Accountant Job in Kenya

Position: Accountant
 
Deadline to Apply: 5th May 2015
 
Start Date: As soon as Possible
 
Location: Kisumu
 
Eligibility: Position open to local hire only
 
About Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA): Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to discovering and promoting effective solutions to global poverty problems. 

In close partnership with decision makers - the policymakers, practitioners, investors, and donors working with the poor around the world - we design and evaluate potential solutions to poverty problems using randomized evaluations, the most rigorous evaluation method available. 

We also mobilize and support these decision makers to use these solutions to build better programs and policies at scale.
 

In collaboration with over 250 leading academics and implementing organizations, we have results from over 175 completed studies with over 225 in progress around the world. Our studies cover solutions for effective agriculture, education, health, finance, governance, social protection, and post conflict recovery. 

We have over 1,000 colleagues in 11 permanent offices supporting 16 countries, where we conduct research and routinely consult with governments, foundations, NGOs, and others to present evidence that can inform their work. 

For more information, visit www.poverty-action.org.
 
IPA-Kenya (IPAK) is IPA’s oldest country program, and the site of many of its most influential projects, including seminal studies on de-worming, clean water promotion, bed-net usage and fertilizer subsidies. 

IPAK is now also the site of IPA’s largest “scale-up” projects – including a national de-worming program and community-based chlorine dispensers. 

These are programs whose impact and cost-effectiveness have been proven by researchers and can now be implemented at scale, and millions of Kenyan children have been de-wormed, and hundreds of thousands have access to clean water as a result. 

IPAK employs more than 400 contracted staff working on 20 different projects across multiple offices.

Tasks, Duties, and Responsibilities:
 
Finance - Operations
  • Review and post entries into the IPAK Financial Management system ABILA SAGE, within 2 days of entry.
  • Review Payment requests/LPOs for compliance with IPAK policies and procedures as per assigned review thresholds.
  • Ensure all payments are paid within the prescribed Finance lead time of 5 days - Manage the accounts payable balances and ensure no invoices go unpaid beyond indicated credit period.
  • Ensure bank reconciliations are finalized by 10th Working day of subsequent month.
  • Manage and administer the M-PESA platform.
  • Treasury - Manage the Petty Cash account as per Finance Manual guidelines.
  • Ensure payments are released within sufficient bank liquidity levels and alert the senior accountant when levels drop. Administer PM on any Finance related issues; creation and deactivation of project, GL Codes, etc.
  • Review all re-classifications Journals prior to posting into SAGE to include shared Costs.
  • General Journal Analysis and reconciliation; 
  • Assist the Senior accountant in preparation of the Monthly Finance report through reconciling assigned balance sheet accounts, extracting monthly schedules and providing exception/action notes to the balances for submission to HOF and CD by the 25th working day of each subsequent month.
Finance – Grant Management
  • Participation in the creation of detailed proposal budgets in coordination with relevant stakeholders.
  • Participate in monthly budget monitoring; by responding to any data queries raised by budget holders and/or extraction of documents.
  • Ensure all project/grant recharges are posted/re-classed as advised within specified time period.
  • Participate in Country Annual planning (CAP); through contributing to the formulation of the subsequent year’s budgets and loading the same onto SAGE.
Team Supervision
  • Supervise, mentor, develop and manage performance of assigned Finance Assistants, through establishing a clear JD, identifying performance objectives and appraising the same.
Required Qualifications and Experience:
  • Under Graduate Degree in either Accounting, Finance.
  • CPA Part II qualification or ACCA equivalent
  • Knowledge of IFRS, IPSAS and general requirements of Fund accounting.
  • Ability to conduct General ledger analysis and reconciliation.
  • Experience in Grant/budget management; budget creation, budget reporting (BvA processing) and donor reporting.
  • Working knowledge of USAID/USG rules and regulations will be an added advantage; OMB, CFR, FAR, AIDAR plus Local statutory requirements; Payroll, Audit.
  • 4-5 years’ experience in a busy accounting office, preferably from an NGO perspective.
  • Supervision skills.
  • Ability to participate in both Donor and Corporate Audits.
  • Experience in implementing and maintaining an effective control environment.
  • Experience in working with an ERP system; ABILA/SAGE plus working knowledge of MS Office spreadsheets will be an added advantage .
How to Apply:
 
Please send a cover letter and detailed CV including daytime phone number, email address, and 3 professional references. 

Your CV should include your scores or grades and other measures of academic achievement, and details about any relevant work experience.

Applications must be submitted by email to jobs-kenya@poverty-action.org, please ensure that the subject line reads: “ACCOUNTANT REF NO: REF NO: FK-2015-04-02. 

Shortlisted candidates will be contacted by email for an interview. 


Applicants are encouraged to apply early, as applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Disclaimer: The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of the work being performed by the Accountant. The statements are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all possible duties, tasks, and responsibilities. Management reserves the right to amend and change responsibilities to meet organizational needs as necessary. Please note that IPA will never request any form of payment from an applicant. Applicants are encouraged to confirm the information listed above with IPA prior to releasing any extensive personal information to the organization. Please direct questions to jobs-kenya@poverty-action.org.