Finance Manager, Mali (locally recruited)

## Overview & Responsibilities The Finance Manager oversees and coordinates financial operations for IDLO’s Country Office in Mali ensuring compliance with IDLO policies, donor regulations and requirements, and applicable national laws and regulations in the host country. This role provides strategic and operational financial leadership to both the Country Office, supporting effective programme delivery through sound financial management, internal controls, budgeting, reporting, and compliance. The Finance Manager reports to the Country Manager, Mali with a dotted-line reporting relationship to the Rome-based Regional Programme Accountant, and works closely with the CO based programme teams, finance staff, and the Finance Unit at IDLO Headquarters in Rome, Italy. The incumbent is based in Bamako, Mali. The Finance Manager coordinates the implementation of finance policies, procedures, and guidelines for the Country Office to ensure efficient and effective financial support to IDLO’s programming. The incumbent will perform the following duties and responsibilities: Reporting - Lead the monthly financial close for the Country Office (CO). - Prepare and consolidate monthly and ad hoc financial reports, ensuring accuracy, completeness, and timeliness. - Coordinate year-end closing activities and prepare annual financial statements in line with legal requirements. - Ensure timely, accurate, and complete accounting and reporting of project expenditures. - Share financial reports with Country Manager and Programme Teams, and support corrective actions where needed. Accounts Payable - Review and process all country-level expenditures for the CO. - Prepare monthly reconciliation reports and schedules, including advances, and ensure that outstanding issues are resolved promptly. - Perform timely reconciliations of country office balance sheet accounts and address any discrepancies. - Review procurement documentation to confirm compliance with IDLO policies, donor rules, and regulatory requirements, including verification that costs are program-related, supporting documents are complete, amounts are accurate, and proof of receipt of goods or services is in place before payment. - Advise on corrective actions when documentation weaknesses or compliance issues are identified, and ensure payments are made only after approval by the relevant budget holder. Cash and Bank Management - Review and consolidate monthly cash forecasts for the Country office, ensuring funds are fully reconciled before submission to Headquarters and working with programme staff to improve forecast accuracy. - Ensure sufficient funds are always available to support programme implementation and operational needs. - Maintain effective controls over cash management and use, including periodic cash counts and reconciliations. - Manage foreign exchange risk by putting measures in place to reduce the country offices’ exposure to currency fluctuations. Grants and Budget Management - Ensure costs are allocated in line with approved programme budgets and the IDLO chart of accounts. - Work with programme staff to prepare grant budgets for new proposals and budget realignments, ensuring adequate cost coverage. - Review budget-versus-actual performance for the Country office programmes to maximize budget utilization and recommend realignments where needed. - Review cost eligibility, accuracy, consistency, and budget structure before submission or clearance. - Ensure budgets are properly costed for staffing, activities, procurement, and operational support. - Provide consolidated financial data and highlight key financial risks for management discussion. Sub-grants Management - Participate in the pre-assessment of prospective implementing partners to ensure compliance with IDLO rules, donor requirements, and relevant procedures. - Coordinate with the programme unit on sub-granting processes, monitoring, and management systems to ensure timely issuance, reporting, and oversight of all sub-grants. - Maintain a tracking system and filing structure for sub-grantee proposals, agreements, financial reports, and outstanding advances. - Review sub-grant monitoring reports and prepare management summaries of findings and recommendations for discussion with the programme team. - Ensure each sub-grantee submits financial and narrative reports in line with the agreement and review the financial reports for reasonableness and consistency with programme delivery. - Review and clear partner financial reports. - Ensure compliance with grant agreements, approved budgets, and donor conditions. - Coordinate and review external audit reports related to sub-grants. - Support grant closure by ensuring that all financial documentation is complete and compliant. Internal Control - Ensure strong internal controls and financial risk management across country office, including oversight of mitigation actions and suspected or confirmed fraud cases. - Ensure full compliance with statutory requirements, donor obligations, and IDLO policies and procedures in each country office. - Undertake regular field visits for monitoring and compliance checks and follow up on audit recommendations to ensure corrective actions are implemented. - Perform monthly spot checks of transactions, cash reconciliations, fuel management, and other key control areas. Filing of Financial Documents - Ensure all original documents are properly coded and filed for easy future reference and audit purposes before shipment to Headquarters. - Ensure that electronic copies of all documents sent to Rome are retained in the country offices and filed electronically in sequence. - Ensure all payment vouchers are marked with a “paid” stamp. People Management - Effectively lead the finance team by providing clear direction, supporting development and performance management through ongoing dialogue and mentoring, fostering teamwork in meeting objectives and goals, addressing possible conflicts in a positive and constructive manner, encouraging initiative, and maintaining effective working relationships within a multi-cultural setting. - Manage the performance of the finance function by setting clear objectives for Finance Associate and Grants Officer, monitoring results, and supporting development in line with IDLO’s performance management cycle. - Support finance staffing planning by identifying resource needs, providing technical input to recruitment processes for finance roles, and advising on appropriate finance capacity for programme delivery. Audit and Compliance - Act as the lead focal point for audits covering operations, including partner audits. - Coordinate responses to internal and external audit requests, ensuring the timely submission of complete documentation. - Strengthen internal controls, identify compliance gaps, and support implementation of corrective actions across country offices. ## Job Requirements Education and Work Experience - University degree in a relevant field, e.g., Finance, Business, or Accounting, is required - Professional certification in accounting from a recognized professional accounting institution – ACCA, CPA, ACA, or equivalent. - Minimum of 7 years’ relevant experience in financial analysis, reporting, accounting, preferably in an international working environment is required. - At least 3 years' proven supervisory experience. Specific knowledge, skills, and competencies - Demonstrated working knowledge of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS). - Demonstrated work experience with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, preferably with MS NAVISION. - Knowledge of and experience with spreadsheet (advanced knowledge of Microsoft Excel is a must), database and word processing software. - Demonstrable experience in donor budgeting and reporting. - Proven ability to operate in a team environment, liaising with a diverse team. - Ability to work under pressure with tight deadlines, flexi