Finance Director

Winrock International; United Kingdom; On-site; GBP 125,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job description

POSITION TITLE: Finance Director

LOCATION: Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire

Winrock International works with people around the world to increase economic opportunity, sustain natural resources, and protect the environment. Winrock is seeking a Finance Director for a multi-country program that will facilitate the growth of a competitive market system for raw cashew processing that optimizes revenues across all segments of the processing chain and fosters equitable and sustainable employment opportunities for young women and men. Focus countries are Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, and Guinea Bissau.

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Finance Director will provide senior level leadership to the project finance team, ensuring an internal culture of accountability, efficiency and compliance. The position will be responsible for instituting internal controls over the receipt, disbursement, and management of resources; ensuring timely, accurate and compliant processing of financial transactions by finance team members; identifying and implementing process improvements based on constant analysis of financial performance. The Finance Director reports directly to the Director of Operations and coordinates with relevant Winrock International Home Office staff and Regional Office in Nairobi.

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

Financial Oversight and Compliance

1. Oversee and maintain internal controls over the receipts, disbursements, and management of resources in compliance with Winrock and donor rules and regulations.
2. Ensure consistency and compliance with Winrock's standard operating procedures, policies, accounting principles, and donor regulations.
3. Manage compliance with taxation and other local laws and regulations.
4. Ensure the timely and accurate submission of the weekly and monthly reporting packages to Winrock's Regional and Home offices, addressing feedback promptly and uploading financial documents to the Official Project Filing System in SharePoint.
5. Manage internal and external audits, including donor audits, ensuring financial files and supporting documents are available during annual audits and resolving audit findings in a timely manner.

Financial Systems Administration

1. Administer the financial system to maintain accurate and timely financial records.
2. Review reports generated from QuickBooks to ensure transaction descriptions, general ledger (GL) codes, and project codes are accurate.
3. Oversee quality control/assurance processes for accounting records, including travel advances and invoices, ensuring proper allocation of expenditures to funding sources and expense categories.

Budgeting and Financial Reporting

1. Oversee the development, monitoring, and analysis of activity and project budgets to ensure accurate expenditure projections and comparisons with budgeted amounts.
2. Produce quarterly budget projections and reports for submission to the donor.
3. Advise project leadership and home office staff on financial health through regular and timely expenditure reports.

Cash and Banking Management

1. Manage cash flow and cash requirements, ensuring funds are transferred to field accounts based on forecasts and fund requests to maintain fund availability across Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, and Guinea Bissau.
2. Manage banking relationships, ensuring bank account signatories align with Winrock's corporate banking policies across Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, and Guinea Bissau.

Transaction Review and Payment Oversight

1. Review all vouchers prepared by the finance team (disbursement, receipt, and general journal vouchers) to ensure expenses are reasonable, allowable, and allocable to the project.
2. Ensure processes are implemented for accurate and timely payments to vendors and other service providers in accordance with donor and Winrock policies.

Leadership and Team Management

1. Provide direction, coaching, and quality control to finance team members, fostering coordination, communication, and efficiency within the team.
2. Liaise with the Director of Operations and other teams to ensure project needs are met in terms of accounting, contracts, and human resources.
3. Attend monthly regional meetings of the finance community of practice to share best practices and stay updated on policies.

QUALIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS:

Education: B.S. or equivalent university degree in Finance, Business Administration, or related field. Certified Public Accountant or Licensed Chartered Accountant preferred.

Experience:

1. A minimum of 10-15 years' progressive experience in all aspects of financial management.
2. At least 5 years' leadership experience providing supervision and quality control to finance teams, preferably of complex, multifaceted donor funded programs.
3. Proven experience providing mentorship, capacity building and performance improvement guidance to finance, operations, and technical team members on financial processes and compliance.
4. Demonstrated track record of enforcing internal controls.
5. Experience creating, instituting, and adapting workflows and processes to optimize financial performance.
6. Experience leading seamless coordination and communication between technical, procurement, grants, logistics and finance teams on financial matters.
7. Expert-level understanding of bookkeeping and accounting; and strong understanding of local labor and taxation laws, local compliance and reporting requirements.
8. Experience working with organizations with a strong culture of financial discipline and compliance, with strong financial systems and processes in place. Experience in managing accounts for donor funded projects strongly preferred.

Skills/Knowledge:

1. Excellent organizational skills are required.
2. Excellent computer skills (MS Office Suite, word-processing, spreadsheets, and databases) are required.
3. Strong analytical, communication, and leadership skills.
4. Complete fluency in written and oral English and French is required.
5. Knowledge of Portuguese an advantage.
6. Proficient user of Quick Books or similar accounting platforms.

Winrock does not discriminate in its recruitment practices and provides opportunity for all people regardless of race, color, religion, sex, gender, national origin, age, disability or any other basis protected by law.

At Winrock we have a clear mission: Empower the disadvantaged, increase economic opportunity and sustain natural resources through unwavering dedication to accountability, equity, innovation, integrity and transformation.