Finance and Administration Assistant (Short-term Contract)

CARE is a leading humanitarian organization dedicated to fighting poverty and social injustice with a special emphasis on women and girls. We are known everywhere for our unshakable commitment to the dignity of people. CARE partners contribute to the empowerment of the most marginalized and vulnerable rural women and girls to exercise their rights. CARE’s East and Central Africa (ECA) Regional Office is part of CARE International, whose vision is to seek a world of hope, tolerance, and social justice, where poverty has been overcome and people live in dignity and security. The Regional Office is responsible for the oversight of CARE’s operations in the region as well as the provision of support to country offices in the region.

CARE USA Core Values Commitment

The Core Values Commitment describes who we are, what we do, and how we do it. It reflects our core values of TRANSFORMATION, INTEGRITY, DIVERSITY, EQUALITY and EXCELLENCE, which serve as a foundation for all what we do. The Core Values Commitment articulates our shared expectations of each other including our board, staff, volunteers, interns, partners and contractors globally.

Role Profile

Department: Nairobi Shared Services Unit (SSU)

Reports to: Finance and Operations Manager

Duty Station: Nairobi, Kenya

The Finance and Administration Assistant will be responsible for the day-to-day management of specific Finance functions including; review and reconciliation of the general ledger, accounts payable and receivable, and cash management activities; and management of general administration and transport logistics (internal and outsourced). S/He will ensure close functional collaboration with other unit staff to enhance efficiency in the provision of services and accountability.

1. Accounts Payable (AP) / Global AP Process Support and Implementation – 40%

• Review all supporting documents and ensure supporting documents are accurate; entries are done correctly to the appropriate account codes
• Provide guidance to staff and budget holders where coding is not done correctly and recommend adjustments accordingly where necessary to comply with donor requirements or accounting standards and organization policies
• Raise purchase requisitions in the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system
• Process and ensure accuracy of staff travel advances, reimbursements and travel expense reports

2. Year-end Process – 20%

• Conduct Trial Balance analysis to establish accuracy of the balances and make the necessary changes on any outstanding balances
• Review all transactions and reconcile the Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable to the General Ledger
• Follow up any exceptions identified during the analysis and resolve them or refer to the Finance and Operations Manager where guidance is required
• Conduct the year end physical inventory count and verification process
• Support on the vendor pre-qualification exercise and ensure vendor onboarding done accurately

3. Travel and Events Management – 30%

• Provide support on events management requests coming from the region, country offices and the wider organization
• Maintain oversight of efficient and cost-effective local travel and transport related activities (taxis and rental vehicles) for staff locally and visitors from abroad
• Flight bookings and management: ensure that bookings are made on the most competitive fares
• Coordinate local staff movement i.e. organize pick up and drop off for staff who arrive and depart from other countries
• Administration of taxi applications to ensure timely, accurate and updated data maintenance

4. Other Responsibilities – 10%

• Support procurement of local service providers for office services
• Provide support on regional finance and administration requests

Key Competencies

• Customer focus – internal and external
• Problem solving
• Functional technical skills
• Planning
• Informing
• Managing and measuring work
• Process management
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills

Qualifications and Experience

• At least 2-3 years’ experience in a similar position
• A Minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, Business Administration or Finance
• Professional qualification in Accounting, with a minimum of CPA Part 2 or equivalent in ACCA is required
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, and good skills in using ERP – financial software applications
• Strong analytical skills with ability to set priorities, complete work with minimal supervision, and meet deadlines