Finance Officer

VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT

Handicap International Federation (HI) is an independent and impartial aid organization, created in 1982, working across 63 countries. HI works alongside the vulnerable populations, whatever the context, taking action to respond to their essential needs, improve their living conditions and promote respect for their dignity and fundamental rights. Present in Nepal since 2000, HI works through a network of local partner organizations in the area of health and physical rehabilitation, inclusive education and resilience including emergency response to improve the living conditions and involvement of the most vulnerable populations in Nepal. 

HI Nepal is a part of a South Asia Regional Programme where in the region, HI's interventions specifically include physical rehabilitation, inclusive education, inclusive disaster risk reduction, inclusive economic empowerment, local development, emergency response and so on. 

The HI Nepal programme invites applications from interested Nepal nationals for the following position for the emergency projects:

Position: Finance Officer

Project: Emergency

Location: Nuwakot/ Rasuwa, Nepal

Number of positions: 01 

Terms & Conditions: Fixed-term contract  

Duration: As soon as possible– February 28, 2027

Main mission

The Finance Officer – Emergency Project is responsible for providing financial and administrative support to ensure the smooth and timely implementation of emergency projects. The role includes processing payments, monitoring budgets and expenditures, maintaining accurate financial records, ensuring compliance with HI and donor requirements, supporting project teams and partners, and responding flexibly to urgent operational needs.

Responsibilities

Strategy and steering

• Implements and monitors the actions plans for HI’s financial strategy within his or her area of responsibility.
• Updates financial information and monitors financial indicators within his or her area of responsibility.
• Monitors and reports to his or her line manager and functional manager on the financial risks of which he or she is aware and contributes towards their mitigation.
• Helps to identify financial and legal risks for HI within his or her area of responsibility.
• Ensure Legal compliance as per Sri Lankan statutory compliance related to Labour Law 

Standards and expertise

• Deploys all of HI’s financial policies, processes and tools within his or her area of responsibility.
• Ensures that HI’s Sri Lanka’s legal obligations are met and produces the required financial documents.
• Reports any changes in standards, case law or in the practices of other stakeholders in the financial field of which he/she is aware.
• Implements and complies with procedure for archiving financial documents and publishes and updates financial documents in the dedicated workspaces.
• Contributes to internal control within his or her area of responsibility and applies identified corrective actions.

Operational implementation

Contributes to financial and budget management

• Participates in the construction and adjustment of budgets with the budget holders.
• Provides budget holders with regular budget monitoring reports and assists them in the use of tools.
• Produces and updates resource allocation tables (human, logistical, etc.) and communicates them to the departments concerned.
• Integrates budget adjustments into the budget monitoring tools and enters cost-accounting modifications into the Financial Information System (FIS).

Contributes towards optimising the use of HI’s own funds.

• Adheres to the deadlines in HI’s financial calendar.
• Consolidate cash flow requirements and assists project managers in defining their cash flow needs within his or her area of responsibility.
• Prepares responses to questions from internal and statutory auditors.
• Contributes to the financial management of institutional funding in compliance with “donor” guidelines and contractual obligations
• Assists with the drafting of funding proposals for institutional donors; compiles multi-programme proposals when the programme is lead.
• Optimises funding schedules (coverage of office and support costs) in the drafting or revision of institutional funding proposals.
• Ensures that donor obligations are realistic and compatible with HI procedures (payment dates and methods and financial reports, methods for justifying expenditure, exchange rates, audits, etc.)
• Informs budget holders of institutional donors’ financial rules and verifies their application.
• Verifies funding expenditure monitoring and provides budget holders with donor budget monitoring reports. He or she monitors consumption rates, issues alerts in the event of a risk of non-compliance with flexibility rules and anticipates slippage by preparing contractual amendments with his or her interlocutors.
• Produces financial reports for institutional donors in conformity with donor guidelines.
• Prepares payment requests for donors and informs his or her line-manager in the event of a (possible) delay in payments.
• Enters information concerning donor contracts into the FIS: donor budgets, cost-accounting and budget modifications, schedules, reports, etc.
• Prepares responses to questions from internal and donor auditors.
• Archives the budgets and financial reports shared with institutional donors (with an internal and external version) in the dedicated storage spaces.

Contributes to the quality of partners’ financial information

• Produces an analysis of partners’ capacities in the financial field (e.g. budget monitoring tools) and, based on this analysis, builds a capacity-building plan for these partners.
• Checks the supporting documents provided by partners and the accuracy and conformity of their accounts before validating payment requests or settling the advance.
• If needed, assists partner(s) in their budget development and adjustment.
• Support the Project Manager in the regular monitoring of the partner(s) budget follow-up and in the actions to be taken in case of drift.
• Enters any cost-accounting changes & budget modifications related to partnerships into the Financial Information System (FIS).
• Helps partners to organise themselves to meet the deadlines in the financial calendar.

Emergency preparedness and response

• Contributes to the program's emergency preparedness actions and, during an emergency, adapts his/her work modality to contribute to HI’s effective humanitarian response.

Academic Qualification and Experience:

Academic: 

• Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, Business Studies, Commerce, Accounting, Finance, Economics, or any relevant discipline.  
• Preferable – Master's Degree in a relevant field. 

Experience:

• Minimum 3 years of relevant experience years of experience in finance/accounts preferably in development and humanitarian context.

Additional Requirements: 

• Hands-on experience with accounting and financial management software (e.g. SAP, Navision, HIpeople)
• Proficient in Advanced Excel and Microsoft Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Outlook).
• Ability to explain financial terms in simple language 
• Sound knowledge of accounting & financial, tax & compliance management including taxes. 
• Knowledge of donor frameworks and rules 
• Acquainted with data analysis. risk management, and forecasting methods to work collaboratively 
• Knowledge of accounting and financial reporting software 
• Sound communication skills and interpersonal skills 
• Proficiency in English both written and verbal
• Highly skilled problem solver, especially in finance and technical areas.
• Proficient at working in team environments and multi-culture settings.
• Have very good communication and interpersonal skills.
• Can work independently with little supervision.
• Self-motivated, committed, and maintains high ethics standards.
• Fluent on emergency financial planning and humanitarian funding mechanisms.

To Apply: 

Send a motivation letter and an updated CV including 2 referees (one must be your current line manager) with contact number and e-mail address to recruitment@nepal.hi.org. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis. Please mention the position you have applied for in the Subject of the email. HI Nepal reserves the right to cancel, postpone or modify the whole recruitment process and reject any application without specifying any reasons whatsoever.   

Handicap International (HI) is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified women, people with disability, and members from disadvantaged communities are strongly encouraged to apply.  

HI firmly believes in the importance of inclusion and diversity within our organization. This is why we are committed to a disability policy to encourage the inclusion and integration of people with disabilities. Please indicate if you require any special accommodations, including participation in the first interview.   

Candidates applying for a job with HI must be ready to comply with our Child Protection Policy, and Policy on Prevention of Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment. HI Nepal has a zero tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the values and mission of HI, hence, all selected candidates are expected to adhere to these standards and principles.