Finance & Compliance Director – Bogota, D.C.

General Position Summary
The Finance and Compliance Director leads the Finance Department and as such, is responsible for all aspects of financial management of the Mercy Corps Colombia Country Office, working collaboratively to ensure compliance with Mercy Corps internal policies and procedures as well as donor regulations. S/he works under the direction of the Deputy Country Director for Operations and is responsible for all financial functions in the country, including accounting, payments and banking, payroll, budgeting, internal control, financial reporting and grant financial management and compliance. The Finance and Compliance Director, in support of the Programs, provides timely reports and assistance to the Colombia Country Director and the Program team to ensure that financial resources are used efficiently and effectively. The Finance and Compliance Director has supervisory responsibility for the team under his/her management and manages a diverse portfolio of approximately USD 35 million with national staff working at multiple locations.

Essential Responsibilities
STRATEGY AND VISION

• Recognize opportunities for innovative action and create an environment of empowerment.
• Set direction by prioritizing and organizing actions and resources to achieve objectives and contribute to country-wide strategy development.

REPRESENTATION

• Interface with the donor representatives to convey information about programs as appropriate.
• Communicate with our partner, as well as sub-grantees, to verify their systems and that they understand and follow all appropriate procedures and archiving.
• Participate in sharing best practices with NGOs and governmental agencies.

TEAM MANAGEMENT
• Create a sustainable work environment of mutual respect that attracts motivated, skilled, |and effective team members and enables them individually and collectively to strive to achieve excellence.
• Supervise and lead a diverse team of direct and indirect reports in field offices.
• Contribute to country team-building efforts; build constructive internal relationships; help team members identify problem solving options and ensure integration of all team members into relevant decision-making processes.
• Promote team building and good working relationships between program, operations and finance staff through good communications, dialogue, and capacity building approach.
• Hire, train and supervise Mercy Corps finance staff.

OPERATIONS – ACCOUNTING AND COMPLIANCE
• Set up country finance systems and procedures based on the Mercy Corps Field Finance Manual and local laws.
• Establish finance policies in accordance with Mercy Corps and donor rules and regulation and disseminate amongst team members.
• Maintain banking relations and plan and monitor country cash flow requirements to ensure the smooth implementation of Mercy Corps programs.
• Ensure timely and accurate payment of staff payroll.
• Provide monthly standard accounting submissions to Mercy Corps Headquarters, including general ledger files, account reconciliations, required subgrantee reporting, as well as other financial information in a timely and accurate manner.
• Support the program team in subgrant and partner managements regarding financial matters.
• Ensure field offices receive adequate support to operate efficient systems.
• Provide cost analysis, promote benchmarks, and make recommendations for effective resource utilization at project and organizational level.
• Stay effectively updated on donor policies, procedures, rules and regulations, compile, and update applicable local policies, and train MC program staff in the applicable donor/MC regulations.

OPERATIONS – BUDGET MONITORING AND REPORTING
• Provide monthly management reports and Budget Pipeline analysis to the Colombia Country Director and Program teams, including expenditures by award/project, subgrantee reporting and other financial information, in a timely and accurate manner.
• Develop budgets for new proposal development and develop and implement grant budgeting and forecasting systems with Program Managers.
• Develop annual fiscal year budget with Country Director, including tools for monitoring the non-committed funding.
• Develop and monitor the annual country support budget.
• Analyze annual budget and advice Country Director on requirements for expansion and consolidation of staff and offices as the grant portfolio changes.
• Ensure budget holders understand their responsibilities and provide tools to improve program financial monitoring.

OPERATIONS – INTERNAL CONTROL / SYSTEMS IMPROVEMENT
• Ensure effective, transparent use of financial resources in compliance with Mercy Corps and donor policies and procedures.
• Maintain appropriate local insurance coverage in coordination with the Admin. Department, to protect Mercy Corps.
• Actively support the Program team and other departments in designing new systems and tools before implementation of the activities.
• Ensure proper setup and monitoring of internal controls in all departments; and lead internal and external audits.
• Support all departments in improving systems, regarding fraud prevention and proper compliance.

OPERATIONS – INCIDENT MONITORING (this function may be split in the future)
• Support the team in putting in place incident report systems and mitigation measures, including tracking, monitoring, and reporting, in accordance with internal policies and donors’ requirements.
• Support the team in assessing risks and define proper mitigation measures.

THE SECURITY
• Ensure compliance with security policies and procedures as determined by country leadership.
• Proactively ensure that team members operate in a safe environment and are aware of policies.
• Actively participate in activities and fulfill responsibilities as an employee with the
• SG-SST (Occupational Safety, Health and Management System)

Supervisory Responsibility
Finance and Compliance team members

Accountability
Reports Directly To: Colombia Deputy Country Director for Operations
Works Directly With: HQ Regional Finance Officer (with authority for technical financial matters); members of Operations, Program, Security, HR, TSU team members, and others.

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders
Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE
• An advanced degree in nonprofit administration/management, finance, or a related business field is required.
• A least 10 years of progressive financial management experience, including supervisory experience required.
• 5 years’ experience in grants management as well as an understanding of USAID, ECHO and BPRM regulations with international NGO/PVO field office experience.
• Demonstrated experience and skill with budget preparation and analysis, financial reporting preparation and presentation and the proven ability to translate technical financial data into informative reports.
• Strong accounting skills and experience, including management of the general ledger, journal entries, payroll, payables, and balance sheet.
• Prior management experience and strong organizational skills.
• Prior experience of sub-grantee management.
• Advanced computer skills in MS Office programs, particularly Excel.
• Effective verbal and written communication, multi-tasking, organizational and prioritization skills.
• Strong oral and written English skills required.
• Experience with remote management preferred.
• Ability to work effectively with an ethnically diverse team in a sensitive environment.

Success Factors
The successful candidate will have an ability to interact effectively across international and national program and finance teams successfully, both in a managerial as well as training capacity. S/he will be able to support programmatic objectives with timely and meaningful financial information, have a demonstrated ability to multi-task, meet deadlines and process information in support of changing program activities. An impeccable professional standard of finance and procurement ethics and the willingness and ability to enforce compliance with Mercy Corps and donor policies and procedures is essential. The Finance and Compliance Manager must be willing to travel regularly to Mercy Corps field offices and project sites. The most successful Mercy Corps staff members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and changing environments and make effective written and verbal communication a priority in all situations.

Mercy Corps Team members represent the agency both during and outside of work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/TDY to a field posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC’s policies, procedures, and values always and in all in-country venues.