Country Accountant – Kenya Program

Job Title: Country Accountant – Kenya Program

Function: Finance & Admin
Location: KickStart HQ Office – Nairobi
Grade: 4
Type of Contract: Open Ended

KickStart is an award-winning, global nonprofit social enterprise that develops and mass-markets low-cost irrigation solutions that are bought by thousands of small-holder farmers in developing countries and used to increase their income by up to a factor of ten, enabling them to lift themselves sustainably out of poverty.

Using an entrepreneurial business model, KickStart has proven its cost- effective solution to poverty in Kenya, Tanzania, Mali and Burkina Faso, as well as in a dozen of other African countries.

KickStart plans to enhance its Financial Management and as a result it is seeking to recruit a Country Accountant to take on that role and responsibility.

Role Purpose:

The Country Accountant has responsibility to undertake the day to day administration of accounting and financial management of KickStart operations.

The position will work to ensure KickStart maintains high standards of financial integrity and accountability.

The role is integral at the program level and is responsible for the day to day management of the financial functions of the country office

Scope of Role:

Reports to: Director Of Finance & Admin
Staff directly reporting to this post: Accounts Assistants
Works with: Program Staff responsible for managing the programmatic aspects of the organization.

Key Areas of Accountability:

Financial Management
Prepare, examine, and analyze accounting records, financial statements, and other financial reports to assess accuracy, completeness, and conformance to reporting and procedural standards.
Maintain and reconcile all records of income and expenditure and preparation of monthly and annual financial reports. Ensure that there is proper accounting and financial control over all income received and expenses incurred.
Ensure strong systems of internal control are implemented and followed, specifically:
Maintenance of an effective and controlled ordering/procurement, sales and inventory processing systems.
Maintenance of a system to ensure goods received are matched against orders and that variations to orders are reconciled.
Payment of all creditor accounts on a timely basis taking advantage of discounts where ever possible.
Control of expenditure against budget.
Maintenance of systems to account for all incoming and outgoing monies.
Payment of accounts and banking of cash receipts in a timely manner.
Maintain a petty cash system and reconcile monthly.
Maintaining an up to date record of transactions within the Asset Register/ledger. Ensure the organisation’s Asset Register is maintained on a regular basis and appropriate depreciation schedules are completed on monthly basis.
Supervision of daily payments and receipts.
Maintaining the Financial Policy and Procedures Manual on a continual basis. Develop and review accounting policies and procedures to ensure optimum effectiveness across all aspects of the organisation’s operations.
Assist in preparation of elements of the annual budget in consultation with the Program Manager and other functional managers, Budget & Grants Finance Manager and the Director of Finance in the context of goals set by the organisation.
Management of weekly and monthly cash and cash flow process by keeping all the finance/accounts books up to date to a point where it would be easy to extract current cash balances on a day-to-day basis.
Payroll activities; such as payment of all salaries,  payment of tax and other monthly deductions as required by legislation,  timely preparation of annual payment summary reconciliation, monitor compliance with all tax Legislation.
In coordination with the Sales & Marketing Managers, develop a credit management policy for debtors that ensure all outstanding debts are collected on time and that any disbursement of KickStart equipments is done following the laid down procedure.
Reviewing business/field advances taken by employees and ensure that KickStart’s policies regarding these advances are adhered to and that all monies are accounted and ensure staff are provided with regular updates of their personal accounts.
Ensuring that all the bank accounts held by KickStart are reconciled on month-to-month basis. All these should be reviewed by the Grants & Budget Finance Manager every month before more funds are released into the accounts.
Ensure that book of accounts are audited by external auditors yearly and at any other intervals as necessary. Ensuring all recommendations from such audits is implemented. Preparation of financial records for the annual Audit.
All the finance staff in the country program fall under the instruction of the Country Accountant. He/She is to ensure that they are well supervised, trained and coordinated. They should also be working and ensure their smart goals are reviewed in order for them to give the desired results.
Establish and maintain office systems for the sound operation of the organisation, including:
Ensure legal and regulatory obligations of the organisation are met including compliance with taxation, insurance and to keep current with changes in these areas.
Ensure that proper and accurate administration of records are maintained, including
Asset register.
Customer, Vendor data base.
Adequate and effective filling.
Ensuring all accounting activities as specified in the monthly activity log are completed and signed off.
Prepare periodic financial reports and statements

Key Performance Criteria

Timely and accurate recording of transactions,
Timely and accurate production of financial reports,
Zero tolerance of non-compliance with internal controls, systems and policies,
Timely and accurate production of financial reports.

Qualifications and Experience

University degree in Accounting, Finance or related field. Advanced degree preferred;
Minimum 4-6 years in Book keeping or Accounting experience necessary;
Minimum 3-5 years of progressive experience in donor funded organisations;
Highly proficient in word processing and spreadsheet applications;
Excellent analytical, verbal and written communication skills required;
Extremely detail oriented;
Familiarity financial management information systems, Microsoft Navision’s suites such as Donor Vision, Award Vision, ERP and grant accounting preferred.
Must have the ability to work in a fast paced environment with strict deadlines and be able to
Sound working knowledge of quality management systems and internal auditing processes

Skills and Behaviours

Demonstrated experience in managing and maintaining full financial accountability of an organisation with experience in bookkeeping and use of computers and computerized accounting software.
Demonstrated experience and skills in all aspects of office administration procedures.
Demonstrated experience in, or knowledge of, the functioning of donor funded non-governmental organizations.
Demonstrated organisational skills including ability to prioritise, manage time and develop and maintain systems.
Ability to work effectively at an individual and team level as well as within a multicultural organization.
Ability to communicate effectively with/to people.

If you posses the above skills and believe you are the right candidate for this position, e-mail your application and CV with the position title on the subject line to our HR Director at: hr@kickstart.org no later than COB Friday, 11th July 2013.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

For more information about KickStart visit our website: www.kickstart.org