POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT - EXTERNAL
Program Accountant
REF: PA/19/2017
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
28 June 2017
The Position: The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) seeks to recruit a Program Accountant who will be working with three programs - Impact at Scale (IAS), Feed & Forage Development (FFD) & Animal & Human Health (AHH) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
General: The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) works to improve food and nutritional security and reduce poverty in developing countries through research for efficient, safe and sustainable use of livestock. It is the only one of 15 CGIAR research centres dedicated entirely to animal agriculture research for the developing world. Co-hosted by Kenya and Ethiopia, it has regional or country offices and projects in East, South and Southeast Asia as well as Central, East, Southern and West Africa. www.ilri.org.
Main duties and responsibilities:
Proposal development – Budget development:
· Provides advice on project costing’s to staff toward development of proposal budgets;
· Prepares proposal budgets for review by Project Manager and Project Leaders or budget holders;
· Support annual budget preparation by working with the Project Manager & Program Manager;
· Uploads project budget to the Sun System or other system used by ILRI.
Financial Accounting, Project Management and Donor reporting:
· Prepares all projects’ payment requests for sub-grantees in collaboration with Project Manager and Project Leaders;
· Follows up with finance to ensure timely payments to sub-grantees and ensures transfer advices are shared with partners in a timely manner;
· Ensures project partners’ financial returns are submitted within set timelines. Reviews advance requests and financial returns by partners with reference to contractual obligations and partner financial obligations with liquidation effected in SUN;
· Develops and maintains appropriate databases to ensure project financial management is done to meet various program financial demands;
· Prepares detailed monthly, quarterly and annual internal financial reports as requested by Project Manager highlighting issues on over/under expenditure and adjustment of wrong postings in the system and also to facilitate monitoring and tracking of project finances, and decision making by Project leaders;
· Maintains proper financial and non-financial project records of projects both in electronic (soft) and hard copies;
· Prepares donor financial reports/statements in collaboration with Project Manager, Project Leaders and Finance department and maintains appropriate compliance donor reporting databases;
· Computes project accruals annually and during project close outs and ensures they are captured in the system;
· Ensures that all full costing recovery items are captured in the appropriate project;
· Raises invoices and follows up reimbursements and transfer advices from partners/donors;
· Leads project specific audit and supports external/internal audit as may be found necessary.
Project Settlements Reports, Travel Expense Reports, Travel Authorizations, Requisitions, and Petty-Cash Replenish:
· Reviews Project Settlement Reports, Petty Cash Replenishments, Travel Expense Reports, Travel Authorizations (TAs) and Payment Requests;
· Follows up on project and travel advance settlements with staff and consultants to close outstanding accounts quickly
Consultancy Management support:
Provides assistance in the financial aspects of management of consultanciesAcademic and professional qualifications:
Education:
· BA degree in Accounting or related fields.
Experience:
· At least 5 years’ experience in budget and project financial report preparations
Training:
· Professional training in Grants Management and Project Management are advantageous.
· Intermediate to advanced computer literacy, including spreadsheets and accounting software
Skills:
· Must be able to work independently with minimal supervision, but also participates as a team member in accomplishment of duties.
· Possesses excellent interpersonal and communication skills, good judgment and a high level of respect for confidentiality.
· Strong ability to co-ordinate, prioritize and organize workload; takes initiative and can work under pressure.
· Highly effective planning, organizational and multi-tasking skills with a positive attitude and strong accounting service orientation.
· Ability to work in a multi-cultural environment.
· Excellent spoken and written English.
· Commitment to ILRI’s mission and core values
Duty Station: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Grade: 2C
Minimum Base Salary: Birr 16,619 (Negotiable depending on experience, skill and salary history of the candidate)
Terms of appointment: This is a Nationally Recruited Staff (NRS) position, initial appointment is for three years with the possibility of renewal, contingent upon individual performance and the availability of funding. The ILRI remuneration package for nationally recruited staff in Ethiopia includes very competitive salary and benefits such as life and medical insurance, offshore pension plan, etc.
The ILRI campus is set in a secure, attractive campus in Addis Ababa. Dining and sports facilities are located on site