Finance Officer

The International Water Management Institute (IWMI), a CGIAR Research Center is looking for a competent, self-motivated, and dynamic candidate with excellent interpersonal, organizational and problem-solving skills, to join IWMI's Head Quarters in Pelawatta, Battaramulla as Finance Officer.

The Finance Officer is a member of the IWMI Finance Department which is responsible for financial, Budget management and reporting of IWMI’s portfolio of research for development projects.

The Finance Officer works across the project management lifecycle and is responsible for managing financial aspects from project implementation and project closure.

To ensure full integration Project budget management process in IWMI’s overall project management lifecycle, the Finance Officer will work in close coordination with several departments and teams at IWMI including the Finance Office, Business Development unit, Project Management Office, and the Research Groups.

GENERAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Support during Project implementation

• Provide central budget support on Bilateral, initiative projects to Project Leaders throughout the project lifecycle, starting from creating the project, continuous review and till the project closure.
• Monitor and regularly update Project Leaders on progress against the project budget and work plan, and review and update where applicable.
• Work with the Project Leaders and forecast the budget for current and next year, using the System budget.
• Revisit & review Annual workplan budget with Project leaders & update any revised budgets and carryover in the system.
• Facilitate the overall process of contract amendments which involves reforecasting of donor budgets.
• Ensure Full cost recovery is implemented on contract amendments.
• For costed contract variations develop updated internal budgets for revision into the donor budget (in donor format) as per Project leaders requirement, liaising with the reporting team and other teams as needed.
• Check or review draft contract variation budgets prior to contract variation approval.
• Support the Project Leaders in the management of the project budget in line with IWMI’s project management standards and processes, including compliance with project terms and conditions of contracts and internal administrative rules.
• Coordinate with other research support sections such as Business development unit, Program Management office and HR office, to expedite the resolution of project budget related matters and any issues.
• Plan and execute capacity building and training of relevant regional offices in relation to the areas of Project Budget Management.
• Update donor approved budgets in SAP.

Support during Project Closure

• Work with the Portfolio Managers and Project Leaders to decide on the balances to be spent and allocate final spend on balances.
• Develop solutions for day-to-day budget issues in consultation with Project Leaders, check for overspending, underspending, recoveries and liaise with relevant teams to act needed.

General Tasks:

• Develop user friendly financial dashboards at project level.
• Update monthly and make available IWMI’s internal budget template to ensure accuracy and appropriate version control.
• Ensure recoveries are captured accurately and done so at each month-end.
• Provide support and advice as required to improve IWMI’s approach to project costings and budget development processes (for example, contribute to revisions of IWMI’s Cost Allocation Guidelines).
• Provide support and training as required to researchers focused internal budgeting for proposals.

Requirements

MINIMUM EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

• A university degree in business administration, accounting or finance or other related field (A higher relevant degree or MBA is preferred)
• Full/Part qualification in CA, ACCA or CIMA
• Relevant professional experience over 3 years.
• Experience with the development of budgets for multilateral and bilateral donors such as: World Bank, USAID, European Union, and Asian Development Bank.
• Advanced knowledge of financial accounting and budgeting, as well as financial planning and analysis.
• Experience working with ERPs such as SAP and OCS.
• Experience with dashboard reporting (ideally Power BI)

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES REQUIRED

• Act independently within broad program goals to prioritize tasks in the absence of specific instructions and exercise independent judgment to identify and solve problems.
• Strong financial management / budgeting skills.
• Excellent conceptual thinking capacity to understand donor financial budgeting/ reporting requirements and implications for proposal budget development.
• Ability to adapt to changing priorities and new procedures quickly.
• Excellent interpersonal and teamwork skills.
• Ability to operate spreadsheets, databases, and word processing programs at a highly proficient level.
• Ability to deal with sensitive and confidential information in a professional manner.
• Personal attributes such as high standards of conduct, respect, flexibility, and sound work ethics.
• Ability to work effectively in a multi-disciplinary and multicultural setting.
• Attention to detail and precision.
• Excellent analytical skills.
• Excellent English written and verbal communication skills.

Benefits

What we are offering:

This is a nationally recruited position and only candidates who are eligible to work in Sri Lanka will be considered. IWMI offers a competitive salary and benefits package, inclusive of health insurance, life insurance, accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) insurance, and long-term disability coverage. The duration of the contract will initially be for a period of three years.

HOW TO APPLY: We will be accepting applications through 24:00 (IST) March 13, 2023 (applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis). Receipt of all applications will be acknowledged, but only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

IWMI believes that diversity powers our innovation, contributes to our excellence, and is critical for our mission. We offer a multi-cultural, multi-color, multi-generational and multi-disciplinary working environment. We are consciously creating an inclusive organization that reflects our global character and our commitment to gender equity. We, therefore, encourage applicants from all cultures, races, ethnicities, religions, sexes, national or regional origins, ages, disability status, sexual orientations, and gender identities.