Accountant

Background:

The purpose of the five-year (2020-2025) “State Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness” (“State2State”) Activity is to increase the accountability, transparency and effectiveness of selected state and local governments (LGAs) in Nigeria. This will be achieved by: strengthening governance systems (with a focus on public financial management [PFM] and procurement, as well as monitoring and evaluation) related to the delivery of services in key sectors (basic education, primary health care, and water, sanitation and hygiene [WASH]); increasing government responsiveness to citizen needs and priorities; and improving government and civil society capacity to manage conflict (through work on prevention, mitigation and reconciliation with the same sectoral partners, not stand-alone assistance to the police or judiciary). State2State will achieve this purpose by facilitating the strengthening of subnational governance systems in a sustainable manner, supporting the efforts of local reformers and building on locally-derived solutions including, to the extent possible, reforms already working in other parts of Nigeria.

Position Objectives:

This position will support and ensure strong financial management and performance of the project.

Responsibilities:

• The Accountant will support the Senior Accounting Manager and work closely across project teams on problems involving accounting systems and financial planning.
• S/he will provide the appropriate financial and operating information as necessary.
• S/he will work closely with other department groups on problems involving accounting systems and financial planning.
• Assist to coordinate annual and other financial audits—including preparation of supporting schedules and information—respond to auditor questions and consolidate report formats.
• Prepare regular reports and information for appropriate management as necessary or requested.
• Initiate wire requests for field project implementation in accordance with DAI schedule.
• Manage all banking activities including withdrawals, deposits, and preparation of all bank payments and checks.
• Record all financial transactions in Field Expense Report (vFER) on daily bases.
• Ensures accurate and timely processing of invoices, advances and reimbursements, checks, and wire transfer payments.
• Upload the expenses into Oracle based on DAI’s schedule.
• Provide support to performs monthly bank reconciliations and routinely monitors bank account balances.
• Processes timely and accurate payroll payments for the office and ensures leave balances, and payroll taxes are accurate.
• Ensure that salary is disbursed and payroll is recorded in the accounting system.
• Work with the Director of Finance and Administration to approve and distribute travel advance amounts based on S2S’s travel advance policy.
• Audits travel requests and expense reports for accuracy and compliance.
• Follows procedures to ensure accurate and timely payment and reconciliation of travel advances, reimbursements for staff and partner travel.
• Reviews and monitors outstanding advances report by paying close attention to advances that have not been settled after 30 days of issuance.
• Perform other tasks as assigned.

The Accountant will provide indirect oversight to state-based financial staff.

Reporting:

The Accountant will report to the Senior Accounting Manager.

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, business administration, public administration, economics, or other relevant fields is required.
• At least 5 years of progressive experience in finance and accounting/cost accounting.
• Previous experience working on US Government funded projects highly preferred.
• Strong training, communications, and personnel management skills.
• Previous supervisory experience highly preferred.
• Strong oral and written communication skills.