Associate Finance Officer at World Bank Group

Role and responsibilities: 

1.Africa Advisory/Upstream Funds Management:

• Oversee the creation and maintenance of trust funds for the CAF region’s advisory/upstream business that are aligned with business needs.
• Tracking of funding position for all advisory/upstream sources of funds (CMAW, FMTAAS, Donor), in light of current needs and forecast, highlighting critical issues such as funding shortfalls in advance.
• Approval of Grant Funding Requests (GFR) and Call of Funds (CoF) requests.
• Approval of trust funds recommended for extension or closure.
• Undertake quarterly reviews of trust fund status, including closure of inactive trust funds.

2. PPP Africa (C3P) Business Line Support:

• Lead the preparation of the Consolidated Africa C3P Budget for the subsequent year; to include staffing numbers, variable expenses, costings, project budgets and funding sources.
• Proactive oversight of project budgets during the year. Ensure required charge codes (WBS elements) are active and adequately funded and only eligible expenses charged, with due compliance with donor agreements and IFC/WBG policies (including applicable funding sources).
• Review overhead allocations charged to business lines monthly for reasonableness with set rates.
• Ensure time recording compliance for all staff and consultants working on business line projects.
• Clearing of control accounts (BFF accounts) and ensuring SAP reposts.
• Monitor open commitments monthly, notify Task Team Leaders (TTLs) on stale commitments.
• Participate in advisory/upstream meetings such as Concept Review Meetings (CRM), Project Supervision Review (PSR) and Project Completion Review (PCR).

3. Management Reporting and Analytics:

• Prepare the Africa monthly advisory/upstream funding status report – highlighting internal and external funding sources.
• Prepare funding analyses to support country driven budgeting (CDB) in Africa.
• Prepare adhoc reports on funding to assist the Africa Regional Head of Operations in decision making.
• Prepare for respective C3P Project Leads: Projects budget variance analysis, identify gaps, highlight areas of concern and make recommendations proactively.
• Prepare the C3P Africa Manager: The consolidated C3P report, to include all project budgets status, funding status, country spend, cash fees aging, time recording compliance (TRS) and other control issues.
• Provide input to Biannual Donor reporting.

4. HQ and regional cooperation:

• Participate in advisory/ upstream meetings, Budget & Finance Network and Regional initiatives to leverage regional knowledge, learn from other colleagues, and build networks- actively seeking and considering diverse ideas.
• Act as regional focal point on trust funds to actively communicate issues for the units, knowledge sharing and implement/promote initiatives.
• Build a strong partnership with the CBA HQ team in the areas within the scope of the main responsibility of the role to ensure a common approach and data consistency at the department level.

5. Oversee Internal Controls and Risk Assessments:

• Oversee responses by AS Finance Analysts to the Quarterly Trust Fund Exception report and audit queries.
• Proactively oversee controls on AS trust funds and financial management.

Selection Criteria:

• Masters Degree in Accounting, Finance, Business or Economics with at least 7 years of working experience. 
• Recognized professional accreditation (CPA, CMA, CIMA, ACCA, etc.) is a plus.
• Sound knowledge and understanding of accounting theory, concepts, and principles, combined with proven practical skills in financial accounting reporting, business planning, profitability analysis, and financial management.
• Diligence and attention to details.
• Working knowledge of SAP processes and transactions.
• Planning and budgeting skills proved by experience: able to produce standard activity and unit-level reports and budgets using inputs from senior staff or operational management, and to provide basic analysis of budget information.
• Advanced problem solving, analytical skills.
• Ability to analyze and synthesize information, interpret data, retrieve information, and clearly and concisely communicate results. Good data mining skills with working knowledge of Microsoft Package. Advanced Excel skills.
• Effective communication skills with the ability to prepare, present and discuss findings in written or oral
• form. 
• Ability to manage multiple, concurrent tasks with tight deadlines.
• Excellent interpersonal, teamwork and communication skills. 
• Fluency in the English language.