SENIOR FINANCE OFFICER – HARGEISA, SOMALILAND

Company Overview

Pharo Ventures is the commercial, for-profit arm of The Pharo Foundation and has been set up to harness the power of a vibrant private sector by investing in enterprises across a variety of spheres within East Africa. The objective is to build and grow commercially and environmentally sustainable businesses. The focus is maximising the creation of economic value and jobs for local communities.

We have a vision of an economically vibrant and inclusive Africa. We believe we can achieve our vision and ambitions by investing in the human and physical capital of Africa. Headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, Pharo Ventures has country offices in Ethiopia (Addis Ababa) and Somaliland (Hargeisa).

Position Summary

We are recruiting for a Senior Finance Officer of Pharo Ventures Somaliland (PVSL). The Finance Officer, as part of the finance team, will be expected to work flexibly and collegially in offering support to the Finance Manager and other internal stakeholders in the financial management system of PVSL and its subsidiaries. S/he will have responsibility for providing timely and efficient accounting and financial service support services to PVSL and its subsidiaries by ensuring accuracy and completeness in the payment processes, data management and reporting as well as maintaining high financial management and control standards.

Working in a collaborative fashion with highly committed colleagues, this position offers a career – enriching opportunity to a resourceful finance professional who is seeking to work within international standards and relishes the challenge of managing multiple, time – sensitive assignments with the strongest attention to detail and with the capacity to independently prioritise tasks.

Role: Senior Finance Officer (Hargeisa)

Reporting: This role will report to Finance Manager, Pharo Ventures Somaliland

Functional Relationships:

• Pharo Ventures Team in Somaliland, which includes Finance, HR, Operations and Marketing Leads
• Pharo Ventures Team in Nairobi, Kenya

Key Measures of Performance

The performance of this role holder will be assessed on the basis of the achievements made on:

• Compliance with Pharo Ventures Somaliland its subsidiaries’ financial management policies and procedures
• Accuracy, completeness and timeliness of financial reports and financial transactions posted in the finance system

• Timeliness, accuracy and completeness in payment processes
• Turnaround time in the financial management processes
• Quality of content of deliverables
• Effective and efficient cash management
• System Management and implementation
• Demonstration of and growth in key competencies and other soft skills necessary for the delivery of your role.
• Development and capacity building of the finance assistants/accountants

Key Duties and Responsibilities

• Timely and accurate preparation of management and financial reports, audit and tax returns and various other required reports or internal and external use;
• Assist the finance manager with financial planning, including preparation of budgets, cash flow forecasts and implementing appropriate budgetary controls;
• Ensuring the internal controls within the computerized accounting systems are safeguarded and working well.
• Ensuring all financial documents are timely and accurately prepared, reviewed and posted for the purposes of generating financial reports.
• Reviewing and ensuring that all payments support documentation is in line with the laid down policies and procedures before processing of payments is made.
• Management of vendor accounts by ensuring that reconciliation is done on a timely basis and issues raised by Vendors are addresses on a timely basis.
• Timely and accurate processing of payments and follow-up to ensure that the payment process is complete.
• Generating financial analyses based on monthly financial reports and providing guidance to the Finance Manager on major accounting issues that require to be addressed.
• Preparation of bank reconciliation statements for all bank accounts and bringing to attention all matters that require action.
• Preparation of other account reconciliations and addressing issues arising from these reconciliations.
• Periodically reviewing the balance sheet accounts and ensuring they are kept current and can be easily identified and reconciled
• Ensuring that the finance system’s accounting routine actions are adequately handled and any issues of concern brought to the attention of the Finance Manager for action.
• Monitoring bank accounts and ensuring adequate liquidity is maintained each month and avoiding risks of negative cash balance
• Tracking the employee advances as well as other accounts receivables regularly and following up the recovery process or management action.
• Design financial analysis tools that can generate financial information for decision making based on the Accounting database.
• Capacity building for finance and non-finance staff in understanding Pharo Ventures financial policies, processes and procedures and statutory regulations
• Prepare the staff monthly payroll by ensuring that all payments are duly supported by appropriate documentation, ensuring that all payroll changes have been duly authorized and effected and relevant tax obligations are withheld and remitted within the given timeframes.
• Prepare statutory deductions and other deductions and make returns to the respective governments and related agencies before the due dates.

• Journalize each and every entry of the payroll for each staff in the finance system
• Ensure that all relevant taxes for qualifying payments have been properly deducted, and accounted for and that withholding tax receipts are filed in an ascending manner using the dates of payment and the submissions made within the specific timelines
• Support in the preparation, organization and conduct of PVSL audits
• Assist the Finance Manager in the preparation of the annual financial statements and relevant reports statements and relevant reports required by the management and stakeholders
• Assist the Finance Manager in the coordination and activities of the external and internal auditors and ensure all audit issues are resolved.
• Maintain relationships with service providers for timely and quality services at all times.
• Manage the Finance Manager/CFO/General Manager/Country Head’s expectations as laid out by them on a regular basis through weekly updates, quick responses to their emails, and addressing all their queries within a reasonable timeline
• Effective management of the office petty cash, ensuring that there is timely replenishment and proper cash custody
• Management of the Pharo Ventures accounting filing system
• Receives all inventory items from suppliers, verifies such deliveries against approved orders, and ensures such items are safely stored
• Assists in the maintenance of an inventory database and ensures that insurance cover is in force at all times.
• Assists in barcoding of office inventory
• Perform other duties as assigned.

  Skills and Qualifications

  Qualification Requirements

  • The ideal candidate should possess a first degree in Accounting, Finance or Business Administration and or related equivalent.
  • Full membership of an accountancy qualification such as CPA or ACCA.
  • S/he must possess a minimum of five (5) years of related professional experience, preferably within audit firms and multicultural international organisations.
  • Experience in using an accounting software package like QuickBooks, Tally, Sage, and Xero being ideal but not mandatory.
  • Strong financial analytical skills.
  • Excellent proficiency in the use of Microsoft Office packages: Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
  • A self-starter with initiative and the ability to multi-task, work under pressure and meet deadlines.
  • Excellent communication skills and comfortable working with senior-level colleagues.
  • Strong numeracy and literacy skills.

  Behavioural Competencies

  • Dedicated team player with demonstrable experience in setting up finance procedures and systems.
  • Problem solver and creative thinker with the ability to get results in fast-paced environments.
  • A self-assured, internally motivated and passionate individual driven to succeed and make a difference.
  • An individual with high levels of integrity, professionalism, resilience, accountability and determination.
  • An individual with a strong work ethic and a mature, professional proactive attitude.
  • Extremely organised and efficient individual with high attention to detail.

   

  How to apply

  Review of applications will begin as soon as they are received, and only complete applications will be reviewed. In the event that an outstanding applicant is identified early in the search process, we reserve the right to appoint before the deadline on February 10th 2023. For this reason, we encourage interested and suitably qualified candidates to apply at the earliest possible time. Due to the high volume of applications, we regret that we will only be able to contact shortlisted candidates.

  Please send the information listed below, as a single PDF file to the following email address: applications.SL@pharoventures.com and add the job title ‘Senior Finance Officer- PVSL’ to the email subject line.

  1. A detailed CV and Cover Letter
  2. An essay of no more than 1,000 words outlining:

  • What experience have you gained that makes you the most qualified candidate for the role?
  • What challenges do you foresee as a finance officer in managing increasingly complex financial accounting tasks in a growing international organisation and what steps will you take to successfully resolve these based on your experience and knowledge?

  1. A one-page list of four references with current addresses, phone numbers, and email contacts.