Grants Accountant

The Organization

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. 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 80 years, and are now active in more than 70 countries.

ROLE PROFILE

Title	Grants Accountant
Functional Area	Finance Department, Country Office
Reports to	Country Finance Manager
Location	Country Office – Accra	Travel required	20%
Effective Date	01-02-2020	Grade	D1

 

ROLE PURPOSE

A concise statement, capturing the primary reasons that this role exists and a clear articulation of the context of the role. How will this role contribute to creating lasting change for children?

• This position is to ensure financial accountability for grants according to Plan and donor requirements. Provide timely and accurate financial information on grants.
• Act as finance focal person for finance-related grants issues (budgeting, cash flow management, reporting, auditing etc).

Dimensions of the Role

This section provides a summary of the size and authority of the post. It covers the size of the budget held, the numbers of direct reports, other key stakeholders who may depend on it, the type of communication required, the external representation involved and the reach of the role.

Financial measures or statistics relevant to post such as budget; list of direct and indirect reports

• Controls country grants annual budget
• Area of Responsibility – country program
• Grants officer report to the role

Accountabilities

This section is critical for clarifying expectations of the role, providing the framework for its relationship with colleagues and providing areas of accountability against which performance can be managed.

This should include a series of brief statements that define the end results required. e.g. drive, contribute, identify, manage, responsible for, advise/coach, build, develop, provide, conduct, oversee, establish, participate etc.

Statements should ideally be worded so that they will lead to thoughts of measurement.  For example, it is better to state something like “achieve maintenance standards” than “undertake maintenance”.  The former leads to a measure against the maintenance standards.

 “What” is done and “why”, but not “how”; include indicators for success

Budgeting and Control

• Develop proposal budgets and budget narratives in collaboration with Country Office finance, grant and program staff, including modifications, ensuring that all projects are fully costed.
• Maintain a budgetary control system to monitor grant budget vs. Expenditure, and advise management on variances and corrective actions required to be taken
• Support the development of Country Office annual budgets; based on grant portfolio projections and its subsequent modification.
• Over the course of Grant implementation, monitor and alert program and finance teams of potential award compliance issues, re-budgeting needs, and spending trajectories to ensure projects are completed on time and within budget.

 Grant closure, Audits and risk management:

• Maintain official archive of donor correspondence, donor reports, grant agreements, modifications, and budgets.
• Work with program and grant teams to facilitate the process of on boarding new projects to ensure internal controls and donor compliance systems are established and followed.
• Coordinate with internal and external auditors for grant specific audits and country Audit as a whole. Assist the Country Finance Manager in the preparation and coordination of schedules for grants Audit.
• Communicate with donors regarding audit findings, and prepare audit action lists for grant audits and follow up on its implementation.  Present regular updates on grant audit action lists.
• Participate in the design and implementation of internal controls, policies and procedures to ensure compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.

Financial Management and Reporting

• Lead in financial accountability and reporting for grants in a timely manner to ensure compliance to Plan International’s policies and donor regulations.
• Review implementing partners’ and other engagement agreements and ensure its compliance with Plan International and donor Policy
• Prepare monthly, quarterly, and annual internal and external financial, budgetary and accounting reports of considerable complexity requiring independent judgment, initiative, and extensive knowledge of the organization, accounting, and policies and procedures as may be required on the specific grant.
• Periodic review of payments charged to grants for conformity to budget; calculate and ensure cost recovery is carried out appropriately on all grants.
• Oversee cash management of all grants, including preparation of requests of funds from donors/grantor agencies. Monitor funding requirements for donor-specific bank accounts and liaises with the Country Finance Manager and Business Development Manager to ensure availability of adequate funds to meet forecast expenditure requirements.
• Lead in financial capacity assessment of potential partners prior to any partnership and conduct regular assessments of existing partnerships.
• Train finance and programs staff on grant regulations and Plan International’s policies and procedures. Perform grant capacity assessment of partner finance staff, and develop training and development plans.
• Regularly, and occasionally on short notice, travel to partner offices to train staff, provide support, conduct audits and evaluate compliance with country laws and as well as organization policies and procedures

Grants Financial Set up Compliance

• Ensure correct Grants Master data set up in SAP for Funding Bundle Agreements (FADs) and Sponsorship Project funding Approval Documents.
• Periodic budget realignment in SAP based on Project modifications.
• Run Cost apportionment on a monthly basis in SAP.
• General Grants Management and monitoring in SAP. 

Others

Fulfills Plan’s Child Protection Policy at all times to protect children from all forms of abuse.
 
Dealing with problems:

This includes how much freedom the position has to make decisions; for example, “may approve invoices up to $1,000.”

• Ensures adherence to the country’s grant financial and accounting requirements as per requirements of the grants management document and other organizational policies and procedures to support sound financial management for grants related projects within the organization
• Coaching and training of staff in the implementation of financial practices.
• Works with minimum supervision
• Analyses financial issues for decision making and refer to a higher manager for approval
• Ensure the principles and guidelines on the new Global Policy on Prevention of Sexual Harassment, Exploitation and Abuse is fully embedded and in your area work.
• Ensure all concerned person, Child, member of a community where Plan International works and/or Programme Participant knows how to and feels safe and empowered to report any concerns, allegations or suspicions of Sexual Harassment, Exploitation or Abuse and the report is taking seriously.
• Create and strengthening the capacity of all staff, Associates and visitors to prevent and respond in a timely, effective, safe, comprehensive and confidential manner to all complaints, allegations and incidents on Sexual Harassment, Exploitation and Abuse.

Ensures 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.

Key relationships

This section refers to people inside and/or outside of the organization that the post-holder needs to have contact with, and why. This should include virtual presence.

• Medium contact with Plan partner organizations to ensure Plan receives value for money and the financial requirements are adhered to.
• Has high contact with all country office and program unit finance staff also those staff working on grant projects to support smooth implementation of the finance and accounting functions
• Maintains medium contact with other staff from the program unit and country offices to offer support for compliance with finance and accounting procedures

Technical expertise, skills and knowledge

This section details the skills, knowledge and expertise the postholder will be required to demonstrate in doing the job well.

This should include clear levels of technical expertise and skills that support our work at national, international, and global level.

Essential

Gained through education, training, & experience

Qualification and Experience

• University degree in Accounting and ICA Ghana Part 2 or ACCA Foundation (Level 2) or equivalent.
• At least 5 years experience in a similar role.
• Fair knowledge in grants and project management.

 Demonstrated behaviors needed by the postholder to successfully perform the role:

• Communicates clearly and effectively
• Ability to facilitate participative processes for all stakeholders for implementing grant projects 
• Strong team building skills
• Independence, objectivity and integrity
• Organized, methodic and meticulous

Skills Specific to the post needed to put knowledge into practice.

• Good communication skills both oral and written
• Good computer skills including proficiency in word processing and spreadsheets and the use of accounting package
• Team work
• Good accounting and analytical skills
• Good supervisory skills
• Good coordination skills
• Good Judgment and negotiation skills
• Ability to deliver to tight deadlines
• Fair knowledge of project planning, management, supervision, monitoring and evaluation tools

Plan International’s Values in Practice

We are open and accountable

• Promotes a culture of openness and transparency, including with sponsors and donors.
• Holds self and others accountable to achieve the highest standards of integrity.
• Consistent and fair in the treatment of people.
• Open about mistakes and keen to learn from them.
• Accountable for ensuring we are a safe organization for all children, girls & young people

We strive for lasting impact

• Articulates a clear purpose for staff and sets high expectations.
• Creates a climate of continuous improvement, open to challenge and new ideas.
• Focuses resources to drive change and maximize long-term impact, responsive to changed priorities or crises.
• Evidence-based and evaluates effectiveness.

We work well together

• Seeks constructive outcomes, listens to others, willing to compromise when appropriate.
• Builds constructive relationships across Plan International to support our shared goals.
• Develops trusting and ‘win-win’ relationships with funders, partners and communities.
• Engages and works well with others outside the organization to build a better world for girls and all children.

We are inclusive and empowering

• We empower our staff to give their best and develop their potential
• We respect all people, appreciate differences and challenge equality in our programs and our workplace
• We support children, girls and young people to increase their confidence and to change their own lives.

Physical Environment

May be “typical office environment”; note if heavy lifting, climbing, excess travel, etc.

Travel requirements

This position entails 30% travelling within program areas.

Level of Contact with Children:

Low contact: No contact or very low frequency of interaction

Mid contact: Occasional interaction with children

High level: Frequent interaction with children

Low contact : the job responsibilities of this position does not require the post holder to have any one-to-one contact with children on a daily basis. There would be occasional contact with children and it is expected that children shall be protected at all times.

HOW TO APPLY