Finance Officer, Central Scholarship Unit

Job Summary

The CSU Finance Officer (FO) will need to be a diligent, resilient high performer who can collaborate with stakeholders, primarily volunteers, across multiple geographies, to ensure effective financial management of the programmes. The FO is a critical member of the CSU, who will report to the CSU Director while working closely with the Finance and Loan Committee (FLC), a sub-committee of the SAC, as well as Aga Khan Education Boards (AKEBs), Grants and Review Boards (GRBs) and other stakeholders at the country level.

The Finance Officer is expected to:

• Guide, support and liaise with the AKEBs on an ongoing basis in order to enhance financial management of the programmes at the country level (+20 countries)
• Develop effective communication lines and working relationships to facilitate review of programme performance against stated financial targets
• Ensure pragmatic and realistic annual budgeting
• Closely monitor award disbursements and loan collections during the course of the year, in line with policies
• Support the development of procedures, controls and information systems that underwrite the budgeting, reporting, tracking and training functions undertaken by the CSU.

Systems and controls:

• Critically review existing financial management processes and control systems; make recommendations to streamline and strengthen these, and implement the said recommendations following approval from the FLC.
• Work collaboratively with the Grants and Review Boards (GRBs) supporting the GRB audits and reviews, including following up on, and/or directly implementing, recommendations as required.
• Review and enhance record keeping within individual jurisdictions, ensuring that a central repository of data is maintained on a student by student basis, and regular reconciliations are performed between data maintained by the AKEBs, the National Councils (where applicable) and the CSU.

Budget cycle and funding monitoring:

• Support the CSU Director in the preparation of the annual budgeting and related reporting processes for the programmes.
• Develop user-friendly and streamlined budget management and reporting templates, and review, as needed, on an ongoing basis.
• Engage the Aga Khan Education Boards (AKEBs), in a structured manner, conducting a detailed due diligence to validate the submitted budget, in conjunction with the CSU Director.
• Confirm funding requests for both programmes against the approved budget, monitoring disbursements on an ongoing basis over the course of the year, and identifying and highlighting reasons for variances to the FLC.

Loan collections:

• Validate the loan book maintained by the field units on a regular basis, confirming that amounts, periods, categories and ageing of outstanding debt are accurately stated.
• Monitor and report on loan collections by country, on a quarterly basis, following up on progress against annual targets and ensuring adherence to policy parameters (e.g., repayment periods). Identify and report on reasons for slow payment and defaulters.
• Work with the AKEBs to maintain a robust and clearly documented student tracker, including updated loan follow up actions and responses.
• Work with the AKEBs and the FLC to ensure that all loan collection monies are remitted to AKF Geneva on a quarterly basis as a matter of routine, and alternative options are agreed and implemented where this is not possible.
• Support AKEBs to ensure systematic and timely transfer of loan balances to other jurisdictions as required.
• Work with the AKEBs to ensure that service charges are being consistently and accurately calculated and charged to awardees, and correctly reported in the outstanding loans amounts.
• Annually review the service charges being applied by countries vis à vis inflation and interest rates charged in their individual jurisdictions. Highlight any significant anomalies to the FLC.

Other:

• Support the CSU Director in conducting programme orientations, and provide annual training sessions on the financial management aspects of the programmes.
• Support the CSU Director in identifying and implementing software systems to make the various operations and processes undertaken by the CSU and the programmes more robust.

Required Skills

• Candidates will be mature, motivated and collaborative professionals with at least 10 years of relevant work experience and related educational background and/or professional qualifications (e.g., qualified Chartered Accountant, advanced degree in finance management or accounting, amongst others).
• Candidates must be comfortable working with a wide array of stakeholders, in cross-cultural, multi-national settings. S/he will be a relationship builder with strong communication skills and the ability to liaise with community leaders, volunteers and staff across different agencies within the AKDN and  community Institutions.
• S/he will have practical experience in developing, assessing and tracking financial and reporting processes. Candidates will have strong Excel skills (e.g., knowledge of macros, Power Bi), be familiar with computer-based financial and accounting information systems, and be fluent in written and spoken English.

Note: This will be a one-year assignment, after which recruitment on a permanent basis may be considered.