sets up review mechanisms and monitors progress to ensure that the plan delivers on agreed guidelines
  • Attentive to Details: Thoroughness in accomplishing a task through concern for all the areas involved, no matter how small
  • Teamwork: Works as a supportive team member, recognizes opportunities to grow the team and proactively builds and manages relationships
  • Achieving results: Proactively identifies and exploits opportunities to exceed goals, drives excellence within the team by closely monitoring execution against plans and standards to meet key stakeholder requirements
  • Commitment to continuous improvement: Identifies bottlenecks, anticipates trends and evolving needs and develops solutions/ suggestions and applies improvements
  • Resilience: Remains composed and focused during crisis/challenging period, recovers rapidly from setbacks, and supports team to cope with pressure and change.

 


HOW TO APPLY

Should you meet the above requirements, please submit a cover letter and a current Curriculum Vitae not exceeding 5 pages including three professional referees to [email protected] with the name of the vacancy as the e-mail subject.

The cover letter should be no more than two pages long and explain why you are interested in this post and how your skills and experience make you a good fit. The documents should be saved in MS Word or PDF in the following format: Your First Name-Your Last Name-Document Name-Date (mmyy) e.g., Deus-Wan-CV-092022-SFA Foundation or Deus-Wan-CoverLetter-092022 -SFA Foundation.

All applications should be submitted by Friday, 7th October 2022.