ROLE DESCRIPTION:
Reporting to the Project Finance Lead in the Programme and Operations Management Unit (POM), the Project Accountant’s responsibility is to maintain the accurate financial management of the projects and to provide a solution-focused approach to ensure day-to-day support to the practices. The key responsibilities include developing and managing project budgets aligned with client requirements, monitoring expenses, preparing financial statements, and ensuring compliance with funding regulations. The Project Accountant also manages the funds disbursement to subgrantees, establishes internal controls, reviews subgrantees’ financial reports, coordinates audits, and provides financial insights for informed decision-making.
KEY REQUIREMENTS AND ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES:
Project Finance Management Support
? Monitor financial administration of projects to ensure consistency with commercial and grant financial requirements and Genesis’ commercial strategy.
? Provide practices with monthly financial reports as required in terms of LOE, actual project costs, burn rates, etc, ensuring that the financial reporting can be carried out appropriately.
? Monitor the disbursement of funds to subgrantees according to approved budgets.
? Support the project manager in the review of financial reports submitted by subgrantees and assess budget compliance.
? Assist in the development of new financial procedures to better support the delivery of projects, including managing budget trackers, burn rates reporting and other tracking tools.
? Set up and maintain budget tracking on all projects - monitoring, reporting, and analysing budget variances.
? Manage cashflow projections and reports.
? Assist with client project audits and end of year audits.
? Prepare advances, sales invoices, work-in-progress, assist with credit control, and process purchase invoices.
? Ability to interpret tax invoices and compliance to tax requirements in South Africa and other countries.
? Liaise with the Finance department on any issues and necessary changes in processes.
? Consolidate financial information of all projects in the closing phase, ensuring no discrepancies or violations of commercial agreements have occurred.
? Keep project finance records and provide assistance in financial reporting as requested.
? Ensure that all invoicing is completed with the agreed upon timelines.
? Assist with new project proposals and budgeting where necessary.
Finance Support
? Support the Corporate Finance team as needed on queries on the projects.
? Participate in relevant Finance meetings.
Other Responsibilities
? Educate and promote the staff’s understanding of financial processes and policies.
? Assist with induction of new joiners.
? Other tasks as agreed.
EDUCATION, KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, EXPERIENCE AND PERSONAL COMPETENCIES:
? Bachelor's degree in finance, accounting, or a related field
? At least 2 years of experience in grant management, financial management and accounting, preferably in the context of donor funded projects
? Ability to work effectively in cross-functional teams
? Ability to prioritize and handle multiple tasks under tight deadlines
? Collaborative and strong communication skills
? Proven ability to work well in a fast-paced environment with a solutions-driven attitude.
? Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail
? Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite and accounting software
? Fluent in English, both written and verbal
COMPANY DESCRIPTION:
Genesis Analytics is a global impact firm that has worked in more than 100 countries across the world. Our roots are firmly in Africa, having worked in 42 of the 54 countries on the continent, making us a truly global African firm. Established in 1998, Genesis is headquartered in Johannesburg and has offices in Abidjan, Nairobi, Lagos, Goa, and London.
Our purpose as a firm is to unlock and realise value in the young world - the arc of countries with young populations stretching across Africa, the Middle East, South Asia and parts of Southeast Asia - through jointly creating solutions with our clients. The foundation of our distinctive delivery lies in our technical skills and deep sector knowledge developed through our work within both the private and public sectors.
We have expertise in human development, youth employment, public health and financing, behavioural economics, competition economics and regulation, the digital economy, financial services strategy, monitoring and evaluation, and shared value and corporate impact. Some of our best work has been leveraging our complementary areas of expertise to find bespoke solutions.
Our clients include all levels of government, development agencies, foundations, regulators, banks, development finance institutions, non-government organisations, social businesses, and private companies.
Location: Johannesburg
Contract: fixed term contract, hybrid model
ANNEX: SPECIFIC TASKS THROUGHOUT THE PROJECTS LIFE CYCLE:
? Budget loading and split:
? Split the budget down according to fiscal reporting periods using internal tracking documents
? Calculate estimated direct staff for the project personnel for dashboard projection
? Load budget on Intacct according to fiscal period
? Request the ERP team to create General Ledger accounts for the grants, interest account, and forex and gains account
? Conduct debarment checks and verification for personnel and subcontractors against who will be paid by the project
? Bank accounts management:
? Open three bank accounts for the project: a Cheque Account, a USD Account, and a 48-Hour Account
? Allocation of funds to all three bank accounts
? Request the Head of Finance to link the bank to Intacct
? Invoicing preparation:
? Prepare invoice amounts
? Request CTCs from the Commercial Team and populate invoicing rates for new personnel added to the project
? Project suppliers and subcontractors management:
? Collect supplier sheets and BEE/payment documents for the new subcontractor
? Keep supplier BEE information up to date
? Add new supplier accounts on Intacct
? Call new supplier for verification
? Load new supplier on the bank and send for review before being authorised
? Review subcontractor/supplier contracts to be able to monitor the budget allocated
? Capture project supplier invoices on Invoices and allocate them to various General Ledger accounts
? Prepare supplier/subcontractor payment
? Submit all supplier payments batches for independent review before loading on Intacct for payment authorisation
? Allocate supplier payments as per the remittance and reconcile debit orders to the supplier statements and invoices
? Collect supplier statements and reconcile them to the age analysis
? Process any necessary accounts payable correction journals for approval by the Group Financial Manager
? Handle supplier queries and manage subcontractors
? Ensure that all relevant documentation is kept up to date on the Project Finance Drive and Project Drive
? Attend supplier Aging meetings led by the Group financial controller to identify any outstanding suppliers and attend to any action required
? Update the Project expenses tracker on the status of payments
? Download and save Proof of payments
? Process subcontractor accruals at year-end
? Monitor project expenditures, maintain accurate records, and suggest cost-effective strategies.
? Present financial updates in regular project meetings, ensuring transparency and alignment with objectives.
? Project cashbooks and payments:
? Ensure that all cashbooks are reconciled every month
? Process staff claims and supplier payments for the project, including sundry expenses
? Process project reconciliation correcting journals and any other additional journals to be approved by the Head of Finance
? Prepare bank revaluations at month-end
? Oversee the processing of payment requests, reconciliation of advances against actuals, and review of receipts and timesheets
? Subgrantee grant and finance management:
? Review of subgrantee's application budget template
? Confirm the pre-grant inquiry process if it did take place under compliance
? Conduct a due diligence process on the financial aspect
? Develop project-specific financial reporting tools in line with donor requirements
? Monitor and disburse payments for milestones, ensuring adherence to the agreed budget
? Ensure donor expenditure regulations compliance
? Review Subaward Financial Reports
? Conduct training sessions for subgrantees to ensure they understand and adhere to reporting guidelines
? Draft, review, and approval of subgrant agreements along with Project Manager
? Support RFP development and scoring criteria
? Manage subgrantee’s invoice submission and provide updates on their progress performance
? Advise subgrantees on relevant client and Genesis Analytics operational policies and procedures related to their awards and work with subgrantees to address capacity needs identified in the pre-award process and document improvements
? Provide ongoing support and training to subgrantees on financial and grant management best practices
? Collaborate on subgrant agreements, ensuring adherence to policies, and support budget reviews.
? Compile subgrantee financial reports for prime to be submitted to the donor
? Project accounting:
? Attend project performance and invoicing meetings
? Allocate project invoice to the donor account
? Manage cashflow projections and monitoring
? Ensure compliance with donor expenditure regulations
? Liaise with prime/donor on queries and requirements
? Keep up to date with the terms and conditions of the contracts
? Provide financial inputs and insights on project deliverables
? Prepare the order book for the project
? Convene order book projection meetings
? Track budget to actual spending
? Budget updates and maintenance
? Keep project reconciliations up to date
? Ensure that the latest rates are accurately updated in Intacct
? Update Project Manager on the project performance on a monthly basis
? Track the project’s profitability and keep relevant stakeholders up to date
? Provide Quarterly Financial Performance Reports, dashboard, and suggestions to relevant stakeholders (Project Director, Project Manager) on the performance of the project
? Prepare grant reconciliation to determine the amount due to Genesis on a monthly basis and initiate transfer of funds from the Project Account
? Manage financial planning, budgeting, and forecasting processes
? Monitor and manage project expenditures against budget, ensuring cost-effectiveness and identifying any variances
? Work closely with Compliance and Project Manager to draft, negotiate, and finalize subgrant agreements, ensuring compliance with client and Genesis Analytics policies
? Donor financial reporting
? Prepare an invoice and send it to the client, follow up for payment
? Project annual reporting:
? Request annual reports from subgrantee prior reporting period
? Assist with writing the report on the narrative document in the budget information section
? Set up meeting with Project Director and Project Manager to discuss the projections for the following prior writing of the project progress report
? Prepare financial report for donor
? After submitting the reports to the client, update the budget on Intacct
3. Project Closure
? Project close-off execution:
? Ensure the budget is utilized before the project close-off date
? Review financial reports from subgrantee for donor/client consolidated reporting
? Prepare and submit financial reports to donors/clients, ensuring accuracy and compliance with donor requirements
? Close off General Ledger accounts and bank accounts
? Ensure the project is closed on Intacct to avoid time and expense being captured
? No cost extension (NCE) if applicable:
? Update budget allocation to NCE if approved
? Update budget on Intacct
? Calculate estimated direct staff for the project personnel for dashboard projection for the NCE period
? Update project profitability estimation
? Update Intacct dates to align with NCE dates
? Save amendment contracts on the drive
