Accountant & Deputy Departmental Finance Officer

A vacancy has arisen at the British High Commission for a Locally Engaged Accountant & Deputy Departmental Finance Officer. The BHC consists of 360 employees with a wide variety of experience and job roles, representing 10 government departments working within Kenya and Somalia.  The aim of the BHC is to help “build a more stable and prosperous Kenya”, and support British nationals who visit or live in Kenya. The job is graded at B3 (L) for which the current salary scale starts at Ksh.185, 628/- per month before deduction of tax.  Where the jobholder is not liable to Kenyan tax the scale will be abated under HM Treasury rules and starts at Kshs.136, 067/- per month to take account of the tax they would have paid.  The contract will be for a fixed term period of 1 year, with possibility of further extension.

The Role

The successful candidate will join a newly restructured Corporate Services Team within the British High Commission. They will play a key role in managing and delivering the BHC finance portfolio, dealing with a range of corporate returns and providing support to the Head of Finance, Director of Corporate Services and Deputy Head Corporate Services (Resources) in improving and maintaining high level financial performance in BHC. Financial services are provided to a range of UK Government departments working on Kenya and Somalia. The successful candidate will contribute to the development and  implementation of finance objectives and  processes aimed at providing a quality finance service and accurate budget management and forecasting. The jobholder will be line managed by the BHC Finance Manager.

Key Responsibilities:

Working closely with the BHC Senior Management Teams, the Director of Corporate Services and the Deputy Head Corporate Services (Resources), the key focus of the role will be:-

• Imprest Account Management
• Finance officer duties relating to DFID and BHC accounts, working closely with the Finance and Corporate reporting teams  in UK and Nairobi
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The main duties include:

Accounts Payable

• Approval and Supervision of the daily pay-run processes.
• Investigate & resolve transaction problems.
• Approval of staff sensitive payments on ARIES/PRISM (DFID and FCO finance systems).
• Review all transactions being processed on ARIES and/or PRISM by the Deputy Accountant to ensure that they are correctly approved and represent Value for Money (VfM) for the organization.
• Oversee the invoice registration process.
• Oversee and ensure that local suppliers are paid on-time.

Cash and bank management

• Oversee the management of the office petty cash ensuring the safety of the petty cash safe.
• To review and approve all bank and cash reconciliations weekly.
• Maintain and manage the corporate relationships with Local Bankers, pension providers, suppliers and other key stakeholders. Manage the Imprest funding and ensure sufficient funds are available to cover all local expenditure. Ensure that the local imprest is managed according to HMG Imprest Accounting guidelines and that spot check queries are followed up and closed within a reasonable time period.

Management of Control Accounts

• Manage the advance accounts and ensure all advances are accounted for and recorded appropriately on ARIES/PRISM.
• Creditors & Debtors control accounts management ensuring compliance with HMG policies.

Period End Activities

• Compilation of monthly Imprest report for  approval
• Participate in the Year End closure procedures.

Processing/Payment of Local Staff Salaries

• Monthly, process the Local staff salaries as approved by Human Resources Manager and/or Finance Manager.
• Ensure statutory payments (NSSF, PAYE, NHIF) are made on time.

Deputy Finance Officer Role

• Preparation of accurate and timely corporate financial returns.
• Ensuring the availability of accurate financial forecasts from admin budget monitors.
• Processing of monthly accruals and prepayments  working closely with BHC teams and the UK Finance and Corporate reporting team
• Monitoring expenditure on the operational budget, advising on reallocations, and assisting with the preparation of future budget bids. Lead on monthly meetings with the Senior Management highlighting any major issues affecting the operational budgets and coming up with ideas and solutions on how to manage the budget better.
• Assist in managing the HMG assets and asset returns, working closely with asset monitors.

Finance Analysis/Management

• Monitor service level agreement charging and provision of financial information forecasts, analysis and budgets
• Provide financial analysis inputs for key projects such as pay reviews, staff budget analysis and baseline cost analysis
• Coordinate the review of the monthly financial spend as reported in the Other Government Department(OGD) report, giving feedback to budget monitors and ensuring that charging instructions are updated on a quarterly basis.

Required Skills:-

The post holder will need to be enthusiastic, self-starting, quick thinking and motivated as they will be called upon to oversee and manage a wide range of issues that arise within the team.  They should also have a keen eye for detail and accuracy and possess excellent numeracy skills.

They should also have the skills to gather large sets of information, analyse, collate and produce management reports that are useful for decision making.

They will have line management responsibility for the Deputy Accountant. Good management skills are therefore a pre-requisite for this post. They will also be expected to play wider management and coaching roles in the team and office.

The successful candidate should have excellent communication and organisational skills.  They must be results focussed and able to work accurately and at pace. They will need to demonstrate that they can also work effectively and collaboratively as part of a team.

The jobholder must have an appropriate accounting qualification - a degree in Finance/Accounting and/or have completed professional accounting course (CPA/ACCA). Excellent written and spoken English and strong IT skills and in depth knowledge of Microsoft Excel, Word and Ms Outlook are essential for this role. 

Key Competences:

The following core competences are required in this post:

• Managing & Developing Staff - Line management of individuals: encourages high levels of motivation and performance, supporting and coaching staff to get the best from them.  Values diversity, treating staff with equity and fairness, and creating a climate that embraces different ways of thinking and acting and encourages all to fulfil their potential.
• Delivering Results - Takes responsibility for delivering own work with speed, and professionalism. Responds flexibly to changing priorities, monitoring progress and quality of own work and meeting objectives. Demonstrates the financial and resource management expertise necessary to achieve results.
• Problem Solving & Judgement - Systematically gathers information, assimilates and evaluates it and reaches logical and timely conclusions which can be defended.
• Communicating & Influencing - Presents a professional image of self, Department/Post and FCO. Conveys information accurately and concisely, adjusting style according to purpose and audience.  Able to influence people in meetings and in writing in order to achieve objectives
• Taking a Wider Perspective - Ability to see the bigger picture, put own work in context and make connections.  Encourages and contributes new ideas, innovation and experiment.  At this level, this competence involves the ability to look beyond the detail of individual tasks and see how own objectives fit in to the wider work of the Department/Post.
• Customer Focus – Understands and focuses on customer needs.

Application:

Applications – (CV plus completed application form) clearly marked: - “B3 (L) Accountant & Deputy Departmental Officer” Vacancy should be sent by email to:  HR.Recruit@fco.gov.uk    

You can access the job profile and BHC application form by visiting our website www.gov.uk/world/kenya.

Applications should be received on or before 4pm on 26 September 2013. 

The British High Commission is an equal opportunities employer. Applications are welcomed from all suitably qualified individuals irrespective of race, gender, ethnicity, religion or disability. All applications will be treated on merit basis through fair and open competition.