1. Background

Self Help Africa (SHA) is an International NGO which supports rural development projects in Africa to reduce poverty among rural communities through local demand-driven initiatives in agriculture. Our goal is to support smallholder farmers to improve their livelihoods in a viable and sustainable way. SHA works with rural communities to bring sustainable solutions to the causes of hunger and poverty and enables local people to tackle challenges in ways which are practical, cost effective, and sustainable. Self Help Africa works in nine African countries.

SHA has been present in West Africa since 2007 working in Burkina Faso, Northern Ghana and Northern Togo and, since 2012, in Benin through local partners at grassroots level, bringing simple and effective innovations to farming, managing natural resources and working with the community to improve livelihoods. In that time, we have built strong partnerships with local farmer associations, institutes and local government agencies.

Purpose

The Assistant Accountant directly supports the West Africa Head of Finance and Administration (HoFA) in managing the day to day finance operations of the Ghana Office, including processing payments, performing bank reconciliations, monitoring budgets and cashflow and the preparation of reports to donors and SHA. This is a varied role requiring good organisation, prioritisation and multi-tasking skills, as well as excellent interpersonal skills and experience.

2. Roles and Responsibilities

Finance Management

• Reports directly/accountable to Head of Finance & Administration West Africa on finance and administration aspects (HoFA)
• Ensure that transactions are correctly coded and processed into the soft ware
• Perform the bank reconciliations in PS Financials and assist the HoFA in the update of the treasury report
• Ensure adherence to SHA’s Finance Manual and donor requirements. Ensure familiarity with the contents and requirements of both.
• Prepare monthly management accounts pack for submission to West Africa Office.
• Management accounts – based on the SHA management accounts template – includes monthly and year to date project and donors expenditure, bank reconciliations, income and expenditure account, anticipated results forecast and other necessary information.
• Assist in the preparation of programme & country office financial budgets (in liaison with the Ghana Programme Coordinator) for submission to West Africa Office Office. The budgets must be in accordance with the donor’s guidelines for budget submissions.
• Assist in the preparation of the annual financial field budget with the HoFA
• Maintain the register of advances to staff and ensure they are fully and accurately accounted for in a timely manner and in accordance with documented procedures
• Maintain the file records of all country office transactions
• Ghana Partner monitoring
• Any other finance related tasks as assigned by line manager

Administration

• Assist in the coordination of financial logistics for any events or projects as required
• Manage the administration and front office duties in the Ghana office.

Other

• You will be expected to undertake any other reasonable duties as assigned at the discretion of your line manager.

Required Skills or Experience

3. Required Skills and Competences

In order to succeed in this role, the successful candidate is expected to have:

Education /Qualification

• A minimum of Higher National Diploma (HND), in Accountancy from a recognized academic institution

Relevant Work Experience

• At least four (4) years of active experience in planning, budgeting and writing financial reports in a similar position
• Experience in audit, cost control and financial decision making
• Experience of managing, training and supporting staff and handing over responsibilities
• Experience in donor reporting (EU, DFID, USAID…)

Key Skills /Knowledge/Competencies

Essential

• A strong commitment to the aims, objectives and values of Self Help Africa
• High level of initiative, motivation, commitment and professionalism
• Exposure to development  work
• Computer literate with experience in managing accounting packages, and Microsoft Office suite (primarily MS Excel).
• Ability to operate efficiently within a diverse team whilst working independently
• Ability to handle a large workload, work under pressure, independently and with limited supervision
• Computer literate and proficient in Microsoft Office including Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook

Desirable

• A knowledge and experience of working in other West African countries
• NGO experience
• Working knowledge of French would be highly advantageous

4. Key relationships

Supervision & Collaboration

The Assistant Accountant is under the direct supervision of the Ghana Programme Coordinator, but is accountable to the WA Region HoFA in relation to all accounting related tasks.

Relationships with others

S/he will work in collaboration with West Africa Programme and head office staff in various departments:

• Government Ministries and Local Government Authorities (Ghana)
• Partner and Community Representatives (Ghana)
• Technical and Programme staff of Self Help Africa (West Africa and HQ)
• Other senior staff of SHA WA and HQ
• Donors/Supporters, etc
• National and International NGOs and other stakeholders in Ghana

5. Area of Responsibility

• Ghana

6. Obligations

It is expected that you will:

• Carry out these accountabilities within the operating and process frameworks that apply to the whole organisation;
• Work together with all your key stakeholders – line and functional – to ensure organisational objectives, mission and vision are met;
• Exemplify highest standards of integrity, purpose & values;
• Be in a position to travel extensively;
• Being of Ghanaian nationality;
• Be readily available;