NIRAS Africa Limited
Job Vacancy: Senior Accountant
NIRAS-Africa an International consultancy company, working with
development assistance consultancy in developing countries around the world.
NIRAS has been active in Kenya for the last 30 years and has currently seven
major ongoing long-term projects in the agriculture, environment, forestry and
urban development sectors.
Other strong areas for NIRAS are water supply and sanitation,
water resources management, climate change, energy, governance and
decentralization, skills development and health.
For more information about us please visit www.niras.com/dc
Overall Objective: To manage the finance function for NIRAS
Africa Limited.
The Senior Accountant will act as a financial advisor to the
NIRAS Africa management team, pro-actively carry out strategic financial
analysis, meet all financial forecasting and reporting requirements and manage
the finance and accounting systems.
This will require the Senior Accountant to engage with various
parts of the organisation – from the NIRAS Africa Director based in Kenya to
the NIRAS International Consulting (NIC) Finance Manager and the Group
Controller based in NIRAS Denmark.
Reporting: The Senior Accountant will report to the NIRAS Operations Director
on daily tasks and to the Niras Africa Director on overall company financial
management.
Specific tasks will include:
Finance Management and Administration
·
Working closely with the NIRAS Africa Director and management
team on financial planning and taking the initiative to provide and/or suggest
analyses needed.
·
Meeting all financial forecasting and reporting obligations and
requirements set by the NIRAS Africa Director and NIC Finance Manager.
·
In charge of book-keeping, including accurate processing,
recording and posting of transactions on the accounting system (Netsuite) and
maintaining appropriate and adequate physical records.
·
Liaising with the NIRAS UK office who has oversight of NIRAS
Africa’s current accounting system (Netsuite) to extract data and reports to
deliver timely and accurate financial results.
·
Leading the process of migrating NIRAS Africa into a new finance
and accounting system (QuickBooks) and roll-out and training of staff on the
system when it goes live.
·
Ensuring the operationalisation of the transfer pricing cost
model for NIRAS Africa.
·
Ensuring financial sustainability of NIRAS Africa.
·
Managing a full, complete, accurate and timely payroll for NIRAS
Africa, including specifications of reimbursed costs, allowances and any other
specifics.
·
Maintaining and developing effective, robust and efficient
financial reporting and management systems for NIRAS Africa, including
intercompany accounts.
·
Preparing timely and accurate bi-monthly accounts and management
information for NIRAS Africa.
·
Annual budgeting and monthly re-forecasts at company level,
monitoring actual spend against them and making recommendations for improvement
to management.
·
Treasury management including banking facilities, petty cash,
investments, preparation of NIRAS Africa weekly cashflow and effective
management of multiple foreign currencies.
·
Responsible for updating NIRAS Africa finance and admin manual
and documentation of internal controls and procedures.
Tax Management and Compliance
·
Ensuring compliance with relevant tax (including PAYE,
Withholding tax, VAT and Corporation Tax), audit, and company secretary, and
pension, legal and insurance requirements for NIRAS Africa.
·
Consolidating and updating NIRAS Africa tax requirements as
required by law.
·
Providing timely and updated tax advice to other NIRAS offices
in Europe and across Africa as well as projects as required.
·
Assisting with the review of client contracts and sub-contracts
for external project staff, including commercial risk assessment, legal and tax
matters.
·
Drafting statutory accounts and corporation tax computations for
NIRAS Africa.
·
Liaising with the Company Secretary on the filing of company
audit returns.
·
Updating NIRAS Africa management on updated legal requirements
to ensure that NIRAS Africa is compliant with Kenyan law.
·
Liaising with Kenya Revenue Authority on NIRAS Africa tax
compliance.
·
Assisting with the development and implementation of company and
Group corporate risk management initiatives.
Project Accounting
·
Overseeing all project accounting of NIRAS Africa contracts with
clients or other NIRAS offices.
·
In liaison with project managers, monitoring project budgets and
expenditure and providing advice on project expenditure.
·
Producing project statements for project managers.
·
Ensuring all project revenue is promptly and fully invoiced and
collected, according to our contract terms within NIC and with clients with
appropriate accounting for VAT and Withholding Tax.
Support To Other Offices
·
In close liaison with the NIRAS Group finance team in Denmark,
ensuring consistency of financial and tax matters across different NIRAS Africa
offices.
·
Offering financial services and capacity building of finance
officers in other African countries as requested.
·
Attending other ad-hoc financial requests from across the NIRAS
Group.
Other Tasks
·
Line manage the Finance Assistant
·
Providing inputs into permanent and project staff contracts with
respect to remuneration and tax issues.
·
Custodian of the permanent employee and project staff long and
short-term contracts.
·
In charge of ensuring timely processing/renewal of expatriate
staff work permits and bonds in liaison with the Finance Assistant
·
In liaison with the Finance Assistant ensuring that company
assets which include, furniture, electronic equipment and the company vehicle
are in good working condition at all times and are replaced when necessary.
·
In liaison with the Finance Assistant ensuring that employees
and project staff leaving employment follow the discharge procedures.
·
In liaison with the Finance Assistant ensuring that the relevant
insurance covers for office assets and staff are acquired and updated as
necessary.
Qualifications, Desirable Skills and Personal Traits / Abilities
This position requires a critical thinker with strong analytical
and communication skills who has the experience and confidence to solve a
diverse set of finance challenges, but at the same time understands contextual
constraints and opportunities.
·
Minimum experience of 10 years’ managing finances in a global
limited company/non-governmental organisation (NGO); multinational experience
will be an added advantage
·
Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in Kenya with an undergraduate
degree in accounting, financial management, economics, commerce, business
administration or any other a related degree.
·
Should have at least 5 years’ experience working with
international finance systems and multiple currencies in a limited company
and/or NGO;
·
Experience working with the NetSuite and QuickBooks financial
management systems is an added advantage
·
Experience of managing migration between accounting systems is
highly desirable.
·
Should be conversant and have experience in addressing tax
compliance issues in Kenya with relevant authorities.
·
Should have managed audit processes in an NGO and/or limited company.
·
Should have experience in financial analysis and planning and
execution, performance metrics, and commercial acumen.
·
Should have experience in project accounting and financial
management.
·
Should demonstrate a strong commercial approach, requiring constant
questioning and challenging of conventional practices.
·
Should be able to demonstrate resilience in a high pressure
environment
·
Should be able to manage and build the capacity of finance staff
·
Should be proactive, persuasive and creative.
Application Process:
Interested candidates should submit their applications which
include a detailed CV, cover letter and contacts of 3 references via email to
niras.kenya.recruitment@gmail.com, by 31st August 2020.
Hardcopies will not be accepted.
