Finance Officer at Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA)

MEDA (Mennonite Economic Development Associates) is an association of compassionate women and men who invest in people living in poverty around the world so they can unleash their potential to earn a livelihood to provide for their families and enrich their communities.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Finance Officer

Location: Bauchi

Description

• MEDA seeks qualified Nigerians to support its Youth Entrepreneurship and Women’s Empowerment in Northern Nigeria project (Nigeria WAY) in Bauchi, Bauchi state. 
• Nigeria WAY is a five- year project that will assist economically active poor women and youth to increase their income particularly those who are involved in agro-processing in the rice, soybean, and groundnut value chains.  The project will work with communities and families to improve the environment where girls grow up.

Project Profile

• Over five years (2017-2022), the Youth Entrepreneurship and Women Empowerment project will focus on select agricultural value chains originating in Bauchi State to improve the business performance and environment for entrepreneurs and small-scale businesses. The project will focus on small scale business of women and youth in selected agriculture sectors to improve productivity, increase access to markets, financial services and information and to incorporate environmentally sustainable practices.
• The project is organised around a key gender equality theme - time use - and how this impacts the role of women as economic actors in three value chains namely rice, groundnuts and soybeans in Bauchi state. The project is focused on agro processing and the role that women and youth small scale businesses and entrepreneurs can play in these value chains in the private sector. It will interact with the private sector both up and down the value chain to connect economically active poor people into the market system around these agricultural crops. This includes business development services, financial services and access to credit. The project will work with families and :around early and forced child marriage. It will examine the benefits of engaging women and youth in entrepreneurship through awareness campaigns, employment and entrepreneurship skills building, provision of safe spaces, networking and mentorship opportunities.
• Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and MEDA are supporting 16,000 women and youth entrepreneurs and small-scale businesses improve their business performance in the agricultural sector in Bauchi State, while also increasing the awareness and capacity to address issues of risk for youth with 25,000 community and family members.

Position Summary

• The Finance Officer will provide support in the implementation of MEDA financial policies and procedures for the country office. The duty station is Bauchi, Bauchi state Nigeria to be supervised by the Finance Manager.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Manage all aspects of day to day accounting operations and petty cash;
• Assist in the implementation of finance policies, procedures and systems;
• Ensure compliance with MEDA procedures and guidelines and that all transactions are properly documented and stored (physical and electronic copy);
• Process payments to suppliers, partners and others in a timely fashion (through direct payments or banks transfers)
• Conduct a time sheet audit for the country office from time to time;
• Prepare a partner advances and expense audit from time to time;
• Review partners expenses when received from the grants’ coordinator ensuring that expenses comply with the terms of the contractual agreements, deliverables and are sufficiently supported with the necessary paper work;
• Maintain the accounting books (for operational advances, salaries or advances to suppliers, receivables and payables, and ensuring that the advances are paid back within the given timeframes with validation and justification);
• Verify completeness and accuracy of all accounting documents;
• Closing the monthly accounts within the timeframes by preparing monthly finance reports for MEDA HQ, in collaboration with Finance Manager
• Cover the responsibilities of the Grants Officer during his/her absence
• Record the national staff payroll, and ensure that all payments are accurate and legitimate;
• Execute Social security and income tax payments to authorities;
• Ensure internal control procedures are followed for all cash disbursements, exchange, receipts and transfer;
• Obtain monthly bank statement in the first week of each month for all bank accounts, and reconciling the bank statements and highlighting any cheques not cashed during the month;
• Support the Finance Manager in reconciling the bank statements and highlighting any cheques not cashed during the month;
• Performing other duties as required by the Finance Manager.

Qualifications

• University Degree/ Higher National Diploma in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration or other relevant field;
• Minimum of 3 years’ experience in accounting, finance and sub-grant management with international projects;
• Strong grants management, financial and audit experience;
• Knowledge of Global Affairs Canada regulations, systems and procedures a plus;
• Knowledge of financial systems software, computer skills in Excel, Word, etc.;
• Fluency in English and Hausa is required;
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills;
• Experience in Team work, through delegation, clear assignment of responsibilities, provision of sufficient authority and budget, and performance assessment;
• Proven and adaptable interpersonal and cross-cultural communication skills;
• Sector experience in agriculture/agribusiness is desirable
• Prior work experience in a comparable role is required
• Appreciation and support of MEDA's values, mission and purpose

Application Closing Date
25th January, 2019.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their Cover Letters and CV (as a single attachment) to: [email protected]

Note: MEDA welcomes and encourages applications from all genders, backgrounds, religions, cultures, nationalities and abilities. Accommodations are available on request for candidates with disabilities taking part in the selection process.