CARE International is recruiting a Finance Manager

CARE is an international NGO with local staff and community partners in 100 countries. We create local solutions to poverty and inequality and we seek dignity for everyone every day and during times of crisis.  These solutions have a broad range, from disaster response to food and nutrition to education and work for women and girls to healthy mothers and children. CARE puts women and girls at the center of everything we do because when they have equal access to resources, they lift their families and communities out of poverty. Our staff live where they work, which makes us effective at understanding the challenges they face. We’ve been doing this for 75 years, since World War II. It started with the world’s first CARE Package® of food for the post-war hungry in Europe. Our work today is as important as ever, we believe that poverty and inequality are historic injustices that we can end within a generation, for good. If you share our core beliefs: poverty is an injustice; poverty is solvable; and together, we have the power to end it, join us, and Fight with CARE.​

1. Team Leadership and Functional Management – 20%

• Lead the Finance Department in an effective and efficient financial planning and management of resources:
• Ensure proper staffing/recruitment to enable the Finance Team to manage CARE Kenya’s resources efficiently; work with the program teams to deploy finance department staff to support each project appropriately;
• Manage the Finance Team towards high standards of performance through clear roles and responsibilities, on-going feedback and appraisals. Pro-actively address performance issues through timely constructive feedback and coaching.
• Notice talent and maximize the use of available talent through on-going staff development, succession planning, career management and utilization of a leadership style that will drive employee engagement and motivation
• Develop and implement the annual work plan and budget for the Finance department; carefully managing expenditure and safeguarding CARE’s resources by following accountability procedures before signing approvals
• Through supervision of the Grants and Contracts Team, ensure that CARE’s investments achieve the desired impact and that finances are managed in accordance with CARE and Donor requirements, rules and regulations
• Provide analysis to SMT and the program teams efficiency and value for money achieved with our financial resources.
• Through supervision of the Accounts Payable staff, ensure good practice in treasury and cash management, promoting the use of wire and digital transfers, timely and efficient process for making payments; and always maintaining appropriate levels of cash in country to keep operations going; This includes supporting project managers and heads of departments with accurate and timely cash forecasts; Always maintaining a healthy level of cash in country to maintain operations going.
• Ensure country, regional and global key performance standards are met

2. Policies, Procedures & Systems – 20%

• Develop and implement policies, procedures and operational systems that will ensure smooth running of CARE Kenya’s finances and the delivery of a good standard of customer service by the finance team.
• Maintain up to date knowledge of relevant CARE, donors and Government of Kenya policies, procedures and statutory requirements, including keeping abreast of any changes (e.g. in tax laws, labour laws, etc), and ensuring they are strictly adhered to;
• Monitor the relevance of existing policies, procedures and systems in order to identify areas for improvement, striving for greater efficiency; take corrective actions as appropriate, referring to Accountable Managers, CO SMT, RMU or CMPs as may be deemed necessary,
• Ensure that the day-to-day financial operations of CARE Kenya are run smoothly, and that financial operations are properly and accurately recorded, documented, controlled, monitored and reported, according to organizational, donors and CARE Kenya’s policies and best practice as well as regulators.
• Ensure that the Country Office finance system operates correctly and is being used effectively by CARE staff (both finance team and customers);
• Ensure that all required internal controls are in place and followed and continuously identify ways of tightening them in the light of the high risks for fraud in Kenya
• Maintaining   and regularly updating the Authorized Signatory Forms (ASF) and up to date Bank signatories

3. Budgeting and Forecasting – 20%

• Oversee the development and implementation of CARE Kenya’s country-wide budgets
• Establish the processes by which the country budget will be developed, adhering to CARE USA annual budgeting timeline, guidelines and policies and holding staff country-wide accountable for doing their part.
• Ensure that accountable managers are equipped and empowered to carry out budgeting activities according to best practice
• Ensure that mechanisms for monitoring, control and review of budget implementation are in place, including quarterly “health check” reviews of CO cost recovery efforts, continuously analyzing the extent to which the CO is recovering its costs (Shared Program Costs, Sub & Field Office Costs);
• Forecast to confirm the availability of financial resources and maintain CO Master Budget updated in order to anticipate shortages and propose timely corrective actions to CO SMT (e.g. downsizing, restructuring, etc);
• Carry out strategic level risk assessment and analyse trends to identify and manage issues that might impact on the financial health  or viability of CARE Kenya
• Develop systems, take actions and behave in a way which will generate and maintain relationships of mutual trust with donors; liaising with donors to ensure that they are provided with all required information,
• Ensure statutory audits, internal and donor audits are conducted in a timely and professional manner, Cooperating with external audits and leading the implementation of recommendations.

4.  Awards & Sub Awards Management – 20%

• Ensure effective end-to-end Awards & Sub-Awards management is carried out; ensuring full compliance with Donor requirements, CARE International policies & the laws of Kenya,
• Keep up to date with changes to CARE USA policies and Procedures as well as CARE International requirements and any developments in donor requirements and relevant legislation
• Ensure that all budgets and contracts are comprehensive and accurate and comply with Donor agreements and requirements, CARE International policies and the laws of the Country.   Ensure budgets are prepared in line with CARE International Shared Program Costs policy and cover their fair share of Shared Program Costs (SPC);
• Ensure that all grants; reports are made on time and accurately and that Shared Program costs are allocated as per CARE USA Policies
• Proactively review Contract Aging reports in order to note breaches of contract, forthcoming expiries and any other problems or concerns
• Provide CARE Accountable Managers with quality financial information and advice in order to aid their decision making concerning the grants and sub grants they manage.
• Ensure that comprehensive Due Diligence and organizational capacity assessments of partners’ , including their financial capacity, have been carried out for all of CARE Kenya’s potential partners according to policy;
• Ensure that CARE’s policies and procedures for Sub Awards management are carried out, liaising with accountable managers to trouble-shoot any problems.

5. Capacity Building – 15%

• Build the capacity of CARE Staff and Implementing Partners to manage financial resources according to good accounting practice and in compliance with Donor & CARE International standards
• Support the development and implementation of strategies for bridging the partner capacity gaps that are identified during partner assessments
• Liaise with Department Heads and the HR staff to understand financial capacity building needs of CARE staff; ensuring the development and roll-out of any required professional development initiatives;
• Ensure that CARE Staff and Partners fully understand what is expected of them and are equipped to manage awards and sub-awards according to best practice, policies and procedures.
• Deploy the team of Awards & Sub-Awards Staff to the project teams; ensuring that they provide all necessary support, and carry out monitoring visits according to the project plan.

6. Other Responsibilities as assigned – 5%

• Keep up-to-date with CARE’s emerging strategies and approaches and contribute proactively towards implementation. Take responsibility for ensuring personal safety and security; giving due care and consideration to the impact of personal decisions on the safety and security of others

Education/Training 

Mandatory

• Bachelor’s Degree in accounting, Finance or Business Management or related field
• Fully Certified Public Accountant (CPA and / or ACCA) and in good standing with ICPAK

Desired 

• Master’s Degree in a business-related field

Experience and Competencies Required

• At least five years as a Finance Manager or equivalent experience
• At least 8 to 10 years’ experience working in the developmental and / or humanitarian sector specific technical experience in budgeting, accounting, financial reporting, grants/contracts management and business management
• Demonstrated experience with financial troubleshooting and audit
• Thorough understanding of financial accounting, reporting, and grants and contracts management processes
• Relevant donor policies and procedures
• Facilitation skills to conduct training for small, medium and large sized groups
• Solid analytical skills and problem solving
• Ability to maintain customer focus while handling multiple priorities
• Ability to learn quickly new systems, processes and procedures and accept local practices to global standards
• Excellent leadership, coaching and negotiation skills
• Ability to both lead teams and work with teams,
• Ability to work at detailed level while understanding the larger picture
• Proficiency in Microsoft office and financial software applications
• Good communication skills both oral and written in English

CONTACTS/KEY RELATIONSHIPS

• This role is expected to establish and maintain open, professional, and cordial relations with the COs internal and external customers. These include and not limited to.

Internal

• Country Office teams; SMT, Program, Procurement and Admin, HR
• Shared Service Centre

External

• Vendors / Government agencies / Other organizations (peer organizations)

Deadline to receive all applications will be on or before  4th April 2022, at 5.00 P.M EAT. 

We do require that you have the legal ability to work in Kenya and while we would like to respond to all applicants, only short-listed candidates will be contacted. Canvassing will lead to automatic disqualification

CARE does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process. Qualified Female candidates are highly encouraged to apply. CARE has a commitment to gender, equity and diversity in our workplace and operations. CARE respects and values diversity and does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, gender identity, sexuality, ethnicity, age, disability, religion or politics. This is reflected in our recruitment decisions which are made entirely through a transparent, merit-based selection process. All CARE staffs are required to comply with the Code of Conduct, Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) and Child Protection (CP) policies… https://www.care-kenya.org/get-involved