Finance Officer

Do you believe in the power of social enterprise to create meaningful and scalable social change in disadvantaged communities, across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)? Are you looking to be involved with and help grow a movement that is backing sustainable social change across the Arab region? 

ABOUT ALFANAR

Launched in 2004, Alfanar is the Arab region’s oldest venture philanthropy organisation.  We are a UK-based charity with operations in Cairo, Beirut and Amman and affiliates in the US and the Netherlands.  We aim to transform lives in disadvantaged communities across the Arab world by strengthening ambitious social enterprises responding to pressing needs, especially around children’s education, youth employment and women’s economic empowerment. Alfanar provides grants, repayable grants and impact investment (through a soon to be launched sister impact fund) and technical assistance to social enterprises, enabling them to scale their impact in disadvantaged communities, while increasing the sales of goods and services to achieve greater financial sustainability. Alfanar’s highly engaged venture philanthropy approach applies the principles of private sector investment to charitable giving, delivering social returns that are sustainable, scalable, and game changing. For more information about Alfanar’s venture philanthropy work, see our 2021 Annual Report and our website.

Scope of the Job

The Finance Officer at Alfanar will play a crucial role in delivering an effective and efficient finance function across the organization's group structure. Reporting to the Head of Finance, the Finance Officer will be supporting various financial tasks, including budgeting, forecasting, financial reporting, cash and reserves management, accounting processes, and financial risk mitigation. The role requires a focus on continuous improvement, problem-solving, and development to ensure high-performance standards and exceptional finance services for Alfanar's teams.

 

Reports to: Head of Finance

Main Responsibilities

·         Manage all receivables and payables following agreed processes and ensure timely payment.

·         Prepare monthly payroll and set up salary payments

·         Reconcile bank accounts on a monthly basis

·         Producing Monthly Management Accounts with the help of the finance system and Excel templates.

·         Review donor reports prepared by the country office for accuracy and cost allocation

·         Claim gift aid on a regular basis

·         Support organisation budget and proposal budget process.

·         Support organisational audit process.

·         Any other duties as agreed by the Head of Finance.

Financial accounting

·         Be an integral part of ensuring effective and efficient financial control environment across Alfanar’s group structure

·         Operate key financial controls including balance sheet schedules, intercompany and income reconciliations

·         Support the continuing develop of effective financial management procedures, increasing automation and efficiency

·         Ensure accurate and complete records for restricted funds

·         Active involvement in payroll to ensure an accurate and up to date payroll

·         Manage the payments process using Xero financial software ,review and set up payments at the bank

·         Support Head of Finance in developing and implementing  Finance processes across the Alfanar group.

·         Ensure Alfanar is up to date and compliant with its statutory duties relating to Payroll, Pensions, VAT , Corporation Tax and  other statutory submissions.

Reporting

●       Support Head of Finance with the preparation of  annual accounts in line with financial reporting standards, including consolidation of future group entities, ready for Audit.

●       Support Head of Finance during organisation’s external audit

●       Liaise with external accountants, including on all filing requirements

●       Prepare financial information for the trustees annual report and liaise with the communications function on presentation

Financial management reporting and finance business partnering

●       Support budgeting and reforecasting process led by Head of Finance. Ensure relevant team members receive guidance notes and documentation in relation to the budget and forecast processes and templates

●       Manage the month end close procedure, including preparing journals to record the required accruals and fund transfers

●       Prepare, review and analyse management accounts, seek variance explanations, prepare commentary and summaries based on budget holder responses, and ensure management understand any required actions.

●       Continue to develop monthly management reports and budget Vs actual reports for budget holders.

●       Work with the fundraising team to ensure that income data flows are documented, and finance and fundraising metrics are clearly defined and accurately calculated and reported

 

Tax, cash, risk and reserves management and group operations

●       Working with the Head of Finance, manage, review and improve Alfanar’s (online) banking arrangements and relationships, across the group structure

●       Prepare monthly cash flow forecasts and requirements and ensure appropriate cash management and transfers across the group structure.

●       Should it be required, support with Alfanar’s registration for VAT, set up and operate the required changes to the accounting systems, and prepare and file VAT returns, including other entities within the VAT group

Qualifications & Experience

Essential

●       Experience of supporting in accounting, payments, transaction processing, financial reporting, tax, and cash management with international operations ideally in a growing group.

●       Experience of automating financial processes and developing  reporting functionality from accounting systems

●       Knowledge and experience of using Xero or other cloud-based accounting software.

●       Experience of providing financial management support/business partnering to managers/budget holders, who may not have a financial background.

●       Qualified affiliate accountant or working towards a qualification (UK ACA, CIMA, ACCA ,AAT or equivalent)

●       Knowledge of data protection legislation, risk management and other governance regulations including confidentiality.

Desired

●       Bachelor or Master's degree in accounting or finance.

●       Experience in Finance Function in a not-for-profit setting, whether gained in a paid or voluntary capacity

Experience of working with high volume payment processing supplier systems and integrating the associated data flows into internal databases

●       Knowledge of UK requirements for accounting for restricted funds

●       Interest in social enterprise development and impact investment

●       Willingness to travel to the MENA region, if needed

Skills & Abilities

●       Excellent policy and process development skills

●       Clear thinking and excellent logic skills, able to unpick and simplify complexity

●       Self-motivated and self-organised, with good problem-solving skills

●       Able to work flexibly as part of a team

●       Able to contribute from a Finance perspective in a multi-disciplinary team

●       Able to work and produce deliverables in a timely manner, and to manage priorities, communicating timeline changes clearly to line manager and team

●       Flexibility and adaptability in your attitude and approach to work, with a willingness to ‘get involved’ and support the team with whatever might arise, working towards a common objective

●       Excellent and clear communicator in English, face to face, in writing and over the telephone/ Zoom

Self-confident and able to take initiative but also to work effectively within a formal governance structure

Personal qualities

●       Honesty, reliability, attention to detail

●       Excellent interpersonal skills

●       Exemplary organisational and time management skills

●       Ability to present information concisely and effectively, both verbally and in writing

●       Ability to work on your own initiative and in shifting environments

●       Passionate about organisational mission and values

SUCCESS FACTORS

The successful candidate will be capable of multitasking, rapid decision-making, have initiative, drive and a lot of energy, as well as high emotional intelligence.  S/he will be committed to empowering and strengthening high impact, sustainable social enterprises in the Arab world.  An ability to work independently and prioritize different deliverables with strict deadlines is going to be paramount in making a success of this opportunity.  Working with a diverse team across different locations will mean an ability to work effectively online with people in multiple time zones is a must.  This is an exciting opportunity to join a committed and growing team at a pivotal point in our growth.