Organization: Search for Common Ground
Country: United States of America
Closing date: 30 Oct 2015
The Organization
Search for Common Ground (SFCG) is an international non-profit organization that promotes peaceful resolution of conflict. With an annual budget of $35M, headquarters in Washington, DC and a European corporate office in Brussels, Belgium, SFCG’s mission is to transform how individuals, organizations, and governments deal with conflict – away from adversarial approaches and toward cooperative solutions. SFCG seeks to help conflicting parties understand their differences and act on their commonalities. With a total of approximately 600 staff worldwide, SFCG implements projects from 59 offices in 35 countries, including in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States.
Summary of Position
Search for Common Ground (SFCG) seeks a Project Finance Manager who will be responsible for all aspects of field financial data management at headquarters well as the managing of grants and contracts from ‘proposal to close-out’.
He/she will ensure field accounting procedures conform to good practice and company policy as well as donor regulations surrounding grants and contracts financial management. The ideal candidate will have proven experience in financial operations in the nonprofit INGO sector, and excels at account analysis and financial management in a non-profit fund accounting environment.
Responsibilities
Proposal Budget
- Coordinates the designing of grant and contract budgets with project team, ensures appropriate sign-off and processes for accuracy and reliability.
- Provides financial risk analysis support needs on the project level.
Project Start Up
- Leads finance section of the new award start up meetings. Conducts training of country office finance managers as needed.
- Sets up award in financial system, establish compliance check plans to review transactional compliance with internal control policy and procedure, as well as donor rules and regulations
Project Financial Status Monitor
- Leads and conducts reviews of monthly country office financial report submissions for assigned portfolio, including:
- Petty Cash & Bank Reconciliations
- Cash Registers (pending General Ledger transactions)
- Payroll and related Tax/Withholding entries
- Liquidations of Employee & Partner Advances
- Reconciliation with Corporate G/L for country office activity
- Ensuring adequacy of supporting documentation, appropriate cost accounting allocations, proper project and account code
- Monitors timely liquidation of partner advances and reconciliation.
- Supports the Accounting Manager in review of periodic country office funding requests for reasonableness of cash management.
Donor Report
- Prepares accurate financial reports for timely submission to donors in compliance with the financial reporting requirements of the donor.
- Monitors spending in relation to budgets within donor specified line-item flexibility
- Monitors fiscal performance or each project; identifies significant over/under expenditures and implements corrective action
- Monitors drawdowns and payments due from donors on grants in portfolio
Project Close Out, Audit and Expenditure Verification
- Assist country offices in responding to audit requests from donors, developing financial management tools, and managing close-out processes
- Keep track of audit requirements and support filed offices as needed during audits and expenditure verification
Other Responsibilities
- Supports and coordination with appropriate personnel in implementing accounting software in the country offices for successful import into headquarter financial system.
- Initiates improvement and simplification of accounting processes and procedures.
- Assists in the documentation of pertinent financial procedures and related training manuals.
As job descriptions cannot be exhaustive, the position holder may be required to undertake other duties that are broadly in line with the above key duties.
Minimum Qualifications
Essential
- Bachelor’s degree
- A minimum of seven (7) years of progressively responsible experience in accounting operations, with five (5) years or more in the INGO sector directly related to field office accounting
- Working knowledge US (and ideally) European donors
- Ability to train financial and non-financial staff of all levels
- Proven knowledge of automated accounting systems and reporting tools customized to a fund accounting environment using batch processing
- Strong spreadsheet and analytical skills; proficiency in Excel and other Microsoft Office products required
- Strong sense of natural curiosity to study a problem and identify root causes, and make logical connections / conclusions from scattered data
- Excellent interpersonal skills, including courtesy, cooperativeness, and professionalism
- Effective communicator internally and externally
- Excellent written and oral English communication skills to effectively interact with staff regarding detailed financial information, and business-related inquiries into financial matters in a highly diverse multicultural environment
- Demonstrated commitment to teamwork in a fast-paced work environment
- Highly organized and detail-oriented with ability to meet deadlines, both prescribed and self-imposed
- Ability to perform and prioritize multiple tasks
- Adaptable and flexible
Desired
- International experience living or working overseas, preferably in an INGO country office setting.
- Fluency in French or another language
Salary: Commensurate with experience and education, with excellent benefits
How to apply:
To Apply: Application Deadline: September 30, 2015. Please submit a cover letter and resume at https://sfcg.bamboohr.com/jobs/view.php?id=278. Please be sure to include minimum salary requirements or current salary, projected start date, and to mention where you found this posting. No phone calls please.Only applicants invited for an interview will be contacted. Please see our web site www.sfcg.org for full details of our work.
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