Back Budget and Finance Reporting Manager

Location: based in Lviv with possible travels to Kyiv, Dnipro & Odessa

Reporting line manager: Deputy Country Director for Support & Legal Compliance Services (DCD-SLCS)

Duration:12 months renewable

Conditions: Employment contract, gross monthly salary of EUR 6,000 (gross salary already includes EUR 200 for Program Management Allowance and EUR 300 for Risks allowance). Annual leave of 28 days per fiscal year.

Starting date: ASAP

CARE INTERNATIONAL

CARE International (CI) is among the world’s largest international non-governmental humanitarian relief and development confederations. Drawing on more than 75 years of experience, through its 21 Members, as both a practitioner and thought leader, CI’s work reaches over 100 countries worldwide to save lives, defeat poverty and achieve social justice.

CARE’s vision is to seek a world of hope, inclusion, and social justice; where poverty has been overcome and people live in dignity and security. CARE focuses heavily on women and girls, and the areas of gender equality, diversity, and inclusion are at the center of our work because we know that we cannot overcome poverty and social injustice until all people have equal rights and opportunities. We recognize that power relations between people and within systems and structures are unequal and that these are entrenched in our broader systems, structures, and institutions.

At the core of the CI Confederation is a globally distributed Secretariat, which provides coordination and support to its Members in areas including governance, strategic planning, communications, membership development and accountability, advocacy, humanitarian response, and program development. In addition, the Secretariat represents the CI Confederation at the United Nations and the European Union, and with other external stakeholders.

Context in Ukraine

On 24th February 2022, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine marked a significant escalation to the conflict that started in 2014. It continues to profoundly impact the lives of people across the country at various levels. The front line is continuously shifting and there are areas controlled by Russian forces as well as cities under siege. Aerial attacks on military installations and critical civilian infrastructures are conducted in the whole territory of Ukraine, often resulting in collateral civilian casualties. The conflict has caused the largest population movement in Europe since World War II, with 6.24 million displaced within Ukraine and 7.68 million refugees having fled to neighboring countries. By October 26, OCHA had counted 17.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.

Amid the upcoming winter, which is anticipated to be the worst in decades, at least one-third of the country’s energy infrastructure is damaged, leaving millions without heating and access to water. In October, the Russian Federation claimed to have annexed four Ukrainian oblasts, further increasing the challenge of access to these areas. Therefore, in addition to preparing the population for the approaching winter, an ongoing priority for the international humanitarian response is to secure access to recently liberated and recaptured areas in the East and to provide aid to previously unreachable and particularly hard-hit areas of Ukraine.

CARE UKRAINE

As a new actor in Ukraine, CARE prioritizes a locally led response and is partnering primarily with Civil-Society Organizations (CSOs), National NGOs, local authorities, and when needed, INGOs with a longstanding presence in the country and access to hard-to-reach areas. CARE Ukraine deliberately and strategically prioritizes partnerships with local and national Women Led and Women Rights organizations (WLO’s/ WRO’s), further strengthening the Gender in Emergencies (GiE) principle and the Women Lead in Emergencies (WLiE) approach.

In the first few weeks after the escalation of the war, virtually all humanitarian aid inside Ukraine was organized and implemented by local actors. These groups (together with local authorities) remain the principal aid providers but are quickly being exhausted of funds, fuel, and physical energy. Thereby, a considerable proportion of CARE’s resources is dedicated to strengthening and supporting the capacities of local partners.

As of November 2022, CARE Ukraine has established partnerships with twelve local/national organizations (incl. four WLO’s/WRO’s) and five international NGOs. From the more than 28 million that have been raised for Ukraine thus far, more than half is allocated to local/national partners. Through the activities that have been implemented so far, CARE Ukraine has been able to reach 550,030 people, including IDPs and affected populations in hard-to-reach areas.

While CARE Ukraine’s office is currently located in Lviv, we are continuously working on strategically expanding CARE’s presence and reach with plans to open an office in Kyiv as well as field offices in Dnipro and Odessa, covering both the East and South of the country.

Role Objectives

The purpose of the Budget & Finance Reporting Manager role is to oversee and coordinate the effective management of all budgets (e.g yearly master budget, preparation and submission of grants’ budget) and finance reporting (e.g Budget versus Actual monthly report, preparation and submission donor’s reports) implemented by CARE Ukraine. S/he will also build and monitor the overall CARE Ukraine yearly budget planning and ensure that all supports & program costs are accurately and equitably reflected in each grant budget to be developed at proposal/modification request stage. S/He will then actively contribute to the monthly analysis of the project implementation review (On-time, on-scope, on-budget), highlight to the core SMT any major budget gaps/delays/discrepancies, and propose possible re-alignments when needed. S/he will also be required to support national partners in developing their own budget. At least, s/he will ensure the timely submission of all financial reporting to donors.

To do so, s/he will work closely with program and finance/accounting teams to make sure all funds are accounted for accurately and program budget line items are managed adequately.

The position will report directly to the Deputy Country Director Program Support and Legal Compliance Services.

Responsibilities:

Budgeting, Forecasting and Proposal Development.

• Prepare and regularly update the Yearly Master Budget to ensure its alignment with the current and foreseen donor funding, and ensuring that all the CARE Ukraine’s program and support costs are covered with proper allocations of the costs recovery to the different donor grants with clear indication of any gaps or surplus.
• Support the Business Development Team by ensuring budget proposal development in coordination with the Business Development Manager and relevant internal stakeholders (program and support departments), as per provisions of donor regulations, agreement guidelines, CARE DE’s budgeting guidelines and CARE Ukraine Master budget requirements.
• Recommend or facilitate opportunities to help build staff capacity (especially program) in budget formulation/management.
• Participate in the development of CO’s budget guidelines and coordinate the preparation of consolidated budgets, including forecasts and future years budgets.
• Prepare the Donor Approved Budgets (DAB) forms for all new grants with complete workflow process and submit to SSC for uploading to PeopleSoft.
• Extract the budget uploads, on a quarterly basis, from PeopleSoft to check and confirm if all the CO’s budgets are uploaded.
• In coordination with the accounting/finance team, share the uploaded budget with all the Fund Codes, PIDs and Activity IDs in order for the program and grants team to properly code all the expenses to the right charging codes for each of the respective grants.

Country Office Donor Reporting:

• Compile the CO’s donor reporting schedule for all CARE projects through reviewing donor agreements/IPIAs and updating the agreement database regularly.
• Work with the finance and program teams to ensure quality and timeliness of all financial donor report submissions.
• Document all donor reports in individual grant files.
• Make sure that the matching funds are identified as required in the donors’ contracts and are being charged in line with proper budget line item.
• Ensure that Project/Grants Managers or budget holders are aware of and provide donor specific requirements that need to be included into the financial reports.
• Ensure that financial exposures and non-compliance with CARE’s and donors’ regulations are brought to the attention of the CD, Deputy Country Directors, Area managers, Finance Manager and respective Grants Managers.
• Meet regularly with the project/grants managers in reviewing the expense burn rates and make any necessary revision to ensure full compliance with donor requirements e.g., budget flexibility, budget revisions including cost/no-cost extension etc.
• Coordinate the collection of contracts receivables from donors and CI members based on the IPIAs and donor contracts. This includes follow-up on relevant personnel or units for the necessary information in support of the cash transfer requests. Ensure that all cash receipts are properly recorded.

Grants & Contracts Management:

• Support with the reviewing of all donor grant, sub-grants and contracts and ensure that all concerned staffs are aware of associated donor regulations, including reporting requirements.
• Support the program team as appropriate, in the preparation of certain donor communications regarding grants and contracts intended for donors, CARE DE or partners.
• Assist in maintaining of a CO donor reporting schedule and work with the Finance and Program teams to ensure quality and timeliness of all donor report submissions.
• Ensure compliance by continually staying up to date on changes in donor and CI member regulations, and ensuring documentation and communication of all relevant regulations to unit members and program unit e.g. Project/Grants Managers.

Preparation of the Monthly Financial/Donor Reports:

• Maintain project and donor database information and files in both hard and soft copies.
• Extract the financial reports from PeopleSoft for each respective grant on a monthly basis, prepare the budget vs actual (BvAs) and share the needed reports to project/grants managers, Area Managers, DCD-SLCS, DCD/PI, DCD/PQD and CD by 15th of each following month.
• Meet regularly with the project/grants managers to review the monthly financial reports in terms of burn rates, over/under expenditures, cost/no-cost extensions etc.
• Prepare periodic reports to the donors, HQ and CI members as required.
• Prepare quarterly reconciliation reports between costs entered in PeopleSoft accounting system, payments and actual expenses by the end of the month following the quarter.
• Ensure compliance of all donor requirements as per signed contracts when reviewing expenses and preparing financial reports.
• Initiate the request to SSC for the issuance of new Fund Codes (FCs) & PID as needed.

Safety and Security:

• Ensure compliance to CARE Ukraine Safety & Security Policy and Procedures and Standard Operating Procedures as guided by the Safety & Security Manager both in the office and when in the field.
• Attend necessary Mandatory Safety & Security Induction on the first week of arrival and attend the Safety & Security Training as registered by the Security Team.
• Responsible for personal health, safety and security while working with CARE Ukraine.
• Immediately inform Safety & Security Manager/Deputy or Area Safety & Security Coordinator when in field in case incidents related to health/safety/security takes place

The Budget & Finance Reporting Manager may be required to support the other departments in the finance unit as required. Job’s requirements are evolutive. The position holder may be asked to undertake new tasks as decided by the Country Director or the DCD-SLCS.

Position Requirements:

Mandatory criteria for longlisting:

• A Bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, development finance, or related field is a distinct advantage. Master’s degree and/or accounting designation preferred.
• At least 7 years of experience in operations management in international INGOs,
• Experience working in humanitarian sector minimum 5 years,
• Proven experience in managing large budgets and working with donors.
• Advanced skills in Microsoft Office applications and working knowledge of Peoplesoft Accounting Software.

Expected

• Excellent interpersonal, communication and listening skills,
• Ability to take on a significant workload and work under pressure,
• Willingness to travel occasionally to the field location (Dnipro & Odessa)
• Proven experience in working with national partners, local/government authorities
• Adaptability, cultural awareness and ability to work with various nationalities and cultural pattern
• Skills in capacity building of national team.
• Fluency in English both in writing and speaking.
• Proven leadership skills and a competence in people management
• Competence in providing technical guidance and training
• Proven analytical and critical thinking skills
• Ability to take on a significant workload and work under pressure,
• Excellent interpersonal skills, ability to work on one’s own and complete tasks and produce high quality output.
• Proactive in problem solving, initiating actions and making operational decisions.

Accountability within CARE:

A commitment to CARE values and CARE’s integrity framework is critical to working with CARE. Any candidate offered a job with CARE will be expected to adhere to the following key areas of accountability:

• Comply with CARE’s policies and procedures with respect to safeguarding, code of conduct, health and safety, confidentiality, do no harm principles and unacceptable behaviour protocols.
• Report any concerns about the welfare of a child or vulnerable adult or any wrongdoings within our programming area.
• Report any concerns about inappropriate behaviour of a CARE staff or partner.

Safeguarding:

Children and vulnerable adults who come into contact with CARE as a result of our activities must be safeguarded to the maximum possible extent from deliberate or inadvertent actions and failings that place them at risk of abuse, sexual exploitation, injury, and any other harm. One of the ways that CARE shows this on-going commitment to safeguarding is to include rigorous background and reference checks in the selection process for all candidates.

Gender equality:

CARE is committed to meeting the standards of the CARE International Gender Policy (2019). Through this policy, CARE seeks to promote the equal realization of dignity and human rights for girls, women, boys and men in all diversities, and the elimination of poverty and injustice. Specifically, this policy seeks to improve the explicit incorporation of gender in programmatic and organizational practices.