State Finance and Administration Officer 171 views0 applications

Palladium is a global leader in the design, development and delivery of Positive Impact – the intentional creation of enduring social and economic value. We work with foundations, investors, governments, corporations, communities and civil society to formulate strategies and implement solutions that generate lasting social, environmental and financial benefits.

For the past 50 years, we have been making Positive Impact possible. With a team of more than 2,500 employees operating in 90 plus countries and a global network of more than 35,000 technical experts, Palladium has improved – and is committed to continuing to improve – economies, societies and most importantly, people’s lives.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

State Finance and Administration Officer

Location: Borno

Project Overview and Role

• The Finance and Administration Officer is responsible for the day to day running of the office which includes management of the office resources and coordination of all logistical needs, ensuring timely payment of all invoices and expenses for the ECP programme and also responsible for the remittance of all statutory payments at the state level related to both vendors, service providers, staff and consultants.
• The SFAO will directly manage all office support staff and drivers and will work closely with all state team members to ensure the effective delivery of the programme.
• The SFAO will provide support to the State Team Leader (STL) to ensure programme activities and financial duties are completed in a compliant and timely manner. The SFAO will work closely with the National Finance Manager (NFM) and the National Administration Manager (NAM) to ensure the effective oversight of the programme finances and administration.

Authority levels
Reporting requirements:

• The State Finance and Administration Officer reports to the State Team Leader

Line Management:

• Line management of driver, office assistants and any administrative intern/National Youth Corper. This includes conducting staff performance management, including mentoring, staff development, and approval of timesheets, appraisal, arbitration, and enforcement of discipline.
• Provide adequate training and mentoring to any junior staff member in basic office administration management to be able to cover (whether individually or collectively) for the SFAO when on leave/out of post – scope and/or share of duties and responsibility to be defined through written agreement with the STL.

Signatory authority:

• This position has no signatory authority but will be required to work closely with other team members who do have signatory authority and provide them sound recommendations. They will also work as part of the team to ensure that the variance of spend against forecast remains below 2% on a monthly basis, this is achieved by good communication of spend and anticipated spend against forecast to the State Finance and Administration Officer.
• The State Finance and Administration Officer is required to inform their line manager if there are any breaks in compliance with financial processes as set out in the programme operations manual.

Relationships
Teamwork & Mentoring:

• Familiarize yourself with the work and needs of all your team members as well as key programme management frameworks: technical, financial and administrative policies and guidelines.
• Maintain a good working relationship with the North East team and most importantly, the State Team Leader and State Partnership Facilitators.
• Establish working relationships with counterparts in PERL pillars 1 and 3 if relevant
• Mentor other colleagues and contractors (within and outside of PERL, and across states) – direct provision of guidance and support, consistent with ECP’s key values/principles. Encourage and nurture interest in programme work shown by direct reports.
• Actively contribute to Team-Building within the state team – use of shared mission, vision, values, identity/public profile, use of staff meetings, staff welfare, social events, formal and informal opportunities, etc, to reinforce teamwork. Actively contribute to a positive office culture within the joint Palladium office in your state (if applicable), and collaborate with other programmes to ensure operational synergies. Look out for, highlight and support resolution of internal challenges impacting on team performance.

Responsibilities

• Establishment & Maintenance of Office Finance and Administration Management Systems (working with the guidelines developed from the national office and within the programme operations manual)

Primary Responsibility Finance:

• In conjunction with the State Team Leader set-up and maintain the office safe for secure storage of petty cash and confidential/restricted documents (financial and staff personal) and filing and retrieval systems for all financial records (in soft and hard copy) in compliance with the required programme financial management procedures.
• Act as the main point of contact with a state branch of the mandated bank. This includes responding to any queries from the bank and managing changes in signatories/approval authorities on the ECP account. The SFAO will also act as the main point of contact between the local tax authorities and the programme
• Provide all office staff with practical orientation and ensure adequate understanding of all office financial management systems, procedures and individual responsibilities, and provide them with templates for fund requesting and financial reporting. The SFAO will keep up-to-date with the Palladium financial templates as found on SharePoint and ensure that all staff are using the appropriate templates for their requests. They will also liaise directly with the National Finance Manager on all issues relating to maintenance and further development of the office financial management systems.
• Supervise all of ECP’s banking transactions in the state.
• Manage petty cash with daily reconciliation
• Ensure that procedures as set out in the programme operations manual are followed for direct payments to non-ECP staff (partners, local TA, suppliers, etc) using electronic transfers when possible.
• Book-keeping of the office imprest account – draw cheques, monitor repayment of advance, enter data daily into the accounts system, reconcile bank statements weekly against office accounts, and sign off imprest account.
• Prepare monthly financial forecasts and reports for the state, including statements of the office imprest account, make requests for funds transfer from the Abuja office against agreed dates and tranches, provide original supporting documents on expenditure to the Abuja office, maintain copies locally, and provide state level data for the monthly variance report prepared by the Abuja office for the programme.
• Make payment of PAYE for state office staff to state tax authority based on PAYE payment schedule sent from the ECP Abuja office, as well as withhold and remit the WHT of local TA, suppliers, etc, at the defined rate to the state tax authority, and forward the receipt to the payee.
• Respond to any queries and requests from the HOS and NFM relating to financial oversight and quality control of state financial information through the State Team Leader, including participation in any peer review audit and compliance with all external audit requirements.
• Monitor compliance of all office staff with all office financial management procedures and individual responsibilities in accordance with the programme operations manual and Palladium policies and procedures, and report any non-compliance to the State Team Leader for required action.
• Be a member of the ECP State Procurement Committee for specific items and to validate/update preferred suppliers list: review and make recommendations.
• Support STL and technical team to guide, oversee, review and advice partners on their financial management of project funds provided by ECP for programme implementation.

Primary Responsibility Administration:

• Office Running – ensure efficient use of all office facilities including vehicles, complaint with ECP policy. Give specific attention to monitoring and analysis of fuel consumption of office vehicles and generators. Oversee housekeeping and stock-keeping of consumable items and ensure necessary supplies are maintained at minimum stock levels, including fuel and provision of staff on front desk/reception duty.
• Structure & Equipment – monitor the integrity of the property and condition of facilities and equipment, inform proprietor of required repairs, oversee/monitor repairs, and ensure asset labeling and asset register/inventory are up to date.
• Vehicle Running – co-ordinate vehicle movements based on the work schedule for the state team, and ensure all transport provisions for the state office are efficient, effective and safe:
  • For car-hire: check condition of vehicles, tyres, seat-belts availability of required vehicle documentation, and the standard of driving (with support from the national office for driver training) all meet minimum requirements.
  • For office vehicles: check office drivers are meeting the minimum required standards for vehicle maintenance and driving (to be checked periodically by the national office through driver training), and monitor and analyse fuel, and other consumable items, on a regular basis.4.1.17. Information Management – ensure effective use of internal information management systems by all state office staff, including use of filing systems, file coding, data protocols, electronic file version control and data back-up, and supervise the provision of local IT support for the state office (in close collaboration with the M&E/KM ICT Specialist).
• HR – support the National Admin Manager in providing inductions/orientations for new state team members, maintain accurate personnel records including timesheets and leave applications. These should be appropriately stored in a confidential manner in an area accessible to the NAM.
• Take minutes of general/operational staff meetings which take place at the state level and ensure that these are circulated to all staff in a timely manner.
• Compile a periodic (monthly/weekly) work schedule for the state team and circulate to all staff (via notice board/e-mail).
• Ensure that Office Health, Safety and Security (OHSS) information is displayed in an obvious position in the office in line with the guidelines laid out in the project operations manual.

State procurement, logistics and security administration:

• Manage the security of the office location, physical structure and alterations, provide oversight of security guards and track vehicle movements, all to minimum security requirements as directed by Palladium Nigeria Security Manager and in collaboration with the National Logistics and Security Manager.
• Ensure that the state programme complies with required health and safety standards (fire, personal risk, accident, etc) as defined by Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs) contained in the Programme Operations Manual.
• Become well versed in DFID and their assigned procurement agents procurement regulations and systems as defined in the ECP Programme Operations Manual, and basic familiarization and appreciation of the programme’s financial systems.
• Manage state procurement and contracting of local service providers (in close collaboration with the National Procurement & Security Manager where required) based on the decisions of the ECP State Procurement Committee, of which the SFAO is both a Member and the Secretary.
• Maintain an updated preferred suppliers list (liaise with other programmes and DFID to enable comparative pricing/VfM), and select preferred local suppliers through competitive process, validated by the State Procurement Committee.
• Take stock of all stationary and office supplies and record in the ‘stock control book’ ensuring that additional stock is ordered as required.
• Liaise with staff with lead responsibility for implementation of specific programme activities to organise logistical support as required, on the basis of agreed workplans and schedules, as endorsed by the STL through minuted weekly staff meetings or via e-mail correspondence.
• Provide logistical support to all short-term TA and visitors (local, national and international): arrange ‘meet & greet’, hotel accommodation, local travel, etc, through liaison with the National Administration Manager where necessary.
• Liaise with the providers of local facilities (within and outside the state) on behalf of programme staff to secure bookings for hotels, halls, care-hire, etc, for programme events.
• Make payment to the facilities (hotels, halls, care-hire, etc) used for programme events.
• Keep a record of the adequacy of the logistical arrangements for any programme activities / TA inputs, state visits, etc – particularly where any were inadequate, with reasons and suggested improvements (informing preferred suppliers list), routinely reported to the STL, and copying in the National Administration Manager and National Security and Logistics where necessary. Sort out any logistical problems arising during programme event with the facility managers and staff (back-stopping on accommodation, feeding and transport), and provide reasonable ‘customer service’ for partners.

State Programme Assistance:

• Support staff with lead responsibility for implementation of specific programme activities to calculate activity budgets (using the ‘standard unit costs’ spreadsheet in programme strategic planning framework) and to input into state work-plans and budgets where required
• Support technical team to access, manage and retire funds for programme activities relating to partners and incidental expenses during and immediately after programme events.

Compliance Policies
Agree that performance will be assessed based on these Terms of References:

• Understand that you will be expected to undertake any reasonable task as requested by the line manager.
• Maintain and actively promote the implementation of Palladium’s Code of conduct, Diversity and Inclusion, Whistle-blowing and Child Protection, Safeguarding and Respectful Workplace policies
• It is the responsibility of the staff to constantly check for updates for these courses, instructions and briefs as they may arise. There is zero tolerance on defaulters.
• Ensure familiarity with all DFID and Palladium policies & procedures and check the ECP SharePoint regularly to ensure that any updates are also being implemented in a timely manner.
• Adhere to all stipulated PERL-ECP communications protocols regarding use of official email, Box, SharePoint/MIS, Twitter, Facebook, etc. accounts.
• Ensure all labor and finances relating to this role is accurately reported (using correct codes, inserting adequate comments) in timesheets, expense claims and cashbooks. Ensure cost of all activities completed falls within that forecasted to ensure monthly variances of reimbursable income to DFID are kept below 2%.
• Work to place the programme’s core values/principles, approach, ethos and priorities above private interests while delivering to this role.

Requirements
Minimum education and experience:

• Bachelor’s degree or its equivalent in Finance, Business Administration/studies or a related field
• At least 3 years professional experience working in a financial management position
• Experience with DFID or other donors is advantageous
• Proven ability to effectively manage an office
• Line management experience of at least 1 year

Key competencies and professional expertise required:

• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to communicate with both national and international staff members
• Excellent security awareness with the ability to take decisions quickly in the event of being involved in an incident.
• Good understanding of Northeast terrain and location conflict dynamics including route networks and security dimension

Key Behaviors in Engaged Citizens:

• Accountability – Accountability entails being open and transparent in all our work, action and behavior.
• Sustainability – Keeping the process going or continuous is key.
• Respectfulness & Inclusiveness – Sensitivity to people, context and environment; everybody counts.
• Learning & Sharing – Everyone knows something and shares something.
• Teamwork – Recognizing everyone’s value and encouraging effective work in teams.
• Adaptive and Iterative – being politically smart and how well our systems and processes respond to changes is key.