Finance Officer Job in Abuja at The Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria (ESSPIN)

Mott MacDonald - The Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria (ESSPIN) is an six-year UK government funded programme designed to provide strategic technical assistance to support education reform at Federal level in 7 Lead States.


We are recruiting to fill the position of:

Job Title: Finance Officer

Job Ref:19528BR
Job Category: Education
Work Pattern: Full-Time
Location: Abuja

Job Description

• The Finance Officer will be responsible for the day-to-day management of finances within Abuja as applicable, in accordance with Cambridge Education’ systems and procedures and consistent with the client’s requirements.
• The Finance Officer will receive an induction in Abuja to ensure that s/he is fully conversant with Cambridge Education (CE) systems and procedures.

• Work in accordance with the project accounting handbook to administer programme funds at Abuja level;
• Supervise preparation of all payment vouchers, journal vouchers and cheques and ensure the timely settlement of all undisputed sub-contractor invoices;
• Support the disbursement of funds for workshops and related activities, and the reconciliation of such disbursement
• Monitor expenditure and advise the National Programme Manager and Deputy Programme Finance Manager of potential issues with regards to forecasting, disbursement or accounting;
• Maintain a petty cash register and supervise the imprest accounts for Abuja based staff;
• Establish good and considerate working relationships with all staff within the programme, demonstrating respect for their own roles and responsibilities.
• In consultation with the National Programme Manager and the Deputy Finance Manager, produce regular rolling quarterly and monthly forecasts and submit monthly site returns to the Deputy Finance Manager in Abuja to feed into the monthly reconciliation and invoicing processes;
• Maintain up-to-date project accounts on the system to ensure that timely, accurate and appropriate information is available to the programme management team;
• Liaise with administrative and technical teams to ensure accurate forecasting and prompt disbursement and reconciliation of expenditure;

• Supporting the National Programme Manager and the Deputy Finance Manager in Abuja, the post holder will be responsible for assisting with all financial management within Abuja and will therefore be responsible for supervising other staff in this regard.

• Establish and maintain good working relationships with all programme staff at State level and in the Abuja head office.

• Excellent financial management/ accountancy skills;
• Good IT skills and confidence/proficiency in all Microsoft packages, and the ability to master CE in-house financial management system, FiFi;
• Attention to detail and accuracy;
• Ability to think ahead
• Willingness to be flexible and respond in a timely manner to support colleagues in Abuja head office and State Offices when the need requires;
• May undertake periodic travel to State Offices for financial team meetings.
• Required academic/professional qualifications, training and experience
• Educated to degree standard or equivalent; with minimum of two years working experience;
• Relevant professional qualification (i.e. ACCA, CIM, etc.) is an added advantage;
• Previous experience working in a large donor funded programme;
• Ability to work as a member of a team.