The British Council is the world's leading cultural relations organization and creates opportunities for people in the UK and worldwide to understand each other, to work together and learn from one another. We see this as crucial to building secure, more prosperous and sustainable futures for us all. We build trust and understanding between different countries and cultures and develop strong international links that are of benefit to people in Britain and the rest of the world.

POSITION : Deputy Finance Manager

Pay Band: PB6
Reports to: Finance Manager
Duration of job: 1 year in the first instance and renewable

Purpose of job

To manage all day-to-day programme financial and accounting processes for the Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Programme to client and corporate standards.

Context and environment

Nigeria is the British Council's largest operation in SSA with offices in four cities: Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja and Kano. NSRP is a DFID-funded programme managed by the British Council that aims to enhance collective efforts to identify and respond effectively to potential sources of violent conflict in Nigeria and reduce the negative impacts of conflict on the most vulnerable among the Nigerian population.
The NSP programme will operate from five regional offices (Kano, Port Harcourt, Jos, Maiduguri and Kaduna) in Nigeria with a programme management unit situated in Abuja.
The post holder must have the ability to work in a multi-cultural and dynamic environment. The programme will link closely with other BC-managed work in Nigeria, notably the Justice For All (J4A) programme. The post holder will work closely with the programme team in Nigeria and report to the Finance Manager.

Accountabilities, Responsibilities and Main Duties

Accountabilities:

Accountable for the efficient day-to-day running of the programme's financial systems and processes
Accountable for efficient and effective management of programme's account payables
Accountable for effective and efficient management of programme's vendors and customers set up

Responsibilities and Main Duties

Financial management and control - 35%:

Responsible for the day-to-day management of all financial, banking and tax operations, including:
Support Finance Manager in completing monthly cash-flow forecast and request
Manage and process fund remittances to Abuja and State offices monthly
Manage NSRP Cash journals on SAP
Payment Processing: monitor payment process on a day-to-day basis to ensure that performance is in line with British Council standards and in line with NSRP systems, processes and policies
Lead on processing payment for invoices submitted; manage down-payment, offline payments, Operational Advances and other disbursement
Upload payment data on straight to bank for offline payments processing
Carry out monthly bank reconciliations, petty cash reconciliations, offline payment reconciliations and other financial reconciliations that may be required from time to time
Prepare correction journals as necessary for wrong postings and ensure that they are posted before month-end
Payroll: Production of monthly payroll for temporary staff, support British Council Finance team in processing fixed-term staff salaries and overtime payments
Provide support to staff on invoice queries
Ensuring accurate management of programme store and inventory, including applying appropriate segregation of duties in receipt and audit of goods.
Carrying out a quarterly audit of the store.
Invoicing: Create Sales Orders as might be required
Tax: Monthly remittance of tax returns to Nigerian tax authority; resolve issues on tax; work with remitting bank to process tax credit notes for vendors; support Finance Manager to file for annual PAYE tax certificate; maintain tax monitoring spreadsheet
Banking: Support Finance Manager in managing relationship with Bankers and resolve issues on NSRP banking processes.
Assist in preparation for external and internal audit of NSRP

Vendor Creation and Update Maintenance - 20%:

Review Vendor and Customer creation forms before SAP set-up
Provide guidelines and support to Staff on vendor and customer creation
Support Facilities & Procurement Manager when reviewing Vendor Master List (VML) review
Resolve issues on Vendor and Customers accounts in SAP
Update vendor and customer creation checklist as required
In coordination with Facilities & Procurement Manager, provide information to and liaise with British
Council's Audit & Compliance Manager regarding Approved Suppliers List (ASL) and Vendor Master List (VML)
Work with Finance Manager and Facilities & Procurement Manager to collect quarterly statement request from NSRP top Vendors

Purchase Order management - 20%:
Ensure the accurate and timely management of purchase orders, including:

Timely review of programme purchase orders
Manage open POs to highlight purchase orders that are no longer needed
Liaise with PO creators to clear and resolve issues of open POs
Manage late PO issues - Support PO creators to ensure POs for activities are created following the procurement policy and process
Resolve blocked invoices and payments to vendors
Manage the Purchase Order Monitoring Sheet
In coordination with Facilities & Procurement Manager, prepare strategic procurement Report quarterly
Monitor Goods Receipt/Invoice Receipt on SAP
Support Staff in managing PO issues

Travel, expenses and advances - 15%:

Prepare regular reports on open travel requests
Carry out monthly and quarterly trip audits
Review retirement documents where necessary
Liaise and communicate with British Council Finance Hub on Trip Envelope Audits

Training - 10%:

Support Finance Manager to deliver trainings for staff, consultants and other stakeholders.

Key Relationships

Internal: Programme Manager; Finance Manager; Programme Team (management and technical).
External: External relationship management where appropriate (i.e. linked to function of role), to include:external partner organisations; state institutions, academic institutions, etc.

Person Specification

Behaviours
Creating Shared Purpose:

Communicating an engaging picture of how we can work together (Essential).

Connecting with others:

Actively appreciating the needs and concerns of myself and others. (More demanding).

Working Together:

Creating the environment in which others who have different aims can work together. (More demanding).

Being Accountable:

Putting the needs of the team or British Council ahead of my own (Essential)

Making it Happen:

Delivering clear results for the British Council (Essential).

Shaping the Future:

Exploring ways in which we can add more value.(Essential)

Skills and Knowledge

Financial planning and management - level 2 (Essential)

Experience 
Financial Management:

Experience of designing, implementing and managing financial management systems and controls (Essential)
2-4 years working experience in similar sector (Essential)
Working experience in similar sector (Desirable)

Qualifications

First Degree or Equivalent in Accountancy/Business Administration/Economics/Banking & Finance (Essential)
Part Professional accountancy qualification (Desirable)