The Organisation

 

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls.

 

We believe in the power and potential of every child. But this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it’s girls who are most affected.

 

Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children.

 

We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood. And we enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge.

 

We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 85 years, and are now active in more than 75 countries.

ROLE PROFILE

 

Job Title HEAD OF FINANCE
Function Finance Supervises Lead Accountant – Budget & Reporting

Lead Accountant-Controls & Accountng

Lead Accountant – Partner Support

Reports to Country Director
Location Country Office Travel required 20 %
Effective Date June 2022 Grade Level 17
ORGANISATION OVERVIEW & ROLE PURPOSE

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organization that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We believe in the power and potential of every child. However,  this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination, and it is girls who are most affected.

Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners in more than 70 countries across Africa, Asia and the Americas, Plan International’s purpose is to strive for a just world that advances children’s rights and equality of girls. We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood. We enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge.

Plan International Uganda’s (PIU) five-year Country Strategy (CS) has been approved for the period 2023 – 2027. Currently, the country programme reaches over 1 million children supported in four Programme Areas (PAs) and an urban programme in Kampala. It has a country annual budget turnover of around €15 million, a growing team of over 300 full time staff. PIU manages a caseload of  33,000 sponsored children and a large and diverse grants portfolio from bilateral and multilateral donors with a strong pipeline and potential of further funding opportunities.

The purpose of this role is to provide leadership over financial planning and analysis, providing business critical information to support management decisions making to enhance the effectiveness of activities to support achievement of Plan International Uganda’s strategy. The incumbent will be responsible for the finance staff and partner financial capacity strengthening, development and implementation of good internal controls, compliance at all levels, and utilization and safeguarding of assets according to PIU approved policies and procedures.
ROLE DIMENSIONS:
The Head of Finance provides overall leadership, oversight and management support for all aspects of financial management in PIU. This position is part of the Country Leadership Team, with a focus on ensuring accountability, compliance and stewardship, coordinating financial planning and developing financial strategy.  The role provides overall leadership to the finance team based in five field offices plus Kampala office and provide adequate management information to members of the Country Leadership Team and project/program managers.
The role involves considering the financial implications of both strategic and operational plans, advising management on how to achieve optimal value for money; considerable forward thinking and analytical thinking are required.
This position is responsible for reviewing the entire PIU budget of around €15 million annually and can review all financial transactions. Additionally, the job holder is responsible for ensuring that financial systems, procedures and controls result in efficient utilisation of resources and effectively manage risk.
The key challenge for this position is accuracy and compliance in financial management, reporting and cost recovery.

  • Some independent analysis and decision-making is required to address problems where financial laws, regulations, policies and procedures do not provide suitable guidance and where there is significant risk exposure
  • The Head of Finance will deal with large, unusual and complex transactions and ensure these are managed appropriately and effectively whilst mitigating risk
  • The position is required to deal with partner organizations and government to ensure accuracy and compliance with financial laws, regulations, policies and procedures where there is often limited capacity
  • An ability to arbitrate between parties and to find solutions to difficult financial issues is necessary

Level of contact with children

This position has been classified as “low contact”: Limited interaction with children
Key result areas:

KRA 1: Strategy, Planning & Budgeting

As a member of the Country Leadership Team, support the organisation in strategic and operational planning and budgeting; facilitate decision making to optimise value-for-money in the deployment of resources:
Analyse internal and external financial information and trends in external funding in order to identify issues that might impact on the financial wellbeing or viability of PIU
Contribute to the development of Strategic and Annual Business plans and Project Plans, advising management on the resource implications and drawing attention to any matters that warrant concern
Oversee the development of both long term and annual resourcing projections in consultation with the CLT, presenting to, and gaining approval from as required.
Act as focal point for the country annual budgeting process; provide support to the Lead Accountant – Budget & Reporting to deliver good quality, timely, budgeting with budget-holders across the organisation.
Provide strategic oversight of critical financial decision making, including taxation (planning and transactions), financial asset management, treasury management etc.
KRA 2: Financial Analysis, Reporting & Advisory
Ensure that quality financial data analysis is provided on time to support budget-holders in decision making; support management to achieve value for money and manage finances in line with good practice and PI policies:
Oversee the financial reporting team, ensuring that all required financial reports are produced as required and in a timely fashion
Assure the quality and timeliness of key year-end financial reports as per the Plan International’s Financial Reporting Timetable; likewise for financial reports to donors
Effectively monitor both grant and sponsorship funds to ensure effective utilization of Plan’s funds; highlighting any concerns to the CLT and any potential over or underspend.
Ensure that regular (quarterly and monthly) budget reviews are conducted and ensure the ‘deed of variation’ procedure is efficient and adequately resourced
KRA 3: Partner Monitoring & Capacity Building
Oversee the local partner financial management department, ensuring that partner assessments are completed, that liquidations are managed and monitored and that partner capacity building is delivered:
Ensure financial assessment of a partner is documented and dated as part of MOU/agreement with partners prior to any advance payments being made
Advise the Programme Implementation Team and Partnership Management on the needs of potential new partners for financial capacity-building, enhanced internal controls and appropriate risk management
Ensure that effective systems and procedures are in place and implemented to monitor payments to partners; ensuring partner expenditure is reviewed and tested on a sample basis by Plan and that payments are in line with partner agreements
Oversee the design, delivery and evaluation of financial capacity-building training to partners; trouble-shooting any instances of poor financial management by partners and adapting strategies to provide additional support
KRA 4: Accounting & Treasury
Oversee the accounting and treasury department, ensuring that financial controls are managed and that transactions are entered onto the system in a timely and accurate fashion:
Manage the accounting system effectively and accurately according to Finance Operations Management Standards and Plan’s policy
Ensure cash is safeguarded and is managed to ensure operational needs can be met at the right time
Ensure that all financial transactions are filed with sufficient supporting documents for audit trail
Ensure that the team keeps abreast of changes in financial regulations and that PIU fully complies with all legal and statutory requirements from a financial perspective
KRA 5: Internal Control & Risk Management
Take responsibility as part of CLT for financial risk management in country; lead the development of PIU’s control system and highlight any areas of concern to the relevant accountable managers:
Ensure that key financial risks are comprehensively mapped at all levels of PIU’s operation; develop and implement risk mitigating actions
Ensure appropriate financial controls processes, procedures, systems are in place and adhered to; oversee the implementation global financial policies and procedures by PIU
Ensure delegation of authority and segregation of duties matrix is up to date and authorized in accordance with operations manual
Facilitate internal and external audit missions and ensure the final audit report is sent to key stakeholders on time; follow up to ensure that finance-related audit actions are implemented and action taken as required to address weaknesses in financial controls and procedures
Seek to create a culture of compliance and effective risk management through provision of training and coaching; assertively communicate any major and/or systematic procedural non-compliance to the CLT
KRA 6: Leadership & Staff Management
Lead the Finance team in a manner that empowers them to deliver high quality, timely, support to the wider organisation:
Liaise with the department’s internal and external customers to understand their needs for support and information; develop service level agreements if appropriate
Regularly review the team staffing levels to ensure that required service levels can be realistically delivered; at the same time ensuring that staff are fully occupied and working efficiently
Communicate clear performance expectations to the team, providing training, coaching and other support as required; manage any poor performance firmly but fairly, in line with PIU’s policy
Coordinate effectively with others to ensure high performance within PIU’s matrix operating structure
Foster an inclusive environment by implementation of policies that provide for diversity and equal opportunities and utilisation of a leadership style that will drive employee engagement
KRA 7: Safeguarding and Gender Equality & Inclusion
Ensure that Plan International’s global policies for Safeguarding Children and Young People and Gender Equality and Inclusion are fully embedded in accordance with the principles and requirements of the policy including relevant Implementation Standards and Guidelines as applicable to their area of responsibility. This includes, but is not limited to ensuring staff and associates are aware of and understand their responsibilities under these policies and Plan International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), their relevance to their area of work, and that concerns are reported and managed in accordance with the appropriate procedures.
ROLE REQUIREMENTS:

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree from a recognised university
ACCA/CPA/CIMA fully qualified
At least 10 years progressive experience in financial management in relatively large organisations of similar complexity to Plan International in Uganda, specially grants funded organizations or commercial businesses.

Leadership Competencies

Myself as a Leader
Leads through influence rather than position, and role models our values, accelerating gender equality inside and outside PIU; leads change by developing new ideas and strategies.

Lasting Impact

Works with peers to shape an ambitious and coherent strategy, aligned with our purpose; able to make sense of significantly complex information; contributes effectively to decision-making across functions.

Open & Accountable

Works constructively with the wider Plan International Federation, our governance structures, partners and stakeholders; optimises the deployment of resources (people, finances, assets) to achieve the best progress and long-term impact.

Work Well Together

Creates a positive team spirit, helping people work well together as a team; proactively resolves situations of conflict by generating solutions that will work for all involved; deliberately adjusts own behaviour to influence or persuade others.

Inclusive & Empowering

Delegates tasks and decisions, trusting and stretching others but ensuring they have the resources and support they need; adopts a coaching approach with the people they manage or advise.

Skills & Knowledge

Creates space for reflection and uses external evidence and internal evaluation to identify what and how we need to improve; creates a safe environment for others to challenge self or raise concerns; leads the team to implement changes as a result of what has been learned.

Critical Business Management Competencies

Experience of strategic financial management including understanding relevant funding sources ( grants), revenue cycles, budgeting and cost estimation, balance sheets, return on investment etc.
Outstanding ability to analyse and interpret complex data-sets, both internal and external, to spot trends and patterns, opportunities and risks, and to inform decisions and action (even when the information is incomplete or ambiguous).
Experience of incorporating digital and technological solutions into plans and activities, to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of working practices, enhance communication and support innovation.
Ability to lead the strategic management of risk, developing a strong culture of proactive risk-management and ensuring all staff fully understand and work in line with the policies, procedures and standards relevant to their work.
Good written and spoken communication skills, including in [any required language], with an ability to effectively adjust content and presentation so as to connect with an audience.
Excellent track record of managing people with an engaging leadership style; experience of recruiting, delegating, managing performance and promoting safety, health, security and wellbeing of staff.
Critical Technical Competencies
Thorough understanding of financial accounting, reporting, and grants management processes; knowledge of international financial reporting standards and other accounting best practice.
Proven expertise in developing and implementing financial controls and processes
Demonstrable experience in managing grants and knowledge of donor funding rules and regulations
Comprehensive knowledge and experience in budgeting and forecasting for business operations
Proven track record of effective analysis, proactive problem solving, and financial trouble shooting
Overall Business Acumen

Location:Uganda, Kampala

Type of Role: Fixed Term

Reports to:  Country Director

Grade: Level 17

Closing Date:23/08/2022

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