Finance Officer

The Opportunity - Finance Officer

The position will be in charge of accounting for Save the Children (SCI) and its partner expenses, handling function of payment in Lao Cai Office. He/she should support Finance Manager so as to ensure the integrity, transparency and timeliness of the expense data recognised in the system in line with General accounting principles, SCI policies and donor rules and regulations.

In the event of a major humanitarian emergency, the role holder will be expected to work outside the normal role profile and be able to vary working hours accordingly.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

The following are the main accountabilities:

Accounting

• Strictly follow steps in month end/year end checklist are strictly followed (ensure to process and post all needed expenses in the period to FMS before soft close, leaving the time between soft and hard close only for reviewing, doing necessarily required reallocations)
• Support Finance Manager in maintaining strong/healthy balance sheet and its management indicators;
• Review, verify and recognise expenses to the system in due time, ensuring eligibility of expenses in line with General accounting principles, SCI and donor policies and procedures;
• Clear advance, receivables payables in due time in line with SCI procedures.
• Work with Project Manager to prepare for accurate cash forecast needed for the month so as to support Accounting and Partner Coordinator to have an accurate consolidated cash forecast for the month;
• Post transactions into the Agresso through GLACOS, ensuring GLACOS is approved by CO before being posted;

Internal Control Policies Development

• Support Accounting and Partner Coordinator in the process of SCI internal control policy development, rolling out and implementation (including but not limited to accounting policy, payment policy, cost norm, partner guidelines);
• Provide policy induction/training to staff so that staff can understand and apply correctly the policies;

Partner Financial Management:

Review of Partner Advance and Reports

• Review partner reports in due time to verify the reports data are well justified by accounting books, cost items are justified, being within the budget and cost norm;
• Review partner advance request in due time, ensuring advance is within the approved budget, in line with the partner disbursement capacity, avoiding the situation that partner cash balance being high;

Partner Capacity Building

• Conduct partner assessment in due time so as to identify properly partner strength and weakness;
• Deliver partners’ training including financial management training and on fraud raising awareness: for new partners, induction is compulsory; for on-going partners, refresh training is needed and refresh training should focus on partner’s’ weaknesses which have been pointed out during finance visits and assessment;

Partner Close Out

• Carry out proper handover before final payment (handover of equipment/assets hand over).
• Process close out according to close out checklist.

Staff and Partner Capacity Training

Staff and Budget Holder Training

• Provide capacity building for staff including training and development of financial skills for both finance and non-finance staff;
• Support budget holder training (Budget Holders induction, annual Budget Holder training, ad hoc Budget Holder training);

Partner Capacity Building

• Conduct partner assessment in due time so as to identify properly partner strength and weakness;
• Deliver partners’ training including financial management training and on fraud raising awareness: for new partners, induction is compulsory; for on-going partners, refresh training is needed and refresh training should focus on partner’s’ weaknesses which have been pointed out during finance visits and assessment;

Support/Back up and other tasks

• Back up the task of bank and cash reconciliation at the month end when needed;
• Back up FP&A team in task of budget phasing during forecast period
• Maintain a comprehensive filing system of finance records for easy access when necessary;
• Strict control done over the assets and equipment in Lao Cai Office;
• Facilitate the stock check at Lao Cai Office and help in the reconciliation process with accounting data;
• Contribute/provide inputs to the process of policy/guideline updates

Working contacts

• Internal: Finance Manager, Finance and ICT Director, Senior Management Team, Programme and Finance Staff
• External: Government Agencies, INGOs, donors, suppliers of goods and services

BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice)

Accountability:

• Holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
• Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.

Ambition:

• Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same
• Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
• Future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.

Collaboration:

• Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters
• Values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
• Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.

Creativity:

• Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
• Willing to take disciplined risks.

Integrity:

• Honest, encourages openness and transparency

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in finance or relevant subject, MA is preferable

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS:

Essential

• At least 3 - 5 years’ experience in financial management, preferably in international organizations, INGOs and/or bilateral organization
• Solid understanding of Vietnamese government system and international development area
• Good financial management skill
• Have strong sense for compliance
• Having hand-on experiences in working with different accounting soft ware
• Good problem solving and negotiation skills
• Excellent interpersonal, communication and teamwork skills
• Excellent prioritization skill and ability to coordinate a variety of work activities
• Fluent English speaking and writing skills
• Proven commitment to children rights and equality of opportunity
• Good computer and IT skills

Desirable

• Knowledge of Vietnam development issues and NGO networks

Additional job responsibilities

• The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.

Equal Opportunities

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and procedures.

Child Safeguarding:

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

Level 2: either the post holder will have access to personal data about children and/or young people as part of their work; or the post holder will be working in a ‘regulated’ position (accountant, barrister, solicitor, legal executive); therefore, a police check will be required (at ‘standard’ level in the UK or equivalent in other countries).

Health and Safety

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures.

The Organisation

We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education, and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realize children’s rights and ensure their voices are heard. 

We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:

• No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday
• All children learn from quality basic education and that,
• Violence against children is no longer tolerated

We know that great people make a great organization and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children.  We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive workplace where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.

Application Information

Please apply using a cover letter and up-to-date CV as a single document and use format. Please also include details of your current remuneration and salary expectations. A copy of the full role profile can be found at:

Lao Cai - Finance Officer (Temporarily 6 months) - National Only - SCI Career Site Careers (oraclecloud.com)

Location: LAO CAI city

Contract length: 6 - 7 months

Closing Date: 06 Oct 2023

If you have any issues with applying via our system, please send an email explaining your troubles to [email protected]

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

All employees are expected to carry out their duties by our global anti-harassment policy.