Graduate Finance Officers at British Council Nigeria

The British Council is the world's leading cultural relations organization and creates opportunities for people in the UK and worldwide to understand each other, to work together and learn from one another. We see this as crucial to building secure, more prosperous and sustainable futures for us all. We build trust and understanding between different countries and cultures and develop strong international links that are of benefit to people in Britain and the rest of the world.

We are recruiting to fill the below position of:

Job Title: Finance Officer

Location: Abuja
Directorate or Region: SSA
Department/Country: Nigeria
Pay Band: PB4
Reports to: Finance Manager
Duration of job: 1 year in the first instance and renewable

Purpose of Job

• To support the management of day-to-day programme financial and accounting processes for the Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Programme to client and corporate standards.

Context and Environment

• Nigeria is the British Council’s largest operation in SSA with offices in four cities: Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja and Kano. NSRP is a DFID-funded programme managed by the British Council that aims to enhance collective efforts to identify and respond effectively to potential sources of violent conflict in Nigeria and reduce the negative impacts of conflict on the most vulnerable among the Nigerian population.
• The NSP programme will operate from five regional offices (Kano, Port Harcourt, Jos, Maiduguri and Kaduna) in Nigeria with a programme management unit situated in Abuja.
• The post holder must have the ability to work in a multi-cultural and dynamic environment. The programme will link closely with other BC-managed work in Nigeria, notably the Justice For All (J4A) programme.
• The post holder will work closely with the programme team in Nigeria and report to the Finance Manager.

Accountabilities, Responsibilities and Main Duties

Accountabilities:

• Accountable for the efficient processing of Consultants' payments
• Accountable for efficient and effective management of programme petty cash system
• Accountable for accurate management of programme document filing

Responsibilities and Main Duties

Financial management and control - 35%:

• Responsible for the day-to-day management of all financial and banking operations, including:
• Petty Cash Management for Abuja office
• Oversee petty cash process for state offices and ensure transactions are posted on SAP on a timely basis
• Post transactions on NSRP cash journal on a timely basis
• Prepare Payment Vouchers for petty cash cheques
• Monitor cheques, maintain cheque register to record all incoming cheques, cash withdrawals from the bank and office cash imprest
• Day-to-day payment processing for invoices on POs, Offline payments, Downpayments, Operational Advances and other disbursement
• Support Grant Officer in making grant disbursements
• Upload payment data on straight to bank for offline payments processing
• Prepare correction journals as necessary for wrong postings and ensure that they are posted before month-end
• Provide support to staff on payment processing queries
• Invoicing: Create Sales Orders as requested
• Provide support to staff on payment processing queries
• Banking and Tax: Support Finance and Resources team in submitting tax returns, deposit and withdrawals from Bank
• Assist in preparation for external and internal audit of NSRP

Vendor Creation and Update Maintenance - 10%:

• File and maintain up-to-date information on NSRP vendors
• Support Deputy Finance Manager in vendor and customer creation process

Purchase Order management - 25%:

• Assist in the accurate and timely management of purchase orders, including:
• In coordination with output managers and resource officer, create purchase orders for programme consultants
• Support Deputy Finance Manager in monitoring purchase orders on SAP
• Support staff in managing POs for Operational Advances and other PO issues

Travel, expenses and advances - 15%:

• Maintain submitted trip envelopes
• Maintain Trip returns register
• Receive monies from staff when retirements are made and deposit monies on a timely basis
• Manage T&E advance, claim and reporting processes for regional offices

Office Support - 15%:

• Provide support to staff on SAP, processes and policies
• Carry out documentation and filing of finance documents

Key Relationships

• Internal: Programme Manager; Finance Manager; Programme Team (management and technical).
• External: External relationship management where appropriate (i.e. linked to function of role), to include: external partner organisations; state institutions, academic institutions, etc.

Person Specification

Behaviours
Creating Shared Purpose:

• Communicating an engaging picture of how we can work together (Essential).

Connecting with others

• Actively appreciating the needs and concerns of myself and others (More demanding).

Working Together:

• Ensuring that others benefit as well as me (More demanding).

Being Accountable:

• Delivering my best work in order to meet my commitments (More demanding).

Making it Happen:

• Delivering clear results for the British Council (Essential).

Shaping the Future

• Exploring ways in which we can add more value.

Skills and Knowledge

• Financial planning and management - level 1 (Essential).

Experience
Financial management:

• Experience of implementing and monitoring financial management systems and controls
• 1-2 years working experience in similar sector

Qualifications

• First Degree or equivalent in Accountancy/Business Admin/Economics/Banking & Finance

Application Closing Date
28th January, 2016.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Click here to download job details pdf

Click here to download BC Behaviour (pdf)