JRS Mozambique Finance Officer

Organizational Context 

The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), founded in 1980 by Fr Pedro Arrupe SJ, is an international Catholic organisation with a mission to accompany, serve, and defend the rights of refugees and forcibly displaced people. JRS facilitates involvement of individuals and communities and promotes regional and global cooperation and networking on behalf of refugees.

JRS works cooperatively with other organisations and agencies in order to achieve its mission. It works in situations where no one else is working, where it can bring a particular expertise, where its presence will attract others, where it builds its work on an existing network and where its presence can send a larger message to decision makers and others. JRS welcomes collaboration with Jesuits, lay people and members of other religious congregations. Indeed throughout its history, JRS has fulfilled its mission thanks to the collaboration of volunteers and staff committed to the service of the forcibly displaced.

JRS style of work is that of personal presence to refugees. The service must always be direct and pastoral and thus exposes staff to the sufferings and limitations of refugee life. This sometimes involves arduous physical conditions and work under stress with limited resources. Through our presence, we help to sustain hope in people who live in difficult and dangerous situations and who have every reason to despair.

To implement the goals of the organisation JRS engages people who:

1. Are ready to share in its mission.
2. Have the capacity to understand the plight of refugees.
3. Are committed to service and to justice.
4. Are willing to offer their talents and skills to support and encourage those who desire to service refugees.

 

KEY PURPOSE

Using the online live system of Navision, the position involves handling the fundamental aspects of the organization’s financial record-keeping. That is, recording financial transactions, managing accounts payable and receivable, reconciling bank statements and working closely with Regional Finance and HR Managers in managing the pay-roll. In addition, the incumbent coordinates internal audits as well as educating staff on financial management procedures and internal controls.

KEY PEFORMANCE AREAS

·         Capture data in the JRS financial data base system.

·         Receive bank statements for each bank account from management and sort accordingly.

·         Reconcile bank statements to spread-sheets and query any anomalies.

·         Prepare monthly Bank and Cash reconciliations.

·         File all bank statements per account.

·         File all transactions and cheques in numeric order.

·         Check for manual clearance cheques and update records regularly.

·         Process transactions accurately and timely and verify information as per the supporting documentation.

·         Manage the finance department and contribute to the smooth running of the department.

·         Maintain and update the asset register.

·         Liaising with the various service providers of the institute such as the medical aid scheme and insurance companies.

·         Make timely payments and track the use of funds with provision of supporting documents.

·         Prepare the country global Budget

·         Prepare the necessary financial reports

·         Support the project and institutional audits.

·         Allocate funds as per approved budgets/project.

Budget and Financial Management

·         The finance officer is responsible for the overall financial management and performance of the sub-projects, e.g. the maintenance of accounts; budget and cash flow; and ensuring that financial and procurement systems are in place and proper reporting and recording of expenditures;

·         Prepares the annual budget for approval by the Project Director;

·         Verifies payments against budgetary allocations;

·         Oversees the financial functions of the project in accordance with relevant rules and procedures, and ensure proper financial management of project funds; and

·         Ensures proper utilization and maintenance of project assets and maintenance of asset register.

Key Performance Indicators

·         An updated Navision with accurate inputting

·         Adherence to the JRS finance policies and procedures

·         Comply with the country financial policies such as PAYE, tax, Insurance, etc

Languages

·         Fluent in English and Portuguese (written and spoken) and excellent writing skills.

QUALIFICATIONS

·         A minimum Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) degree and or professional accounting/finance.

·         Ability in financial or accounting management

Core values and ethics

·         Good understanding of and compatibility with the values of JRS;

·         Very good pastoral sense combined with ability to listen and excellent communication/inter-personal skills;

·         Demonstrated ability and experience of working in a multi-cultural environment;

·         Willingness and ability to travel to the country projects, when appropriate;

·         Compassion for refugees and displaced people, a motivation to serve, and (desirable) experience of working in the context of forced migration;

·         A capacity to adapt to basic living and working conditions particularly to operate in a sub-optimal working environment;

·         Demonstrable experience of, and capacity for, working collaboratively as part of a team and putting in practice team-building skills;

·         Flexibility in work hours as needed.

BEHAVIOURAL AND TECHNICAL COMPETENCIES

·         Honest, responsible and accurate with figures.

·         Trustworthy and reliable.

·         Ability to work under tremendous pressure.

·         Sound knowledge of financial systems.

·         Sympathy with goals and ethos of JRS and an ability to work within the organizational culture.

·         Strong administrative skills.

·         Analytical, pragmatic and critical thinking.

·         Ability to maintain focus on longer term objectives.

·         The ability to map out an informative and effective field reporting system that will enable measurement of progress against stated goals and objectives.

·         Provide on-the-job feedback and instigate immediate corrective measures to ensure efficiency of staff in support of the achievement of project goals.

·         Good team player.

 

Conditions

• Contract is for 1 year renewable (depending on funding) with an initial probation of 3 months.
• JRS remuneration policy is in keeping with JRS ethos to offer effective and professional service and at the same time express solidarity with the people served.  The salary scale is calculated with the use of a Post Adjustment Multiplier and takes into account years of relevant experience and degree of responsibility of the role. 

 

Application Guidelines  

The application should include the following documents:

• Curriculum Vitae (CV) in English including three (3) professional references with their contact information, phone and email address.
• A cover letter describing the candidate's desire and motivation to work for JRS and how his/her qualifications and experience are a good fit for this position.