Location: North East, Nigeria Project Overview and Role
The Finance and Administration Officer is responsible for the day to day running of the office which includes management of the office resources and coordination of all logistical needs, ensuring timely payment of all invoices and expenses for the ECP programme and also responsible for the remittance of all statutory payments at the state level related to both vendors, service providers, staff and consultants.
The SFAO will directly manage all office support staff and drivers and will work closely with all state team members to ensure the effective delivery of the programme.
Where required the SFAO will provide support to both Regional Team Leader (RTL) and the State Partnership Facilitator (SPF) to ensure programme activities and financial duties are completed in a compliant and timely manner.
The SFAO will work closely with the National Finance Manager (NFM) and the National Administration Manager (NAM) to ensure the effective oversight of the programme finances.
Authority levels
Reporting requirements:
The State Finance and Administration Officer reports to the Regional Team Leader
Line Management:
Line management of driver, office assistants and any administrative intern/corper. This includes conducting staff performance management, including mentoring, staff development, approval of timesheets, appraisal, arbitration, and enforcement of discipline.
Provide adequate training and mentoring to any junior staff member in basic office administration management to be able to cover (whether individually or collectively) for the SFAO when on leave/out of post ? scope and/or share of duties and responsibility to be defined through written agreement with the RTL.
Signatory authority:
This position has no signatory authority but will be required to work closely with other team members who do have signatory authority and provide them sound recommendations.
They will also work as part of the team to ensure that the variance of spend against forecast remains below 2% on a monthly basis, this is achieved by good communication of spend and anticipated spend against forecast to the Finance Officer.
The State Finance and Admin Officer is required to inform their line manager if there are any breaks in compliance with financial processes as set out in the programme operations manual.
Relationships
Teamwork & Mentoring:
Familiarise yourself with the ToR of your team leader and all your team members as well as key programme management frameworks: technical, financial and administrative policies and guidelines.
Establish a good working relationship with the Regional Team Leader, SPF.
Establish working relationships with counterparts in PERL pillars 1 and 3 if relevant
Mentor other colleagues and contractors (within and outside of PERL, and across states) ? direct provision of guidance and support, consistent with ECP?s key values/principles. Encourage and nurture interest in programme work shown by direct reports.
Actively contribute to Team-Building within the state team ? use of shared mission, vision, values, identity/public profile, use of staff meetings, staff welfare, social events, formal and informal opportunities, etc, to reinforce teamwork. Actively contribute to a positive office culture within the joint Palladium office in your state (if applicable), and collaborate with other programmes to ensure operational synergies. Look out for, highlight and support resolution of internal challenges impacting on team performance.
Responsibilities Primary responsibilities:
Establishment & Maintenance of Office Finance and Administration Management Systems (Working with the guidelines developed from the national office and within the programme operations manual)
Primary Responsibility Finance:
In conjunction with the Regional Team Leader (RTL) set-up and maintain the office safe for secure storage of petty cash and confidential/restricted documents (financial and staff personal) and filing and retrieval systems for all financial records (in soft and hard copy) in compliance with the required programme financial management procedures.
Act as the main point of contact with a state branch of the mandated bank. This includes responding to any queries from the bank and managing changes in signatories/approval authorities on the ECP account. The SFAO will also act as the main point of contact between the local tax authorities and the programme
Provide all office staff with practical orientation and ensure adequate understanding of all office financial management systems, procedures and individual responsibilities, and provide them with templates for fund requesting and financial reporting.
The SFAO will keep up-to-date with the Palladium financial templates as found on SharePoint and ensure that all staff are using the appropriate templates for their requests.
They will also liaise directly with the National Finance Manager on all issues relating to maintenance and further development of the office financial management systems.
Supervise all of ECP?s banking transactions in the state.
Manage petty cash with daily reconciliation
Ensure that procedures as set out in the programme operations manual are followed for direct payments to non-ECP staff (partners, local TA, suppliers, etc) using electronic transfers when possible.
Book-keeping of the office imprest account ? draw cheques, monitor repayment of advance, enter data daily into the accounts system, reconcile bank statements weekly against office accounts, and sign off imprest account.
Prepare monthly financial forecasts and reports for the state, including statements of the office imprest account, make requests for funds transfer from the Abuja office against agreed dates and tranches, provide original supporting documents on expenditure to the Abuja office, maintain copies locally, and provide state level data for the monthly variance report prepared by the Abuja office for the programme.
Make payment of PAYE for state office staff to state tax authority based on PAYE payment schedule sent from the ECP Abuja office, as well as withhold and remit the WHT of local TA, suppliers, etc, at the defined rate to the state tax authority, and forward the receipt to the payee.
Respond to any queries and requests from the HOS and NFM relating to financial oversight and quality control of state financial information through the State Team Leader, including participation in any peer review audit and compliance with all external audit requirements.
Monitor compliance of all office staff with all office financial management procedures and individual responsibilities in accordance with the programme operations manual and Palladium policies and procedures, and report any non-compliance to the Reginal Team Leader for required action.
Be a member of the ECP State Procurement Committee for specific items and to validate/update preferred suppliers list: review and make recommendations.
Provide additional support to and oversight of any member of staff (including those from other states or the national office) covering for the RTL on financial management.
Support RTL, and technical team to guide, oversee, review and advice partners on their financial management of project funds provided by ECP for programme implementation.
Primary Responsibility Administration:
Office Running: ensure efficient use of all office facilities including vehicles, complaint with ECP policy. Give specific attention to monitoring and analysis of fuel consumption of office vehicles and generators. Oversee housekeeping and stock-keeping of consumable items and ensure necessary supplies are maintained at minimum stock levels, including fuel and provision of staff on front desk/reception duty.
Structure & Equipment: monitor the integrity of the property and condition of facilities and equipment, inform proprietor of required repairs, oversee/monitor repairs, and ensure asset labelling and asset register/inventory are up to date.
Vehicle Running: co-ordinate vehicle movements based on the work schedule for the state team, and ensure all transport provisions for the state office are efficient, effective and safe:
Car-hire: check condition of vehicles, tyres, seat-belts availability of required vehicle documentation, and the standard of driving (with support from the national office for driver training) all meet minimum requirements.
Office vehicles: check office drivers are meeting the minimum required standards for vehicle maintenance and driving (to be checked periodically by the national office through driver training), and monitor and analyse fuel, and other consumable items, on a regular basis.
Information Management: ensure effective use of internal information management systems by all state office staff, including use of filing systems, file coding, data protocols, electronic file version control and data back-up, and supervise the provision of local IT support for the state office (in close collaboration with the M&E/KM ICT Specialist).
HR: support the National Admin Manager in providing inductions/orientations for new state team members, maintain accurate personnel records including timesheets and leave applications. These should be appropriately stored in a confidential manner in an area accessible to the NAM.
Take minutes of general/operational staff meetings which take place at the state level and ensure that these are circulated to all staff in a timely manner.
Compile a periodic (monthly/weekly) work schedule for the state team and circulate to all staff (via notice board/e-mail).
Ensure that Office Health, Safety and Security (OHSS) information is displayed in an obvious position in the office in line with the guidelines laid out in the project operations manual.
State procurement, logistics and security administration:
Manage the security of the office location, physical structure and alterations, provide oversight of security guards and track vehicle movements, all minimum security requirements as directed by Palladium Nigeria Security Manager and in collaboration with the National Logistics and Security Manager.
Ensure that the state programme complies with required health and safety standards (fire, personal risk, accident, etc) as defined by Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs) contained in the Programme Operations Manual.
Become well versed in DFID and their assigned procurement agents procurement regulations and systems as defined in the ECP Programme Operations Manual, and basic familiarisation and appreciation of the programme?s financial systems.
Manage state procurement and contracting of local service providers (in close collaboration with the National Procurement & Security Manager where required) based on the decisions of the ECP State Procurement Committee, of which the SFAO is both a Member and the Secretary.
Maintain an updated preferred suppliers list (liaise with other programmes and DFID to enable comparative pricing/VfM), and select preferred local suppliers through competitive process, validated by the State Procurement Committee.
Take stock of all stationary and office supplies and record in the ?stock control book? ensuring that additional stock is ordered as required.
Liaise with staff with lead responsibility for implementation of specific programme activities to organise logistical support as required, on the basis of agreed work plans and schedules, as endorsed by the RTL through minute?s weekly staff meetings or via e-mail correspondence.
Provide logistical support to all short-term TA and visitors (local, national and international): arrange ?meet & greet?, hotel accommodation, local travel, etc, through liaison with the National Administration Manager where necessary.
Liaise with the providers of local facilities (within and outside the state) on behalf of programme staff to secure bookings for hotels, halls, care-hire, etc, for programme events.
Make payment to the facilities (hotels, halls, care-hire, etc) used for programme events.
Keep a record of the adequacy of the logistical arrangements for any programme activities / TA inputs, state visits, etc ? particularly where any were inadequate, with reasons and suggested improvements (informing preferred suppliers list), routinely reported to the STL, and copying in the National Administration Manager where necessary. Sort out any logistical problems arising during programme event with the facility managers and staff (back-stopping on accommodation, feeding and transport), and provide reasonable ?customer service? for partners.
State Programme Assistance:
Support staff with lead responsibility for implementation of specific programme activities to calculate activity budgets (using the ?standard unit costs? spreadsheet in programme strategic planning framework) and to input into state workplans and budgets where required
Support technical team to access, manage and retire funds for programme activities relating to partners and incidental expenses during and immediately after programme events.
Compliance:
Other reasonable tasks/amendments to TOR.
Agree that performance will be assessed based on these Terms of References. Any amendments to these ToRs should be discussed and agreed with your line manager.
Understand that you will be expected to undertake any reasonable task as requested by their line manager where it is not disruptive to other duties or inappropriate for the level of this position.
Information Management
Ensure that familiarity with all DFID and Palladium Policies and procedures and check SharePoint regularly to ensure that any updates are also being implemented in a timely manner.
Ensure that all work is completed in an accountable and transparent manner, this includes the use of official emails for work purposes, use of personal emails will not be permitted. All work must be saved to the agreed cloud or central server storage systems and not individual desktops or hard-drives.
In collaboration with the National Finance Manager provide mentoring to the state teams on compliance with the financial aspects of the operations manual and their use of SharePoint.
Requirements Minimum education and experience required:
Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Business or a related field
At least 3 years professional experience working in a financial management position
Experience with DFID or other donors is advantageous
Proven ability to effectively manage an office
Line management experience of at least 1 year
Key competencies and professional expertise required:
Ability to work in a team
Excellent communication skills
Excellent organizational skills
Deadline
7 february 2017
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