Company: British Council

We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding, and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide.

We work directly with individuals to help them gain the skills, confidence, and connections to transform their lives and shape a better world in partnership with the UK. We support them in building networks and explore creative ideas, to learn English, to get a high-quality education, and gaining internationally recognized qualifications.

Working with people in over 200 countries and territories, we are on the ground in more than 100 countries. In 2021–22 we reached 650 million people.

British Council Pay band 4-H

Location: Ethiopia

Department: Finance

Contract type: Fixed Term 12 Months (Renewable)

Closing Date: Thursday 25th July 2024 at 23:59 UK time

This role is open for applications from employees who are currently located and have the right to work in Ethiopia. The successful candidate will remain in their current location/entity

 You must have the legal right to work in Ethiopia at the time of application and there is no relocation or sponsorship support.

British Council supports working in new ways such as hybrid working, subject to full approval by line management and conditional upon our ability to provide the appropriate level of service.  This may not be appropriate for all roles but can be explored at the interview.

Role purpose

This role supports the financial accounting activities for the British Council and works closely with the Managed Service Provider (MSP) to ensure the financial accounts are completed correctly and promptly, and numbers are reported accurately.

The role provides effective financial support services for a local business unit/country, within agreed timescales. This includes finance administration and coordination/ logistical support. They will support communication across operational areas and with the MSP and will work closely with the British Council Controllership teams to ensure the effective provision of financial accounting, reporting, and control activities.

The position holder applies an authoritative understanding of systems and processes to overcome day-to-day problems and ensure things run smoothly.

New arrangements for Finance Accounting activities are being introduced as part of the transformation of Professional Services and the global finance team within the British Council, moving much of the transactional finance processes to an external MSP.

Successful candidates will work closely with local business managers and the MSP to ensure that local financial accounting activities are accurate and comply with standards and corporate processes.

They will report to senior colleagues within the In Country Controllership teams.

Stakeholders that the role interacts with regularly include:

• Local business unit managers and teams

• Managed Service Provider

• Internal customers and suppliers

• Finance colleagues, Controllers, and Finance Business Partners

• Internal and External Financial Control and Compliance and Audit Leads

• Treasury and banking vendors

• Tax and local tax authorities.

Main Accountabilities include but are not limited to:

Finance and Resource Management

• Work closely with the MSP and British Council controllership teams to support the delivery of retained financial processes, ensuring consistent, accurate, and robust financial accounting in line with accounting practices and corporate policies. Maintain financial records as per corporate policy and internal audit.

• Complete all financial accounting and reporting tasks required for the financial month-end and year-end pre-closing steps and provide support as required for the financial month-end and year-end closing steps.

• Process customer transactions and income collection accurately and promptly. Complete daily cash reconciliations. Responsible for ensuring the integrity of the cash collection process. Responsible for ensuring the integrity of customers' refund process. Ensure compliance with treasury policy. Submit relevant documents to the local bank as requested including bank mandate updates.

• Provide support as required on accounting transactions, adjustments (accruals, deferrals, and provisions), and reconciliations, including Intercompany accounting. Provide support as required with manual journals and off-system payment requests ensuring accuracy and compliance with relevant policies.

• Support the production of financial reports/returns and extraction of data from SAP. Contribute to statutory reporting, tax review/filing, cashflow reporting, and debtor management controls. Assist with the preparation of local Tax submissions and other statutory returns.

• Assist with the provision of information to internal/external auditors and assist in the implementation of audit recommendations. Complete Travel & Expense audits as per policy addressing issues promptly. Identify issues and bring them to the attention of senior members of the team for resolution of financial accounting matters.

• Assist Management Accounting tasks and the production of management reports as required. Support the administration of local databases/customized software, providing advice and training to line managers and colleagues as required.

Payroll management for Ethiopia

• Processing Payroll: Ensuring compliance with relevant laws, regulations, and company policies regarding payroll processing. Timely and accurate processing of payroll to ensure employees are paid on time and under their employment contracts.

• Maintaining Payroll Records: Keeping accurate and up-to-date records of employee earnings, deductions, and tax withholdings. Generating payroll reports for management and regulatory compliance purposes. Maintaining confidentiality and security of payroll data and ensuring compliance with data protection regulations.

• Resolving Payroll Issues: Addressing and resolving payroll-related inquiries and issues from employees, managers, and other stakeholders. Investigating discrepancies or errors in payroll processing and implementing corrective actions. Collaborating with HR, finance, and other departments to ensure payroll-related processes are efficient and effective.

Customer support

Receives and responds to inquiries from/to customers and is a specific point of reference as required. Identifies where more complex issues or incidents require resolution by others and refers them accordingly.

Relationship and Stakeholder Management

Proactively communicate and liaise with others (inside and outside the British Council) to ensure effective coordination and delivery of events, services, and activities. Build an understanding of who’s who within the wider department, unit, or region to enable effective resolution of issues when they arise.

Managing self and others

Plan and prioritise own activities, respond to changing and at times competing requirements to ensure effective delivery of responsibilities over set reporting timescales. Provide a good standard of financial administration and financial discipline. Tasks and coordinates others (e.g., internal customers, colleagues, or third-party suppliers) to complete activities under agreed financial procedures.

Role-specific knowledge and experience:

Essential

• Knowledge of statutory accounting principles and practices, including accruals and the impact of financial transactions.

• Proven accounting experience.

• Advanced experience in Excel.

• SAP experience.

Desirable

• Experience of working in an international organization and/or relevant employer.

• Good level of understanding of relevant software

• Financial analytical experience.

• Experience in managing high-value debtors.

Role Specific Skills

• Organized, disciplined, and methodical approach to work. Ability to work under pressure. Good time management and data management.

• Very good IT skills, particularly in Excel and Word.

• Good literacy and numeracy skills, able to understand profit and loss calculations and basic finance, e.g., deprecation, capital and revenue expenditure, cash flow, overheads, etc.

• Excellent written and spoken communication skills. Ability to explain complex financial data to non-finance people, using non-technical language.

• Working in virtual teams.

Job Requirements

Education

• Higher Education

• Degree level relevant education. Studying for a recognized accounting qualification is desirable.

Language Requirements

The British Council systems and global processes operate in English. Written and verbal proficiency in the local language and English is required.

Additional job requirements

Proof of Identity requirements/right to work in the country

Candidates are expected to have researched whether they have the right to live and work in the country in which the role is based. Given that our offices have different legal statuses depending on the work we do in those countries, we recommend that you contact HR in the country for additional information on the likelihood of securing a visa. Only at its discretion will the British Council provide support so please check first whether visa support is offered.

Background Checks

Initial and continuing employment with the British Council is subject to an annual background check. The job undertaken defines the nature of the check(s) and the assessment applied.

How to Apply

Interested and qualified applicants can apply online using THIS LINK