Job Description
C3 2021 Job Title: Financial Accountant - Irish Aid and Projects Reports to: International Finance Manager Liaises with: Managers and staff across various departments, teams and fields in Concern. Job location: Dublin Head Office with ad hoc travel to Concern's overseas Country Offices as required. Pay Band: 5 (€50107 - € 55674) Contract: Permanent Full Time Job Purpose: The purpose of the role of the Financial Accountant for Irish Aid and Projects is to coordinate the consolidated budgeting and reporting of all Irish Aid (IA) grants under the Irish Civil Society Partnership with Irish Aid across the organisation, providing support to country teams and head office departments; to coordinate finance input to cash and voucher programming discussions across the organisation; and to undertake various finance projects and represent finance on cross functional projects as required. Key Responsibilities: Irish Aid: Review and consolidate financial reporting and budgeting in a timely manner and up to a high standard, ensuring donor reporting deadlines are met. Work closely with Irish Aid Coordinator and Emergency Coordinator in coordinating Irish Aid budgeting exercises at the beginning of funding cycles and on an annual basis, issuing guidance to relevant fields, reviewing and feeding back on submissions and consolidating overall budget. Act as main focal point for any finance related queries from fields and supporting fields with finance aspects of their Irish Aid programmes. Review quarterly financial reports submitted by country programmes, feeding back on same and consolidating these reports, including year-end report for submission to donor. Draft the annual letter of assurance required by donor each year and ensure details of same are in line with Concern Annual Report and Financial Statements and with reports submitted to the donor. Monitor updates to implementation plans and coordinate re-budget submissions to Irish Aid as required. Review budgets and financial reports for emergency interventions (Acute Crisis Stream). Develop and adapt existing budgeting and reporting templates as required. Monitor disposals of Irish Aid assets and ensure all donor required procedures are followed and reports filed. Organise finance meetings and workshops as may prove necessary to standardise financial procedures and address financial and compliance issues that arise. Keep up to date with donor regulations and ensure that all controls are in place to meet donor compliance obligations. Cash and Voucher Programming: Coordinate finance input to Cash & Voucher Assistance (CVA) discussions across the organisation. Work closely with various representatives from departments outside of finance (including the Beneficiary & Transfer Management System (BTMS) Coordinator and the CVA Programme Advisor) and from countries with dedicated cash programming teams. Represent Finance in the related working groups (WG) including the BTMS WG and CVA WG. Keep up to date on the evolving trends in the CVA programme space, including attending external meetings, webinars etc. and feed back to the International Finance Team (IFT) and Finance Director (FD), highlighting potential risks and areas of focus for finance. Gather information on the current status of finance oversight of existing CVA modalities and distribution methods in country programmes and create a repository of CVA standard operating procedures (SOPs) and information for sharing with the IFT and CFCs. Carry out regular review of existing guidance documentation around CVA programming and ensure finance aspects of same are up-to-date, accurate, complete and in line with wider Concern financial policies and procedures. Take the lead for finance in understanding and reviewing country proposals for the implementation of CVA programmes, including advising on the necessary SoPs to deal with internal controls, transfer methods and risk management and setting up of reconciliation processes. Undertake field visits to observe implementation of CVA programmes and relevant controls for support, oversight and learning purposes. Design a process of best practise around reconciliation and audit of CVA distribution mechanisms in coordination with the Grant Compliance Unit (GCU) and IFT. In consultation with the SAL CVA Programme Advisor, provide finance inputs into the preparation and updating of organisational policies and guidance documents, including the Cash Guide and various annexes. Develop and locate resources/information and lead on the training of CFCs, IFT and any other identified groups in the finance implications of CVA. Projects: Under the direction of the FD, IFC and IFM, manage various finance projects and represent finance on cross functional projects as required Skills and Experience Required: Essential: Professional accounting qualification - e.g. ACA, ACCA, CIMA, CPA or equivalent qualification; Minimum of two years post qualification experience in a finance/accounting role, in an overseas or HQ position in the International NGO sector preferably with experience of working on projects funded by ECHO and Irish Aid. Excellent written and spoken English; Strong analytical, interpersonal, communication and organisation skills; Computer literacy, particularly in Microsoft Office programmes particularly Excel as well as accounting packages and other database competencies; Proven experience of conducting training for finance and non-finance managers; Good organisational and time management skills; Experience in managing multiple budgets. Desirable: Previous experience of consolidation of projects across multiple countries; Basic French language skills To apply: CVs should be submitted through our website at by closing date: Candidates must be legally entitled to work in Ireland at the time of application. Concern is an equal opportunity employer and welcome applications from all section of the community Concern has an organisational Code of Conduct (CCoC) with three Associated Policies; the Programme Participant Protection Policy (P4), the Child Safeguarding Policy and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Policy accessible here . These have been developed to ensure the maximum protection of programme participants from exploitation, and to clarify the responsibilities of Concern staff, consultants, visitors to the programme and partner organisation, and the standards of behaviour expected of them. In this context, staff have a responsibility to the organisation to strive for, and maintain, the highest standards in the day-to-day conduct in their workplace in accordance with Concern's core values and mission. Any candidate offered a job with Concern Worldwide will be expected to sign the Concern Staff Code of Conduct and Associated Policies as an appendix to their contract of employment. By signing the Concern Code of Conduct, candidates acknowledge that they have understood the content of both the Concern Code of Conduct and the Associated Policies and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these policies. Additionally, Concern is committed to the safeguarding and protection of vulnerable adults and children in our work. We will do everything possible to ensure that only those who are suitable to work or volunteer with vulnerable adults and children are recruited by us for such roles. Subsequently, working or volunteering with Concern is subject to a range of vetting checks, including criminal background checking. Your Personal Data During this job application, you will provide Concern with your personal data. Concern takes its responsibilities towards this personal data very seriously and is committed to complying with all relevant data protection legislation. Concern receives a substantial amount of funding from external donors each year. Increasingly donors are introducing requirements whereby future funding is conditional on ensuring that the name of any employee or volunteer (existing or new), does not appear on terrorism lists generated by the European Union (List of person, groups and entities to which Regulation (EC No. 2580/2001 applies), the US Government (Office of Foreign Assets Control list of specially designated Nationals and Blocked Persons) and the United Nations (Consolidated List). Any offer of employment (either paid or voluntary) with Concern Worldwide will only be made following a successful clearance check being conducted on the applicant and such checks may be updated periodically during the course of the period of employment. By submitting a formal application for paid or voluntary employment to Concern, you agree to Concern carrying out a clearance check as outlined above and that Concern will not proceed to recruit you should your name appear on any of the aforementioned lists In certain circumstances, donors may request that personal data relating to employees to work on the activities that they fund be provided directly to them - so that they can perform their own counter terrorism checks. This may involve transferring some basic personal data outside the EEA. It will be a condition of your employment contract that Concern be allowed to share this information with institutional donors for these purposes. For additional information please consult our web site or contact the Human Resource Division in our Head Office. You have certain rights under data protection legislation. For more information on how to exercise those rights please visit Please only apply for this position if you are satisfied with the proposed processing of your personal data as outlined above. To be considered for this role you will be redirected to and must complete the application process on our careers page. To start the process, click the Apply button below to Login/Register.