Registered Users
1,883,071
Posted Jobs
103,802

Job Summary

CARE International in Pakistan is seeking a dynamic, commercially astute, articulate, technically strong, insightful and influential leader with the ability to operate at both strategic and operational levels to lead its financial management and contribute strategically to its Senior Management Team.  The post-holder will lead the development and implementation of comprehensive financial policies and procedures for the organization, directly supervising the Finance Department. The successful candidate will have a high degree of technical competence and adaptive management approach to  focus on strategic planning, execution, and ensuring that all activities are in compliance with CIP’s financial management policies and procedures, donor rules and regulations, contractual obligations, and Government of Pakistan’s laws and regulations.

S/he will oversee financial management of the organization and monitor cost pools in collaboration with the Program and Program Support teams, to make recommendations to the Country Director, for timely and accurate donor reporting, compliance and risk management. The individual will prepare budgets, annual accounts, manage funds and taxation issues whilst producing financial analysis that can help the Country Director in informed decision making. The position will also advise the Country Director and SMT in balancing the structures and operations against the allocated financial resources. S/he fosters a value-based organizational culture, ensuring that approved internal controls have been implemented and monitored and will exercise conscientious stewardship in all financial matters of CIP.

S/he provides oversight of the day-to-day financial operations at the CO level and is accountable for organizing and providing high level quality financial services to CO programs, projects and units staff. S/He works closely with the Shared Services Center (SSC) and Regional Management Unit (RMU) and CO senior management to ensure appropriate financial support and resources are available. S/He ensures that a strong collaboration is developed and nurtured between Finance, Program and other program support units in the CO for successful implementation of the project.

The Finance Director position has direct reporting line to the Country Director. Dotted line functional reporting is also owed to the SSC (i.e. Finance and Accounting Director or designee) and RMU (i.e. Deputy Regional Director for Program Support). As a key member of the Country’s Senior Management Team (SMT), Director Finance will also present CIP internally and externally, build capacity of colleagues, market CIP's work and make decisions that advance the direction, quality and impact of CARE Pakistan Program.

Responsibilities and Tasks

Job Responsibility #1 - % of time: 40%

Finance management system strengthening and strategic financial analysis

The Finance Director is expected to lead risk management and quality assurance of the CO’s financial management system and regularly produce high quality management level analysis to inform timely decision making by the Country Director (and other members of the SMT as relevant). The FD will proactively drive attention to value for money and guide the SMT to make savings in order to maximise resources to advance CARE’s humanitarian and development mandate. S/he will ensure that the organisation’s financial systems are robust, compliant and support current activities and future growth. 

  • Develop sound financial management systems in field offices for transparency, compliance and risk management;
  • Prepare quarterly management accounts with summary analysis note for CD and rest of the SMT to guide timely decisions;
  • Contribute fully to the development of the organisation’s strategy across all areas of the business, challenging assumptions and decision-making as appropriate, and providing reliable financial analysis and guidance on all activities, plans, targets and business drivers;
  • Exercise vigilance and lead suspected fraud and loss reporting and related investigations;
  • Represent CARE to Government Departments as the Principal Officer of the organisation; and focal point for Bank matters;
  • Effectively manage cash flow and exchange rate gains and losses;
  • Ensure document security policy standards are upheld;
  • Work with senior teams to grow the business, formulating strategies and plan;
  • Take appropriate actions to address all issues noted (e.g. collect receivables; prevent overspending, match funding, etc.);
  • Accountable for the overall quality of the CO financial reports and communications of issues to CO management, RMU and SSC;
  • Perform quality reviews and analyses of CO books as well as any financial performance reports and provide feedback to CO management to improve financial management. The reviews and analyses include but are not limited to: bank reconciliation; balance sheet; income statement; grants/contracts reports; unrestricted and private contributions reports; actual expenses vs. budget; shared program costs and cost recovery; payroll allocation and timesheets; etc.

Job Responsibility #2 - % of time: 30%

PeopleSoft Operations Management and CO Data Processing - the CO Finance Director plays a crucial coordination and management role in PeopleSoft operations to ensure the system is functioning properly and is being effectively used by CO staff. S/He provides day-to-day oversight of PeopleSoft operations, and ensures adequate and efficient process flows and controls over accounting functions. S/He ensures financial data are processed in the system accurately, and reported to donors, management and other partners timely.

  • PeopleSoft operations, workflows, roles and user management: ensures users are setup in the system and trained appropriately; workflows are developed and implemented adequately; budget holders and other users are trained properly in their roles; ensures policies, procedures, user manuals and other quick reference guides are available to CO staff and disseminated; ensures the maintenance and management of PeopleSoft chart fields (e.g. fund code and project ID requests, activity ID, category ID, etc.) and other tables (vendor files, cost allocation tables, users table, etc.) are performed timely and satisfactorily; investigates any system issues experienced by users, document and escalate to SSC appropriately.
  • Accounts Payable, Treasury and Cash functions: Determines CO short and long terms cash needs and coordinates cash requests and approvals, including the submission of cash flow projections; ensures vendors are paid and account receivables are collected timely; ensures staff receive proper training and are effectively using the cash related modules (e.g. Account Payable, Cash Management).
  • General Ledger, Accounts Receivable and other modules: Ensures journal entries (e.g. payroll, allocation, etc.) are processed timely and accurately, cash receipts are recorded properly, and all modules (e.g. procurement, asset management, etc.) are used by CO staff adequately.
  • Data processing and period closing functions: accountable for ensuring that the period closing processes defined for Business Units (BUs) are performed timely and adequately; accountable for the preparation and submission of complete, reliable and timely financial reports to CO managers and donors, local entities and other partners as relevant; ensures that reports prepared by SSC (e.g. USG awards) are completed and submitted timely; supervises the quality and integrity of financial data and supporting documentation and ensures completeness of data recorded in the system. This includes, but is not limited to the following transactions: a) Accounts Payable vouchers. e.g. cash disbursements, settlement of cash advances; b) General Ledger journal entries. e.g. payroll allocation, adjustments, accruals; c) Cash Management module. e.g. cash transfer processing and dispatching; d) Asset Management entries. e.g. depreciation entries; e) Account Receivables. e.g. donor receipts; f) Budgeting and Forecasting. e.g. budget data created in Adaptive Planning or other budgeting tool.
  • Budgeting and Forecasting functions: ensures all budgets (e.g. project proposal, annual operating budgets, etc.) are prepared in Adaptive Planning or budgeting tool in use by the organization; coordinates and supervises the preparation of CO forecasts and future years budgets; leads the preparation of the CO shared program cost (SPC) budgets and implements CARE policy and guidelines related to fair sharing of support costs; supervises the monitoring of actual expenses against budgets and ensure partnership between CO finance staff and budget holders and all managers who make budget decisions in the CO to ensure costs expenses are managed properly within the approved budgets. 

Job Responsibility #3 - % of time: 20%

Staff Management and Development, Talent Management and Capacity Building - the CO Finance Director is responsible for finance staff and talent management and development as well as capacity building in financial management for finance and non-finance staff in the country office.

  • Continuously strengthen team capacity by placing emphasis on uplifting technical performance, innovation and reinforcing demonstration of CARE core values;
  • Assess training and development needs of finance and non-finance staff within the CO;
  • Identify gaps in skills, develops training materials and provides training in accounting and financial management as needed;
  • Participate in the elaboration and leads the implementation of the CO’s Annual Performance Assessment policy and processes to include the preparation and monitoring of Individual Operating Plan (IOPs) for finance staff;
  • Lead the hiring and firing of CO finance staff in close coordination with the CD;
  • Ensure succession plans are developed and implemented for finance staff in a way that assures CO staff receive high quality support services at all times;
  • Work with the human resources unit as well as SSC and RMU to develop and manage talent in the CO finance unit.

Job Responsibility #4 - % of time: 10%

Compliance and Control functions:

  • Controllership and Accounting functions: ensures CO compliance with CARE’s accounting policy and procedures and generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP); ensures CO accounting systems and procedures comply with CARE's global policy and procedures; protects the organization assets through internal controls; ensures the CO payroll and other non-PeopleSoft systems provide adequate controls; reviews all leases and other contracts that require current and future use of the organization's assets and make any relevant recommendations to the CD;
  • Compliance and Audit support functions: ensures CO compliance with donor rules and regulations; ensures CO preparedness for annual financial and donor audits; facilitates internal and external audits conducted in the CO; assists the CD in preparing CO responses to audit findings as well as planning and implementing audit recommendations;
  • Assist the ACD, programme staff and CD in new business development by leading/ensuring the finance department in preparation of high quality and timely budgets and budget notes for project proposal;
  • Ensure that CARE’s grants and contracts compliance protocols are consistently satisfied to manage organizational risk. This includes simplifying minimum procedures; instituting forms and checklists for each stage to ensure quality assurance; and training and monitoring staff’s adherence. 

Job Responsibility #5 - General CO oversight and support

The Finance Director Is expected to perform any other duties as assigned by the Country Director.

Job Specifications

Education/Training

Required: Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance or Business Management or equivalent.

Desired: Master's degree in Business Administration or Accounting; Professional certification like CA, CFA, CPA.

Experience

Required:

  • Five (5) to seven (7) years in the same capacity and/or as Finance Controller or Finance Manager in country office environment;
  • Minimum 10 years’ experience, preferably in not-for-profit financial, budgeting, accounting, financial reporting, grants / contract management and business management in developing countries;
  • Thorough knowledge of financial and accounting practices and procedures;
  • Demonstrated track record in developing robust financial management systems in multiple risk environments where CARE Pakistan works.

Desired: I/NGO working experience.

Technical Skills

Required:

  • A thorough understanding of financial accounting, reporting and grants and contract management processes;
  • Contemporary knowledge of GoP financial and tax regulations and all related statutory compliance requirements pertaining to INGOs;
  • Experienced in preparation for project and organizational audits, management response and corrective action;
  • Applied knowledge of key donor regulations and compliance requirements (e.g. USAID, DFID, GAC, UN agencies; DFID, ECHO and EU etc.);
  • Experienced in preparing high quality management accounts and analysis;
  • Organizational level and project level budgeting and budget monitoring experience;
  • Financial management system development experience;
  • Strong IT skills and knowledge of diverse and latest technologies and financial software systems;
  • Strong team management skills to sustain high performance;
  • Good coaching, mentoring, training facilitation, and team building skills;
  • Superior attention to detail; high quality written documentation;
  • Proficient in written and spoken English and Urdu;
  • Ability to quickly learn new systems, processes and procedures and adapt local practices to global standards. 

Desired:

  • Proficiency in spoken Pashto or Sindhi would be an advantage;
  • Facilitation skills to conduct training sessions for small, medium and large sized groups. 

Competencies

Required:

  • Aligned to CARE’s Core Values: Transformation; Integrity; Diversity; Equality; Excellence. Respect;
  • Demonstrated commitment to Gender and Diversity;
  • Professional representation skills;
  • Ability to handle high levels of pressure and perform critical decision-making;
  • High integrity and openness combined with commitment to good governance;
  • Highly motivated, with an enquiring mind and passion for excellence and innovation in pursuit of business growth and success;
  • Effective interpersonal, written and oral communications skills;
  • Excellent analytical and problem solving skills;
  • Customer focused while handling multiple priorities.

Desired: 

  • Adaptability;
  • Building Partnerships;
  • Communicating with Impact;
  • Facilitating Change;
  • Excellent leadership, coaching and negotiation skills.

Freedom to Act / Impact

General Accountability:

  • Prepares financial reports; identifies problems or issues that play adversely against CO performance in financial management and recommends appropriate solutions to the CD (and SSC and RMU as appropriate).
  • Interprets accounting, financial management, grant and contract polices & procedures.

Financial Accountability:

This role is a position of trust. It is expected that the Finance Director demonstrates high levels of integrity, fairness and transparency. The Finance Director has the authority to sign commitments and/or expenses (e.g. purchase orders, petty cash vouchers, travel/cash advances and expense reports) based on the CO policy and authorized signatory list.

Living Conditions

Position is based in Islamabad with 20-25% travel to field areas and occasionally overseas.

 

CARE International in Pakistan is an equal opportunity employer; only individuals who are shortlisted will be contacted for an interview.

Note: Individuals can apply using Brightspyre or send their resumes directly to [email protected] clearly mentioning the position title in the subject line of the email, before the stated deadline. Applications will be screened and shortlisted on a rolling basis.