Head of Finance at BBC World Service

The BBC is the leading international broadcaster in Africa reaching a weekly audience of more than 100 million on Radio, TV, Digital (language sites and bbcafrica.com), Mobile and Social Media. We broadcast to Africa in English, Hausa, Somali, French, Kinyarwanda/Kirundi, Kiswahili & Arabic. We are committed to broadcasting to and from the continent in a style that meets the demands of our growing audience and as well as our language services, our presence in the region is also defined by our bureaux, special correspondents and bilingual reporters.  We are committed to delivering news and information to people across Africa and insights from Africa to audiences around the globe.

We are recruiting to fill the vacant position below:

Job Title: Head of Finance - Nigeria

Job Reference: BBC/TP/7209/17809
Location: Abuja, Nigeria
Department:BBC Media Action  
Grade: Grade 8
Reports To: Country Director
Duration: 6 months FTC

Context
BBC Media Action uses media and communications to help people around the world take control of their lives and make informed decisions. We do this through our focus on health, governance and rights, resilience and humanitarian response, and partner with civil society, local media and governments to:

• Produce creative programmes in multi-media formats which inform and engage audiences
• Strengthen the media sector through building professional capacity
• Support community, commercial and national broadcasters to build management, technical, editorial and production capacity to produce local discussion, drama, and lifeline programmes

BBC Media Action in Nigeria
At present, BBC Media Action in Nigeria has several large multi-year projects addressing governance and health issues using both drama and factual outputs. We require an experienced and dynamic Finance Manager with a highly developed understanding of donor funding and a proven track record of managing multiple projects to lead our in-house finance team.

Job Purpose

• Reporting to the Country Director - Nigeria, with a dotted-line management reporting into the Head of Project Finance based in London, and working with the Project Accountant based in London, the Head of Finance will be the focal point for accounting processes, financial controls, donor compliance for restricted funding, and legal and statutory compliance for BBC Media Action's work. S/he will lead the Finance Department and a team of 4 to 6 staff, and will also be required to develop and deliver training to other staff on financial management elements.
• The Head of Finance will ensure that all BBC Media Action financial transactions are compliant with the principle of value for money.
• S/he will act as a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT) and ensuring close coordination between the Finance Department and other SMT members and their teams.

Main Duties and Responsibilities
Reporting to the Country Director, the Finance Manager will lead and manage the Finance Department:

Financial Management of BBC Media Action office in Nigeria:

• To oversee the management of all BBC Media Action bank accounts ensuring that reconciliations are carried out monthly and that all necessary financial controls are in place;
• To oversee the management of all BBC Media Action cash accounts ensuring that reconciliations are carried out monthly and that all necessary financial controls are in place;
• To ensure that there is consistency in the use of Dimension (Organisational) account codes across the office and all monthly returns and to maintain the integrity of the financial information in organisational accounting software for the office, ensuring entries are correct & up-to-date;
• To ensure that the office submits its monthly cash-flow request to HQ on time and with all necessary supporting documentation
• To ensure the office submits its monthly financial return to senior management in country and project finance in HQ on time and with all necessary supporting documentation; and ensure the monthly checklists (Finance Manager and CD) are completed on time, signed off by the CD and sent to London within monthly deadlines
• To ensure that all budget lines in each project are correctly forecasted for in the corporate forecasting processes;
• To ensure that a record is kept of all legal contracts, MoUs and agreements in the office and that these are kept up to date and complied with;

Financial Management of Projects (restricted funds):

• To ensure that the budgeting of all new applications on all restricted fund projects are prepared, reviewed and supported;
• To ensure that financial reports on all restricted fund projects are prepared, reviewed, supported and submitted in a timely manner;
• To ensure that project audits on all restricted fund projects are arranged and carried out in line with the donor contract;
• To ensure that all restricted fund projects are correctly closed down including disposal of assets, closure of bank accounts and finalisation of reports;

Financial Risk Assessment:

• To keep up to date the financial risk assessments of all projects in Nigeria, ensuring that key financial risks are identified, clear recommendations on how to deal with areas of weaknesses are discussed with the Country Director and other members of the SMT, and to help ensure that the recommendations are implemented in collaboration with other members of the SMT and their departments;
• To support any internal and or external audit as required by corporate processes;

Financial Training:

• To design, develop, schedule and deliver relevant financial training to BBC Media Action staff based in each department;
• To carry out the financial induction for new starters in the office;

Any other:

• To act as a member of the SMT supporting the strategic direction and management of the overall office.
• To develop good working relationships with a wide range of stakeholders including donors, the Government of Nigeria, and NGOs, and to help ensure these relationships are managed effectively.
• To represent Media Action in country to key stakeholders upon request of the Country Director.
• To undertake any other task assigned in line with job description, by the Country Director.

Essential skills and experience

• Qualified accountant and/or MBA/MA degree holder preferably an accounting major with minimum of 8 years experience in the finance sector with 4 at management level.
• Experience of working with audit firm and international donors and a working knowledge of donor compliance for major donors (eg. DFID, EU, USAID, UN).
• Proven experience in managing all aspects of finance in a development context.
• Excellent computer skills with experience of operating computer-based financial management systems. Competent to advance level in Microsoft Excel.
• An excellent knowledge of the English language, including complete comprehension of written and spoken English, and the ability to communicate effectively and efficiently.
• Experience and proven track record of developing, and managing budget and the commitment to achieving the most efficient and cost effective use of resources.
• Experience in and proven track record to training and supporting partner organization on financial management.
• High attention to detail and the ability to raise issues solve problems that are financial in nature.
• Ability to guide BBC Media Action team to achieve highest standard of financial integrity and accountability.

Competencies
The following competencies (behaviours and characteristics) have been identified as key to success in the job. Successful candidates are expected to demonstrate these competencies:

• Analytical Thinking: Able to simplify complex problems, process projects into component parts, explore and evaluate them systematically. Able to identify causal relationships and construct frameworks, for problem solving and/or development.
• Strategic Thinking: Can identify a vision along with the plans that need to be implemented to meet the end goal. Evaluates situations, decisions, issues, etc. in the short, medium and longer-term.
• Decision Making: Is ready and able to take the initiative, originate action and be responsible for the consequences of the decision made.
• Influencing and Persuading: Ability to present sound and well-reasoned arguments to convince others. Can draw from a range of strategies to persuade people in a way that results in agreement or behaviour change.
• Planning and Organising: Is able to think ahead in order to establish an effective and appropriate course of action for self and others. Prioritises and plans activities taking into account all the relevant issues and factors such as deadlines, staffing and resources requirements.
• Managing Relationships: Able to build and maintain effective working relationships with a range of people. Team working.
• Communication: The ability to get one’s message understood clearly by adopting a range of styles, tools and techniques appropriate to the audience and the nature of the information.
• Problem Solving: Able to simplify complex problems, processes or projects into component parts, explore and evaluate them systematically. Able to identify causal relationships, and construct frameworks, for decision making and problem-solving. Transforms proposals/ideas into practical reality.
• Flexibility: Adapts and works effectively with a variety of situations, individuals or groups. Is able to understand and appreciate different and opposing perspectives on an issue, to adapt an approach as the requirements of a situation change, and to change or easily accept changes in one’s own organisation or job requirements.
• Resilience: Can maintain personal effectiveness by managing own emotions in the face of pressure, set backs or when dealing with provocative situations. Can demonstrate an approach to work that is characterised by commitment, motivation and energy.
• Leadership - Ability to create a vision and inspire others to realise it.
• Self-Development - able to identify and apply opportunities for learning and development

Application Closing Date
26th September, 2016.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online