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Job Title:      Interim Project Accountant
& Administrator – CCP

Organization: Farm
Africa

Duty Station: 
Lira, Uganda

Reports to:  Project
Coordinator – CCP

Duration: 4 months (May – September 2020)

About US:

Farm Africa, founded
in 1985, is an international non-governmental organization working in Uganda,
Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. We drive agricultural and environmental change to
improve lives. Our strategy has three pillars: agricultural expertise,
management and preservation of ecosystems, and the power of business to drive
prosperity. We believe Africa has the power to feed itself and are helping make
this happen by establishing and spreading the best farming and forestry
techniques so that poor farmers and herders have more food to feed their
families and to sell. We help smallholders manage their natural resources
sustainably so that they can withstand climate change challenges and shocks and
ensure their families have enough food in the future as well as now. Farm
Africa works in partnership with communities, government, local and
international organizations, and the private sector to innovate, learn and
share best practices for maximum impact of our projects.

About Project:

Farm Africa is
mid-way through implementation of a three-year project in partnership with aBi
Development Limited and the North East Chilli Producers Association (NECPA).
The project is focussed on creating a more competitive and profitable chilli
value chain within Lira, northern Uganda to capitalise on growing international
demand for varieties of Ugandan African Birds Eye (ABE) dried chillies. The
project will strengthen the technical capacity of NECPA and their extension
team to support market-orientated chilli production across their entire area of
operation. Key project activities include; delivering an enhanced extension
package to 3,000 (120 groups of 25) chilli farmers in Aromo, Barr and Amach
sub-counties; reforming input supply within Aromo, Barr and Amach sub-counties
to ensure there is an adequate flow of high-quality inputs to service growing
demand from farmers; supporting NECPA to obtain the proper certification and
licencing required in order to begin accessing and selling their farmers’
chillies directly into high-value export markets. At the same time, the project
will promote greater inclusivity within the value chain, encouraging female and
youth led production by educating on gender mainstreaming and creating new enterprise
opportunities.

Job Summary:
The Interim Project Accountant & Administrator – CCP will maintain high
standards of financial management and reporting for Farm Africa’s
Commercialising Chilli Production project on an interim basis whilst the
permanent Project Accountant & Administrator is on maternity leave.

Key Duties and Responsibilities: The key responsibilities of the Interim
Project Accountant & Administrator will be:

Accounting and
Finance – managing income and expenditure processing, and maintaining accurate
financial records – in particular:

·       
Ensuring
prompt and accurate accounting for all project income and expenditure using SUN
templates in Excel format.

·       
Ensuring
that proper accounting records are maintained at the field site including
debtor and creditor listings and staff working advance records, carrying out
monthly reconciliations

·       
Coding
and gaining authorisation for all expenditure according to Farm Africa and
where applicable, aBi procedures

·       
Maintaining
full, accurate and detailed hard copy records for each and every transaction
funded by aBi for quarterly donor verification Ensuring timely payment of all
invoices and expenditures

·       
Reviewing
the quarterly transactions for NECPA and uploading them to QuickBooks/SUN.

·       
Conducting
quarterly visits to NECPA offices to carry out internal auditing on processes
and documentation

·       
Ensuring
enough cash available for smooth implementation of the projects by preparing
and submitting monthly cash forecasts to the Uganda Country Office.

·       
Undertaking
regular banking duties including checking of balances, prompt cash and cheque
deposits, collecting bank statements periodically as may be required. And
acting as a bank agent for Farm Africa

·       
Performing
monthly general ledger accounting reconciliations and analysis ensuring
accuracy of ledger and month end reporting in accordance with GAAP,
organisational policy and donor regulations. This includes reconciliations of
bank, cash, SWA, Prepayments and creditors/Inter-project accounts

Financial reporting
including:

·       
Supplying
accurate and complete monthly project accounts to the Country Office team.

·       
Producing
financial reports in line with donor reporting requirements Reviewing and
feeding back on monthly Budget Monitoring Reports

·       
Monthly
submission of detailed transaction reports to Kampala as required for monthly
donor reporting

·       
Collating
and submitting all accountabilities on a quarterly basis to the donor for
physical verification

·       
Working
with the Finance & Administration Manager (based in Kampala) to ensure that
all donor reporting requirements are met

·       
Working
with the NECPA finance team to ensure they are conversant with and operating
within the donor financial reporting requirements

·       
In
particular review NECPAs monthly transaction reports and verifications and
share with Kampala team for onward reporting

Budgeting and
budget management tasks including:

·       
Assisting
the Project Coordinator with preparing and checking budget revisions during the
year as required

·       
Weekly upload
of all FA transactions to SUN templates

·       
Maintaining
accurate and up to date expenditure records that allow real time monitoring of
expenditure against budget for each and every budget line

Ensuring compliance
with standards contained in the Farm Africa Finance Procedures Manual and aBi
Finance Manual by both FA and NECPA teams, and in particular:

·       
Advising
the Project Coordinator, Program Manager and/or Country Director on relevant
budgetary control measures to address any identified weakness in policy and/or
practice.

·       
Feeding
back any pertinent financial management issues to the Finance Administrative
Manager, Program Manager and/or Country Director

·       
Ensuring
all procurement by FA or NECPA is carried out in adherence to Farm Africa’s and
aBi’s procurement policies

·       
Ensuring
that all expenditures by FA and NECPA are fully documented in line with aBi
Financial Management guidelines

·       
Ensuring
time sheets are completed where necessary (all NECPA staff and EOs, and any FA
staff member who is not 100% dedicated to the project)

·       
Ensuring
driver and vehicle log books in place, that fuel records for vehicles are
analysed on a monthly basis, and that cars and motorcycles are comprehensively
insured are being maintained and serviced according to supplier guidelines.

Line management:

·       
Assisting
the Project Driver & Assistant with managing their workload in accordance
with the requirements of the Farm Africa and NECPA delivery teams

·       
Holding
supervision sessions with the Driver & Assistant at least once per quarter
(to discuss progress against work plans and targets and resolve any outstanding
issues)

·       
Ensuring
all direct reports have objectives in place and their performance regularly
appraised in line with Farm Africa’s systems and policies.

Playing a key role
in delivering the wider objectives of Farm Africa’s aBi Chillies project
including:

·       
Facilities
management for Lira Office

·       
Assisting
with facilitating monitoring and communications visits from Donors and/or the
wider Farm Africa team

·       
Maintaining
proper personnel files for the aBi chillies project team such as leave records,
annual appraisals and general personal records

·       
Undertaking
any other duties as reasonably requested by the project coordinator

NB: These essential
functions are not to be interpreted as a complete statement of all duties
performed. Employees will be required to perform other job related duties as
required. All work responsibilities are subject to having performance goals
and/or targets established. 

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

·       
The applicant
for the Farm Africa Interim Project Accountant & Administrator – CCP job
must hold a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting or Finance

·       
CPA (II)
or equivalent

·       
At least
three years’ experience working in an accounting position in a field/project
office for a NGO

·       
Experience
of producing project budgets and monitoring expenditure against them

·       
Experience
of day-to-day expenditure management in a project or field office – including
issuance of SWAs, verification of accountabilities etc

·       
Experience
of maintaining detailed and accurate expenditure records

·       
Experience
of working with local CSOs and building their financial management capacity

·       
Experience
of auditing and/or verifying financial records of partner organisations

·       
Experience
of managing procurement processes

·       
Experience
of managing other staff

·       
Experience
of facilities and/or fleet management

Skills & abilities

·       
Excellent
Excel Skills

·       
Excellent
IT skills

·       
Strong
written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to communicate
with people from a broad range of backgrounds

Desired:

·       
Post
graduate qualification in a relevant discipline

·       
CPA
(III) or ACCA Qualification

·       
Familiarity
with SUN accounting systems

·       
Working
for an INGO as the finance lead in a field/project office

·       
Experience
of working on aBi-funded projects

·       
Experience
of acting as a bank agent, and using online banking to set up payments

·       
Experience
of establishing financial record keeping systems (online and offline) and
supporting partner organisations to do the same.

·       
Experience
of maintaining HR and personnel records

·       
Experience
of managing project-level external and/or donor audits

·       
Experience
of using an online grants management system to report expenditure

·       
Negotiating
& managing partner relationships

·       
Experience
in leading teams in problem solving

How to Apply:

All candidates
should send an updated CV, salary history and a two-page supporting statement
detailing how you meet the person specification and your availability/notice
period to ugandarecruitment@farmafrica.org including ‘Interim Project
Accountant & Administrator- ‘CCP Project ’ in the subject line.

Please DO NOT send
additional documents such as certificates and references with your application.
Successful candidates ONLY will be required to provide these documents during
the referencing process.

It is anticipated
that first round interviews will take place over Skype w/c 20th April 2020.
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Deadline: 16^th April 2020 by 10:00am

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