International Finance Manager - Laos

International Finance Manager

Permanent. Full Time position

Location – Sepon, Savannakhet Province and Vientiane, Laos

Salary – Attractive salary

About Us

HALO Laos is seeking an experienced finance manager to fulfill the role of International Finance Manager in the Laos programme. The role will contribute directly to the delivery of donor funded humanitarian projects in Laos ensuring financial and contractual accountability. The role would suit someone who is experienced working at scale and overseeing a finance team that is geographically disbursed and working in a challenging context. The successful candidate will be exceptional at working alongside others, bringing the best out of a team and pro-actively supporting the development of the finance department and wider programme team.

HALO has been working in Laos since 2012 and now has over 1,100 staff surveying and clearing the remnants of the U.S. 1964-73 aerial bombing of Savannakhet Province, along with other UXO contamination. As a signatory to the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), HALO supports the Government of the Laos PDR to comply with its treaty obligations and to serve wider government development goals. To date, HALO has cleared over 95,000 explosive remnants of war and made over 26km2 of land safe for use.

The programme is supported by a diverse donor portfolio and is currently delivering three contracts totaling US$40 million. This is a great opportunity to join a dynamic programme and a diverse team to support operations on the expanding Laos programme.

About the Role

The International Finance Manager (IFM) is a member of the senior management team in the programme with the responsibility of the programme’s finance department. They are responsible for ensuring the daily, monthly and annual financial duties are carried out in compliance with HALO’s policies, donor contracts and national finance and tax regulations. In addition, the IFM is responsible for the strategic leadership of the finance team, developing business plans, budgets, and strategies to support the programme’s funding and overarching strategy.

The FM is responsible for managing the finance team, building the capacity of individual team members and the overall structure to ensure the department provides robust and timely support to the programme’s activities. They are to lead their team and alongside the other senior management team members, they are to inspire, motivate and manage the programme. The IFM is responsible for ensuring that the right procurement and accounting systems are in place, monitored and improved as necessary and that the finance team is resourced appropriately.

The FM is responsible for ensuring that deadlines for internal and external reporting and proposals are met in a timely manner. Alongside the Programme Manager, the IFM is responsible for short- and long-term financial planning in place to support the programme and for the successful delivery of donor contracts on budget.

Role and Responsibilities

Financial planning and monitoring

• Support the Programme Manager in the formulation, implementation and monitoring of annual business plans and project budgets.
• Analyse and report on the programme funding position, working collaboratively to produce scenarios that ensure ongoing financial stability.
• Lead the financial monitoring and review of grants/contracts, working closely with operations to forecast and report on project costs to completion.
• Collaboratively produce project/programme budgets and forecasts utilising HALOs financial planning system (Adaptive Insights).
• Support the Programme Manager in the management of financial risk in the programme, escalating and addressing any emerging risks.

Accounting and Financial Control

• Provide financial oversight and support to the programme, ensuring transactions are fully reconciled and discrepancies identified and corrected.
• Ensure implementation of HALOs financial and logistics policies and procedures, reviewing and reporting on compliance against same.
• Oversee all financial accounting matters, closing the country books in accordance with agreed deadlines.
• Ensure that direct and indirect costs are allocated appropriately to projects, identifying and reporting on any shortfalls in both direct and indirect cost coverage.
• Oversee the financial management of delivery partner contracts, ensuring compliance with HALOs contractual obligations.
• Supervise the production of the payroll cycle, ensuring donor funding allocations are accurate, and calculations for salary, income tax, social security, severance, and other government levies are in accordance with legislation.
• Support the Programme Manager in ensuring compliance with all statutory legislation, e.g. tax, registration, labour law.

Cash Management

• Ensure that adequate banking and cash provisions are in place, set up in accordance with HALOs financial policies and that delegations of authority enable the programme to operate efficiently, particularly during periods of leave etc.
• Manage the short-term cash flow requirements of the programme, liaising with HALO HQ to facilitate cash transfers. Manage the effects of exchange rate fluctuations between local and contract currencies.

External Reporting and Audit

• Lead the preparation of country financial statements and donor financial reports.
• In collaboration with HALO HQ finance department, review and report on compliance against HALO policies and procedures.
• Lead the preparation for external audits, preparing schedules and documentation as and when required by auditors and/or HALO HQ finance department.

Staff Management and Development

• Ensure that financial staffing capacity is fit for purpose for the needs of the programme.
• Develop the capacity and career development of staff, ensuing financial consistency and quality across the programme.

Key Skills and Competencies Required

Essential Experience:

• Experience in financial management experience overseas
• Experience of managing personnel, mentoring and advising senior management
• Experience developing the capacity, structure and capability of teams
• Experience of ERP systems

Essential Skills and Knowledge:

• Financial planning and reporting
• Good understanding of financial risk management in developing countries
• Ability to implement and monitor policies and procedures in challenging environments
• Proven ability to lead, manage, motivate, and develop a team
• Interpretation and implementation of donor/client contract requirements
• Sensitivity to cultural differences and the ability to work in a wide variety of cultural contexts
• Excellent organisational skills with the ability to coordinate activities
• Excellent literacy, numeracy, and IT skills, including data manipulation
• Fluent spoken and written English language skills
• Ability and willingness to work strategically and undertake routine administrative tasks

Qualifications:

• Professional accounting qualification or clearly demonstrable qualified experience.

Desirable (not essential)

• Previous work experience in Southeast Asia
• Laos language proficiency
• Knowledge of Laos labour law
• Experience in humanitarian mine action

The HALO Trust is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate against any applicant for employment because of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.

The HALO Trust is committed to a culture that is both diverse and inclusive and we seek to recruit, develop, and retain the most talented people form a diverse candidate pool.

If you wish to apply, please submit your CV (no more than 2 pages) and a covering letter (no more than one page). Closing date for applications will be 15 May 2023. We reserve the right to close the advert earlier that the advertised closing date.