FINANCE MANAGER (Maternity Cover)

FINANCE MANAGER (Maternity Cover)
TEAM/PROGRAMME: Senior Management Team
GRADE: 2
LOCATION: Prishtine/Pristina
POST TYPE: National
Contract End Date: 30.09.2027.
Child Safeguarding:
Level 3 - the responsibilities of the post may require the post holder to have regular contact with or access to children or young people.
ROLE PURPOSE: As a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT) in Kosova/o, the Finance Manager shares in the overall responsibility for the direction and coordination of the Kosovo National Office (NO). The Finance Manager in his/her capacity is responsible for finance administration, fiscal management and financial reporting, in both emergency and development programming contexts.
SCOPE OF ROLE:
Reports to: Executive Director
Staff directly reporting to this post: Treasury Accountant.
KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:
As a member of the Senior Management Team, contribute to:
• Leadership of the Kosovo National Office;
• Support the development of an organisational culture that reflects our full spectrum mandate values, promotes accountability and high performance, encourages a team culture of learning, creativity and innovation, and frees up our people to deliver outstanding results for children and excellent customer service for our Members and donors.
• Help design and implement a coherent organizational structure that is consistent with agency practices and appropriate to programme needs.
• Help establish, maintain, and improve active and regular working relationships with: host government authorities, partner agencies including humanitarian and development donors, and local and international NGOs.
• Ensure Kosovo National Office accomplishes all Finance Key performance indicators.
• Ensure that all required support is provided promptly, at scale and in line with the rules and principles during emergencies, working closely with the Regional Office.
Planning and Budgeting
• Assist the Executive Director (ED) in the management of the National Office resources and its sub-office including (a) the formulation of country work program, resource allocation and Funding gap analysis (b) providing effective support and guidance to the Senior Management Team and other key program staff during planning and allocation exercises; (c) monitoring implementation of donor agreements and resource utilization. Highlight variances, provide analyses and recommend resolution or reallocation of resources.
• Work along with the Program Implementation, Program Development and Quality and Awards team in developing plans to meet funding and programming needs. This includes diversification of funding resources
• Identify and effectively manage all key risks, especially financial, related to delivering the National Office program. Develop mitigation plans at proposal stage.
• Ensure correct level of budget authority exists within National Office.
• Manage financial aspects of budget development for new proposals.
• Ensure appropriate and adequate emergency finance procedures are detailed in the National Office Emergency Preparedness Plan in order to enable rapid scale up.
• Ensure budget holders understand their responsibilities (e.g., through training).
• Work with the Executive Director and HR to establish equitable staff compensation policies and practices within the approved budget and donor requirements.
Financial Accounting, Reporting, and Control
• Manage the National Office financial systems and provide the SMT and all budget holders a monthly update on the budget variance analysis;
• Ensure that systems are in place for the control of all assets, funds, equipment, property, and facilities; submit timely financial reports to Centre, NO Board Members, Regional Office and donors as required;
• Ensure that effective systems are put in place, and regularly reviewed, to allow adequate financial management and control including:
o Annual accounts and tax statement preparation;
o Accounting and management information systems;
o Cash and cash flow management and control in particular gain/losses on currency exchange;
o Financial procedures during emergency responses, including meeting all relevant responsibilities in the Rules and Principles for Emergency Response;
o Expenditure procedures, especially around procurement;
o Documentation of all controls and procedures;
o Finance training for staff in the field and partners as necessary;
o Availability of funds for sub-offices and the National Office
• Monitor accurate and timely submission of financial reports and attachments to members, donors and government regulatory agencies
• Ensure proper accounting and closing of books upon receipt of completed reports and documents from various sub-offices
• Ensure quarterly effort reporting is prepared with major variances discussed with Regional Office and centre
• Coordinate submission of control reports, respond to findings and recommend resolutions or action plans
• Lead and participate in the development of finance policies and procedures to be able to maintain a well-financially controlled environment in both development and emergency contexts
• Coordinate and assist ED during any internal or external audits
• All transactions entered and reviewed in Agresso and monthly reconciliations completed by Hard close.
• Ensure monthly financial reviews (MFRs) are prepared, reviewed with SMT, and submitted to Regional Office regularly
• Ensure quarterly financial reports are prepared and submitted to NO Board Members.
Cost allocation methodology
• Ensure timely coding;
• Ensure that appropriate reviews of expenditure for coding accuracy are taking place prior to Agresso entry for both the NO and SO.
• Ensure that within the NO there is a clear understanding of which costs should be posted to the shared costs SOF so that it would be shared to the entire (or part of in case of a sub-office specific costs) award portfolio;
• Analyse the shared costs SOF transactions and highlight unusual accounts, projects or values not expected in the pool and correct any incorrect posting;
• Review the costs charged to the shared costs SOF on a weekly basis to ensure that reallocations (if required) can occur on a timely basis, and reduce the burden of cleaning the pool and month end;
• Analyse the shared costs per cost center on a rolling 12 months. This should provide inputs for future budgeting and proposal development;
• Ensure that all awards that have been activated have a SOF budget uploaded in the system;
• Ensure timely and accurate coding (i.e. Partner advances/expenses should be posted at the cost centre of the location where the project is occurring. NOT at the national office. This allows accurate calculation of the shared costs at the affected sub-office.);
• Lead on the analysis of the capacity of the budgets within the awards portfolio to absorb the Cost allocation charges and reporting formats, which will start immediately after the kick off meeting.
• Accountable for appropriate financial modelling in design stage.
• Fair allocation of costs to awards based on the share of resources used by each award.
• Provide more timely management information to Programme leadership, allowing prompt action on underspend or overspend correction, and to donors / auditors.
• More accurate resource estimates when setting up or planning for a new project, based on the availability of effort reporting and cost allocation data.
Treasury Management
Cash and Liquidity Management and FX Management
• Assume accountability for all cash management procedures;
• Make sure timely disbursement of payments for smooth operations and donor relationships;
• Ensure reports of present financial situation and forecasting are submitted;
• Ensure instructing SCI Treasury on FX spot trades needed to control FX balance sheet exposures;
• Accountable for reporting all of the organisation’s FX transactional and balance sheet exposures to Senior Management;
• Accountable for ensuring that the organisation’s comply with SCA FX minimum standards.
Treasury Accounting and FX Risk Management
Accountable for all:
• FX accounting including transactional deals (e.g. fx spots) and revaluation of all non-functional currency balance sheet positions;
• Accounting for investments and loans;
• Accounting for all receipts in various donor currencies;
• Accountable for liaising with SCI Treasury to resolve any outstanding Treasury accounting queries;
• Accountable for managing FX balance sheet positions to minimize revaluation FX exposures;
• Accountable for liaising with SCI Treasury to minimize transactional FX exposures.
Corporate Governance
• Ensure coordination with the SCI Centre to compliance with Treasury Minimum Standards
• Ensure the Treasury function is understood and valued within the business for tangible financial results in the form of cost savings, efficiency gains, yield enhancement and protecting profitability;
• Ensure to review accurate accounting of Treasury transactions and adequate internal controls;
• Implement and manage treasury policies and procedures and ensuring compliance with SCA Treasury minimum standards (and answering any queries related to this);
• Ensure accurate transaction history and audit trail;
• To lead on annual review of local Treasury policies and suggest changes to both SCI Treasury and for approval to local Board.
Staff Management, Mentorship, and Development – Finance
• Ensure appropriate staffing within finance
• Ensure that all staff understand and are able to perform their role in an emergency
• Manage finance team; define expectations, provide leadership and technical support as needed, and evaluate direct reports regularly
• Ensure the recruitment, training, and promotion of staff as appropriate and ensure availability of appropriate professional development opportunities for staff Incorporate staff development strategies and Performance Management Systems into team building process. Establish result-based system and follow up
• Ensure adequate segregation of finance duty within National Office Manage the performance of all staff in the finance work area through:
o Effective use of the Performance Management System including the establishment of clear, measurable objectives, ongoing feedback, periodic reviews and fair and unbiased evaluations;
o Coaching, mentoring and other developmental opportunities;
o Recognition and rewards for outstanding performance;
o Documentation of performance that is less than satisfactory, with appropriate performance improvements/ workplans

Additional
- Comply with Save the Children policies and practice with respect to Child Safeguarding Policy, Code of Conduct, Personal Safety and Security, other relevant policies and procedures.
BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice)
Accountability:
• holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
• holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.
Ambition:
• sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same
• widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
• future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.
Collaboration:
• builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters.
• values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength;
• approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.
Creativity:
• develops and encourages new and innovative solutions;
• willing to take disciplined risks.
Integrity:
• honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity.
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
• Recommended a minimum of 5 years management experience in a corporate or an NGO environment, of which three at a management level within the finance department of a national or international organization;
• Financial / Accountancy University or equivalent degree strongly recommended;
• Membership of Professional Accountancy body (eg CA, ACMA, ACCA) strongly recommended;
• Excellent understanding of business and financial planning including strategic modelling;
• Excellent analytical skills – the ability to analyse complex financial data and design and produce effective management information;
• Excellent experience of budgeting and budget management;
• Excellent understanding of financial systems and procedures;
• Strong business acumen and the ability to contribute to strategic decisions;
• Excellent experience of computerised accounts packages, Excel, PowerPoint and Word;
• Experience of general administration work;
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills;
• Ability to manage a complex and diverse workload and to work to tight deadlines;
• Ability to build a small, proactive team, motivating staff and working collaboratively with colleagues and providing support and advice as necessary;
• Willingness and ability to dramatically change work practices and hours, and work with incoming surge teams, in the event of emergencies;
• A full appreciation of the value of co-operation, both internationally and within a team environment;
• Understanding of Save the Children’s vision and mission and a commitment to its objectives and values;
• Written and verbal fluency in English.
Additional job responsibilities:
The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.
Equal Opportunities:
The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCiK Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and procedures.
Child Safeguarding:
We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.
Health and Safety:
The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCiK Health and Safety policies and procedures.