Project Finance Account Manager at Plan International

The Opportunity

As the Project Finance Account Manager you will contribute to transforming the approach to all the financial aspects of all Plan International Inc. (PIIs) projects (Sponsorship, grants and other funded) ensuring they are well managed, compliant and maximise utilisation of funds to achieve lasting change for children.

In this role you will be required to work in close partnership with the Global Hub (GH) Projects team and provide support to colleagues in country offices and programme units(in the region you are account manager for) to ensure they are able to fulfil the financial aspects of projects efficiently and effectively in particular to maintain adherence to Plan International grants finance management standards.

The Individual

We are looking to recruit an individual with who is a Part (or fully) qualified chartered accountant, working towards a qualification or with relevant experience.

You will need to be customer support orientated, with excellent technical IT and analytical skills: fluency with complex financial system / ERP and advanced Excel skills.

Knowledge and demonstrable experience of complex international multi-company, multi-currency organisation accounting challenges.

To be successful in this role you will need to be a strong team player with excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, and the ability to communicate complex technical matters effectively to a non-technical audience.

DIMENSIONS OF THE ROLE

• Provides guidance, training and interpretation on Plan International financial policies and processes with regards to grants and sponsorship finance including cost recovery.
• Provides guidance and training to Plan offices to enable effective use of financial systems for accounting, budgeting and forecasting with regards to grants and sponsorship -ensuring benefits of YODA implementation are maximised.
• Work through a network of Project finance specialists in country offices, regional office and national organisation to ensure knowledge and expertise is cascaded down.

ACCOUNTABILITIES

1. Advise NOs, ROs, COs (CDs and CFMs) and other GH teams on grants and sponsorship accounting related matters.
2. Contribute to the development, implementation and maintenance of a one stop shop/first point of call online tool as guidance for all colleagues on key financial aspects relating to project accounting (grant finance, sponsorship finance, cost recovery, pre-financing)
3. Contribute to the design and delivery of training both online and/or face to face as required on all aspects of project finance including cost recovery
4. Respond timely to queries identified during monitoring meetings and originating from the Global Helpdesk (grants accounting functional calls).
5. Provide testing of grants finance related functionality in the Finance Systems.
6. Working with the other members of the grants finance team, identify issues that require resolution. Proactively ensure that these issues are resolved.
7. Supports the month end, quarter and year end processes for project financial management.
8. Support intercompany reconciliations as required
9. Provide surge support to countries in region if major issues require remediation, in global /DRM crisis, or to ensure audit preparedness if CO being audited.
10. 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

• CO: Grant Finance Managers
• Country Finance Managers
• RO: Regional Finance Managers
• Regional Grants Managers
• NO: Grants Finance Managers, NO FDs
• IH: Financial Planning and Analysis team
• Financial Accounting team
• Project Management team
• IT team (application support)

External auditors

TECHNICAL EXPERTISE, SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

Essential

1. Part qualified chartered accountant (fully qualified an advantage)
2. Excellent technical IT and analytical skills: fluency with complex financial system / ERP and very good command of Excel.
3. Knowledge and Experience of complex international multi-company, multi-currency organisation accounting challenges.
4. Communication skills, appropriate to the audience and capability to communicate ideas and technical information to non-technical audiences
5. Able to build networks especially with grants staff across Plan globally
6. Costumer support oriented.
7. Values working in a team and willing to take on more responsibilities and support team members. Flexibility and patience.
8. Strong written and spoken English
9. Able to deliver on time, to work under pressure and prioritise.

Desirable

• Contribute to the design and delivery of training both online and/or face to face as required on all aspects of project finance including cost recovery
• Respond timely to queries identified during monitoring meetings and originating from the Global Helpdesk (grants accounting functional calls).
• Provide testing of grants finance related functionality in the Finance Systems.
• Working with the other members of the grants finance team, identify issues that require resolution. Proactively ensure that these issues are resolved.
• Supports the month end, quarter and year end processes for project financial management.
• Support intercompany reconciliations as required
• Provide surge support to countries in region if major issues require remediation, in global /DRM crisis, or to ensure audit preparedness if CO being audited.
• 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

1. CO: Grant Finance Managers
2. Country Finance Managers
3. RO: Regional Finance Managers
4. Regional Grants Managers
5. NO: Grants Finance Managers, NO FDs
6. IH: Financial Planning and Analysis team
7. Financial Accounting team
8. Project Management team
9. IT team (application support)

External auditors

TECHNICAL EXPERTISE, SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

Essential

1. Part qualified chartered accountant (fully qualified an advantage)
2. Excellent technical IT and analytical skills: fluency with complex financial system / ERP and very good command of Excel.
3. Knowledge and Experience of complex international multi-company, multi-currency organisation accounting challenges.
4. Communication skills, appropriate to the audience and capability to communicate ideas and technical information to non-technical audiences
5. Able to build networks especially with grants staff across Plan globally
6. Costumer support oriented.
7. Values working in a team and willing to take on more responsibilities and support team members. Flexibility and patience.
8. Strong written and spoken English
9. Able to deliver on time, to work under pressure and prioritise.

Desirable

1. Knowledge and experience in using SAP and Microsoft Dynamix,
2. Experience of the financial aspects of grant management from institutional donors in an INGO and Knowledge on how financial accounting and grant accounting interact
3. Appreciation of working in a multidisciplinary and multicultural environment
4. French or Spanish is an added advantage