Pakistan: Country Finance Manager - Pakistan

Department : Finance
Position : Country Finance Manager – Pakistan
Contract duration : 12 months, renewable
Location : Islamabad, Pakistan
Starting Date : ASAP

I. Background on ACTED

Since 1993, as an international non-governmental organization, ACTED has been committed to immediate humanitarian relief to support those in urgent need and protect people’s dignity, while co-creating longer term opportunities for sustainable growth and fulfilling people’s potential.

ACTED endeavors to respond to humanitarian crises and build resilience; promote inclusive and sustainable growth; co-construct effective governance and support the building of civil society worldwide by investing in people and their potential.

We go the last kilometer: ACTED’s mission is to save lives and support people in meeting their needs in hard to reach areas. ACTED develops and implements programs that target the most vulnerable amongst populations that have suffered from conflict, natural disaster, or socio-economic hardship. ACTED’s approach looks beyond the immediate emergency towards opportunities for longer term livelihoods reconstruction and sustainable development.

With a budget of 164 million EUR in 2014, ACTED is active in 35 countries and implements more than 450 projects a year reaching over 8 million beneficiaries with 400 international staff and 4,300 national staff.

II. Country Information

Capital Office: Islamabad
Projects: 18 (2014)
Budget: 12.9 M Euros (2014)
National staff: 460 (2014)

ACTED has been present in Pakistan since 1993, when it registered its first office in Peshawar. Since, we have developed extensive experience in programmes focusing on emergency response, local governance and community mobilisation, on and off-farm livelihoods support, education and vocational training, community-based rehabilitation and construction, shelter, water and sanitation and health and hygiene. In addition, ACTED has been providing monitoring, evaluation, information management to a wide range of stakeholders in Pakistan to promote humanitarian coordination and effectiveness.

In recent years, ACTED has provided extensive emergency and early recovery assistance to disaster-affected families in Pakistan. This assistance has included shelter construction, food distributions, the provision of clean water and sanitation facilities, hygiene campaigns and support for the resumption of livelihoods activities through the distribution of seeds, livestock and farming tools, the promotion of home-based micro-businesses for women and cash for work schemes including the rehabilitation of community productive infrastructure.

In 2001-2002, the organisation provided assistance over 20,000 displaced Afghan refugee families in Pakistan. ACTED was a leading actor in responding to the massive 2005 earthquake, which took 75,000 lives and affected over 100,000 others in eastern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
In 2009, following the displacement of over three million people in KPK, ACTED provided support to IDP populations throughout Swat, Nowshera, Buner, Lower Dir and Upper Dir districts.
ACTED’s mission in Pakistan expanded into Punjab and Northern Sindh provinces following the unprecedented monsoon floods that swept across Pakistan in July 2010, claiming 1,700 lives, destroying close to 1.8 million homes and affecting a total of over 20 million people across the country. In 2011, as floods in lower Sindh affected a further 9.2 million people, destroying over 315,000 homes and leaving 43% of local populations severely food insecure, ACTED was able to immediately provide emergency relief to flood-affected families drawing upon its strong presence and experience of the local context.

Today, ACTED’s experienced team of 700 national staff and 11 international staff continues to support the relief, recovery and development needs of conflict- and flood-affected communities in four districts of KPK (Swat, Upper Dir, Lower Dir and Kohat), six districts of Sindh (Kashmore, Jacobabad, Shikarpur, Mirpur Khas, Sanghar and Umerkot), one district of Punjab (D.G. Khan) and two agencies of FATA (Orakzai and Bajaur), ensuring access to remote or complex areas and the relevance and effectiveness of our programmes.

III. Responsibilities
Accounting and Financial Management

1. Accountancy

Supervise accountancy procedures :
Filing of documents, allocation of expenses, vouchers registration, balance checking, etc. ;
Verify and compile monthly accounts from each base ;
Communicate accounts on a monthly basis to HQ, respecting SAGA procedures and deadlines ;
Manage the presentation, circulation, filing and archiving of accounting and financial documents in conformity with FLAT procedures.
Treasury :
Open/close bank accounts on the authority of the General Delegate ;
Oversee the management of bank accounts: follow transfers, check balances, check authorised visas;
Supervise the management of safes and cash: available amount, balance checks, security instructions;
Assess monthly cash-flow needs for projects and bases and communicate cash requests to the HQ ;
Manage money transfers, bases cash-supply and amounts in circulation, whilst defining payment procedures (bank transfer, cheque, cash etc.).
Commitment of expenditure :
Set up and formalise procedures for the commitment of expendiure, conform to ACTED procurement guidelines: collect visas of authorised staff members, set-up commitment ceiling in local currencies, define methods and timescales for payment according to local practices ;
Ensure that procedures are adhered to in terms of contracts and payments ;
Ensure that proofs of purchase are valid (contracts, orders, bills, inoices, delivery receipts etc).

1. Budget Management

Ensure budget follow-up :
Develop tables necessary for financial monitoring and for budget follow up within the mission ;
Analyse gaps between planned budgets and actual expenses ;
Anticipate financial risks ;
Calculate and supervise the monthly cost of each vehicle (fuel consumption, repairs) in coordination with Country Logistician ;
Calcultate monthly communication costs of each base (phone, e-mail, Internet), in coordination with Country Logistician.
Develop project budgets :
Develop budgets for project proposals according to project needs and Donor constraints ;
Draft financial reports (mid-term and final) respecting contractual deadlines ;
Guarantee the respect of Donor procedures for each financial contract.

1. Department Follow-up

Team leadership :
Update the organigramme and ToRs of the finance department according to the mission development;
Oversee the team and undertake appraisals of directly supervised colleagues ;
Ensure training and capacity building for finance team members in order to increase the level of technical ability and skills within the department ;
Internal Procedures and Information Flows ;
Develop relevant management procedures within the team ;
Improve information flows within the department and with other departments and project.

IV. Qualifications

• Masters degree minimum in Finance or related area ;
• 3+ years of solid experience in financial management and monitoring systems, preferably of large development programs, possibly complemented by academic expertise ;
• Excellent financial and analytical skills ;
• Excellent communication and drafting skills for effective reporting on programme financial performance ;
• Ability to manage a financial/monitoring team and demonstrate leadership ;
• Ability to monitor and evaluate financial and monitoring skills of communities through capacity-building efforts ;
• Ability to operate in a cross-cultural environment requiring flexibility ;
• Familiarity with the aid system, and understanding of donor and governmental requirements;
• Prior knowledge of the region an asset ;
• Fluency in English required – ability to communicate in local languages an asset ;
• Ability to operate Microsoft Word, Excel and Project Management software.

V. Conditions

Salary defined by the ACTED salary grid; educational level, expertise, hardship, security, and performance are considered for pay bonus.
• Additional monthly living allowance
• Free food and lodging provided at the organisation’s guesthouse
• Transportation in and out + luggage allowance
• Provision of medical, life, and repatriation insurance + retirement package