Senior Finance and Administration Officer 18 views0 applications

Senior Finance and Admin Officer is to oversee and manage the financial and administrative functions within a Country of operation. This role is crucial for maintaining financial health, ensuring compliance with regulations, and promoting efficient administrative processes. A Senior Finance and Admin Officer plays a pivotal role in ensuring the financial stability and operational efficiency of a country while maintaining high standards of compliance and integrity.

Objective

The Senior Finance and Administration staff will serve a coordinating function depending on the country office. S/he will provide oversight accounting and financial compliance support to country office staff and work closely with the Financial Controller Regional Senior Finance Manager to comply with the financial and accounting requirements of the Solidaridad Network. His/her responsibilities shall include conducting accounting analyses, development and maintenance of financial accounting reports, ensuring accuracy of general ledger transactions, monitoring the progress of projects, investigating variances, approving expenses, ensuring that project funds issued to contracted parties are prudently utilised and other accounting matters.

Position in the Organisation

The Senior Finance and Administration Officer to the Country (Projects) Manager on administrative matters, and to the Financial Controller on performance and financial matters.

Senior Finance & Administration Officer (SAFO) — Ethiopia

Duration: One Year With Possibility of Extension on Performance

Reporting Line: Country Manager/Senior Finance & Administration Manager

Addis Ababa ,Ethiopia

Organizational position

The Project associate works with the Program manger, Project Managers, Project Associate, Project officers, senior project officers and project Managers and also matrix engagement in the East and Central Africa Regional Office Financial controller, finance manager and other relevant to the role.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Manage day-to-day cash and commercial bank operations for the field base, ensuring compliance with the organization’s Revised Petty Cash Management Policy.
• Monitor operational bank balances and compile the comprehensive Treasury Forecast (TF) due by the end of every month.
• Verify completeness, eligibility, and authorization of supporting documents before releasing payments (cash within limits, checks, or electronic bank transfers).
• Perform daily physical cash counts against cash books and execute formal monthly bank reconciliations, addressing variances immediately.
• Track local currency (ETB) availability and liquidity constraints at the field level, reporting banking issues to the country and regional office.
• Ensure strict internal controls regarding physical cash handling, safe box combinations, dual-signatory mandates, and insurance coverage thresholds.
• Act as the primary gatekeeper against local financial irregularities, identifying and flagging suspicious quotes, invoices, or double-billing attempts.
• properly code (GL, project, budget line, cost center, third party), and post transactions into the Microsoft dynamics 365, quick book system.
• Maintain audit-ready financial records by digitally uploading all vouchers and transactions according to the organization limit in Microsoft dynamics 365, quick book system.
• Administer, track, and cross-reference staff operational and travel advances; enforce timely settlements to ensure zero outstanding balances at month-end.
• Calculate, declare, and process monthly statutory tax liabilities—including Employment Income Tax, Pension Contributions (PoESSA), and 2% or 30% Withholding Tax (WHT).
• Verify that all commercial service providers possess valid commercial registrations, active Ethiopian TIN certificates, and provide legal VAT receipts.
• Ensure field-level operational expenses align directly with international accounting standards (IFRS) and institutional compliance guidelines.
• Manage timelines proactively to prevent any delays in statutory filings, acknowledging that any foreseeable delay must be communicated to the Finance Director immediately.
• Review Procurement Longlists (PLs) and Supply Chain Orders (SPOs) to confirm budget availability, correct cost-center allocation, and donor eligibility.
• Generate ad-hoc Budget Follow-Up (BFU) burn rate reports for the Program Management Team, the country Manager and other relevant roles at regional level to prevent under- or over-spending on specific sector lines.
• Facilitate timely monthly accountancy closure by ensuring completeness, accuracy, and proper financial cut-offs by the 10th of each month.
• Support internal, external, and donor-driven financial audits by retrieving organized vouchers, providing justifications, and addressing queries from auditors.
• Review expenditures against specific donor frameworks (e.g., ,WB, EU,etc) ) to prevent unallowable costs on grant lines.
• Collaborate with logistics teams to reconcile the physical asset register with financial capital expenditure accounts.
• Flag structural budget variances to the Country Manager, Field teams and Financial controller , suggesting budget realignments where necessary.
• Maintain confidential, updated physical and digital personnel files containing valid contracts, job descriptions, and performance histories.
• Oversee the administration of annual, sick, maternity, paternity, and compassionate leave in strict alignment with Ethiopian Labour Proclamation No. 1156/2019.
• Ensure all base staff accurately complete, sign, and date their monthly timesheets, reconciling them with active grant allocation keys before capital submission.
• Update and transmit the country staffs payroll variables database to the Senior HR Manager at regional and country level
• Coordinate local implementation of employee benefits, including staff medical insurance schemes, GPA provisions, Rest & Recuperation (R&R) cycles, and relocation support.
• Organize regular staff information sessions to update employees on policy modifications, organizational benefits, and statutory health provisions.
• Coordinate vacancy announcements on official local notice boards,platforms. manage application longlisting, and arrange written exams and interviews in collaboration with the country manager and the regional HR teams
• In collaboration with the Country Manager and the regional HR team Lead standard administrative and HR onboarding for new hires, ensuring understanding of operational policies, codes of conduct, and safety rules.
• Track contract expiry timelines systematically, issuing timely non-renewal or renewal notifications under guidance from local labor regulations.
• Drive the local implementation of annual and mid-year staff performance appraisal cycles, tracking timely completion rates across departments.
• Coordinate the exit clearance process for departing employees, ensuring the return of organizational assets and processing final payouts without delay.
• Serve as the central communication link between the field operational teams (Project Managers, senior/Project officers/ associates ) and regional HR and Finance specialists.
• Represent the organization constructively before local commercial banks, Ethiopian Ministry of Revenues (MoR) branches, and regional pension offices..
• Act as the local technical reference point for field staff, explaining standard operational procedures, documentation requirements, and internal rules clearly.
• Support sub-granted local Ethiopian implementing partners with financial reporting standards, building their administrative capacity where needed.
• Maintain collaborative operational relationships with relevant regional, zonal, or woreda government administrative and coordination offices.
• Foster open communication and inter-departmental collaboration within the field base to streamline operational workflows and resource utilization.
• Deliver Additional assignments in line with the organizational policies and procedures

Educational Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher (Master’s/MBA highly preferred) in Accounting, Finance, Commerce, Business Administration, or a closely related financial discipline.

Knowledge and Experience

• Minimum of five (5) to seven (7) years of progressive, professional experience within Ethiopia, with a proven record of accomplishment in managing complex non-profit accounting, multi-currency field treasuries, and multiple Logistics-finance workflows.
• At least 2 years Audit experience within Ethiopia
• Comprehensive, strategic understanding of Ethiopia’s financial and statutory landscapes, including the Civil Society Organizations (CSO) Proclamation No. 1113/2019, Federal Income Tax Proclamation No. 979/2016, and the Ethiopian Labour Proclamation No. 1156/2019.
• Proven experience directly managing financial relationships, institutional audits, and strict compliance workflows with international corporate donors (such as World Bank, EU, ), institutional grant-makers, and local regulatory bodies (Ministry of Revenues, PoESSA).
• Advanced management skills with demonstrated experience leading, mentoring, and evaluating multi-disciplinary base-level teams, finance assistants, and other program and administrative workers.
• Full professional fluency in written and spoken English is mandatory.

Specific Job Requirements

• Management of shifting funding landscapes, volatile currency markets; maintains high performance under pressure and steers field operations
• Advanced skills in strategic cash-flow scheduling, critical-path financial planning, liquidity forecasting, and resource allocation to ensure base operational costs and project disbursements are met seamlessly on time.
• Data-driven strategist capable of interpreting complex metrics, Budget Follow-Up (BFU) burn rates, tax structures, and field expenditure trends to formulate proactive, systemic solutions to operational bottlenecks.
• High-capacity manager capable of overseeing multiple distinct operational pillars simultaneously (Field assets,Microsoft dynamics 365, quick book accounting system.
• Accounting, Statutory Compliance, Core HR, and Local Recruitment) without losing internal control or quality.
• Inspiring leader who fosters cross-functional team cohesion between programs, logistics, and administration, aligns field accounting with long-term capital mandates, and drives compliance through clear delegation and vision.
• Executive-level communicator capable of delivering high-stakes financial briefs, technical closure packages, audit reconciliations, and persuasive fiscal presentations to corporate donors, external auditors, and senior country executives.
• Expert in designing, optimizing, and auditing field-level administrative systems, bookkeeping workflows, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and strict anti-fraud/internal compliance frameworks.
• Field Mobility & Audit Verification: willing to undertake extensive deep-field travel to remote project implementation sites to perform physical cash counts, audit asset registries, and verify local vendor compliance.