Project Accountant & Administrator UK Aid Project Jobs – Farm Africa
Job Title: Project Accountant & Administrator
Organization: Farm Africa
Funding Source: UK Aid
Duty Station: Uganda
Reports to: Project Coordinator
About US:
Farm Africa is an international non-governmental organization working to end hunger and bring prosperity to rural Africa. We work to increase the incomes and improve food security of smallholder farmers, pastoralists, agro-pastoralists, and forest dwellers in East Africa. A core part of our strategy is to ensure that our interventions are both economically sustainable and scalable. The systematic integration of market linkages in implementing programmes is crucial to our ability to scale our interventions cost-effectively.
About UK Aid Project:
Farm Africa was recently been awarded a £5m grant for a Livestock for Livelihoods (L4L) programme operating in Uganda’s Karamoja sub-region and Ethiopia’s South Omo zone funded by the UK government (UK Aid). During this four year programme Farm Africa will work with local civil society, SMEs, cooperatives and farmer organisations to develop market systems that support livestock services and enterprises for 21,000 women, contributing to women’s economic empowerment, reduced poverty and improved nutrition of women and children. The project will address market failures in animal health and breeding services to improve livestock productivity, build capacity and assets of herders, establish trade and enterprise opportunities and improve household nutrition practices through behavioural change. It will demonstrate how nutrition interventions can build on women’s economic empowerment to contribute to both increased income and improved household nutrition.
Job Summary: The Project Accountant & Administrator will be tasked with establishing financial and administrative systems in a new project office, maintaining accurate financial records, budgeting, financial reporting, procurement, payment processing, audit planning, managing personnel records, facilities management and line management of three staff. A degree in accounting or finance degree essential, and CPA (III) qualification, or equivalent, is desired. The post-holder will be based in Farm Africa’s Moroto office, and will be reporting in to the Project Coordinator.
Key Duties and Responsibilities:
Accounting and Finance: Managing income and expenditure processing, and maintaining accurate financial records – in particular:
- Ensuring prompt and accurate accounting for all projectincome and expenditure using QuickBooks
- Ensuring that proper accounting records are maintained across all field sites including debtor and creditor listings and staff working advance records, carrying out monthly reconciliations
- Coding and gaining authorisation for all expenditure according to Farm Africa procedures
- Ensuring timely payment of all invoices and expenditures
- Preparation of monthly payroll payment requests and calculation of statutory contributions due
- Ensuring enough cash available for smooth implementation of the project by preparing and submitting monthly cash forecast to the Uganda Country Office.
- Ensuring Finance & Administration Assistants in field offices have sufficient cash available to meet project running costs
- Undertaking regular banking duties including checking of balances, prompt cash and cheque deposits, collecting bank statements periodically as may be required. And acting as a bank agent for Farm Africa
- Performing monthly general ledger accounting reconciliations and analysis ensuring accuracy of ledger and month end reporting in accordance with GAAP, organisational policy and donor regulations. This includes reconciliations of bank, cash, SWA, Prepayments and creditors/Inter-project accounts
Financial reporting including:
- Supplying accurate and complete monthly project accounts to the Country Office team.
- Producing financial reports in line with donor reporting requirements
- Reviewing and feeding back on monthly Budget Monitoring Reports
Budgeting and budget management tasks including:
- Assisting the Project Coordinator with preparing and checking of budgets during the annual planning process
- Assisting the Project Coordinator with preparing and checking budget revisions during the year as required
- Assisting the Country Office team with developing draft budgets for new programmes
Ensuring compliance with standards contained in the Farm Africa Finance Procedures Manual, and in particular:
- Advising the Project Coordinator and/or Country Representative on relevant budgetary control measures to address any identified weakness in policy and/or practice.
- Feeding back any pertinent financial management issues to the Finance Administrative Manager and/or Country Representative
- Ensuring annual project audit is carried out on time and conducted in an organized manner
- Ensuring all procurement is carried out in adherence to Farm Africa’s procurement policies.
- Ensuring time sheets are completed where necessary (any staff member who is not 100% dedicated to the project)
- Ensuring driver and vehicle log books in place, that fuel records for all vehicles are analyzed on a monthly basis, and that cars and motorcycles are comprehensively insured are being maintained and serviced according to supplier guidelines.
Line management
- Assisting the Driver (Moroto) and Finance& Admin Assistantswith managing their workload in accordance with the requirements of other project team members
- Holding supervision sessions with the Driver (Moroto) at least once per quarter (to discuss progress against work plans and targets and resolve any outstanding issues)
- Holding supervision sessions with the Finance& Admin Assistantsat least once per month (to discuss progress against work plans and targets and resolve any outstanding issues)
- Ensuring all direct reports have objectives in place and their performance regularly appraised in line with Farm Africa’s systems and policies.
Playing a key role in delivering the wider objectives of Farm Africa’s Livestock for Livelihoods project in Uganda including:
- Facilities management for Moroto Office, and oversight of facilities management in satellite offices
- Assisting with facilitating monitoring and communications visits from Donors and/or the wider Farm Africa team
- Maintaining proper personnel files for the Livestock for Livelihoods project team such as leave records, annual appraisals and general personal records
- Undertaking any other duties as reasonably requested by the project coordinator
Qualifications, Skills and Experience:
- The ideal candidate for the Farm Africa Project Accountant & Administrator job placement must hold a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting or Finance
- At least three years’ experience working in an accounting position
- Good working knowledge of QuickBooks
- Demonstrable experience of producing project budgets and monitoring activities against the
- Experience of producing content for donor reports
- Experience of managing procurement processes
- Experience of managing other staff
- Experience of facilities and/or fleet management
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to communicate with people from a broad range of backgrounds.
- Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office programmes, in particular Word, Excel and PowerPoint
- Able to work under own initiative
- Flexible and ‘can do’ attitude
- Honesty and Integrity
- Team player
Desirable:
- CPA (III) Qualification
- Working for an INGO
- Experience of using SUN accounting systems
- Excellent knowledge and understanding of URA requirements and processes
- Demonstrable experience of administering payroll using an online system
- Experience of managing non-finance staff
- Previous experience of maintaining HR and personnel records
- Experience of establishing financial processes and procedures on new programmes
- Experience of managing project-level audits
How to Apply:
All suitably qualified and interested candidates should send an updated CV, salary history, and a two-page supporting statement detailing how you meet the person specification to ugandarecruitment@farmafrica.org including ‘MEKMS – L4L’ in the subject line.
NB: Please DO NOT send additional documents such as certificates and references with your application. Shortlisted candidates ONLY will be required to provide these documents during the interview process. Interviews are expected to take place w/c 26th March 2018 at Farm Africa’s country office in Kampala. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
Deadline: 16th March 2018 by 5.00pm EAT
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