bout the role: The Compliance Coordinator will report to the Country Director. Additional support and supervision will be provided by the Grant Compliance Unit in Concern Head Quarters in Dublin. The Compliance Coordinator will work closely with Programme Managers, Logistics/Procurement Managers, the Country Financial Controller, Systems Director, Programme Director and other staff as required. They will spend a significant proportion of their time visiting field offices, project sites and partner offices (>40%).

Your purpose:

General Description of the Role

• The main function of the Compliance Coordinator is to promote and further strengthen a culture of compliance with Concern’s internal processes and policies, and the rules and regulations of our donors. This will include ensuring an understanding of the necessity of compliance and the implications of non-compliance throughout Concern and its implementing partners.
• The role is two-fold, with both an assurance and an advisory aspect. On the assurance side the Compliance Coordinator will be responsible for completing transaction testing, rectifying identified issues, and consolidating action points. On the advisory side the Compliance Coordinator will be responsible for advising various departments within Concern throughout every stage of the project life cycle. They will also be responsible for designing and delivering training workshops to Concern staff and implementing partner staff or supporting other staff members with this as necessary.

You will be responsible for:

Compliance support

• Gaining an understanding of Concern’s internal procedures, donor requirements and compliance risks, and working with relevant staff to ensure these are appropriately addressed.
• Continually building on your understanding of the specific requirements of donors and the type of analysis they undertake when they conduct audits with particular emphasis on Irish Aid, ECHO, EU, USAID, UN and other country specific donors as required.

Compliance Testing and Reviews

• Completing quarterly testing of financial transactions, using standard Concern templates, to ensure both donor and Concern processes/procedures have been followed and a sufficient audit trail exists. This will require substantive reviews of transactional documents in relation to finance, HR, procurement, logistics and other risk areas.
• Completing additional transaction testing and reviews on closed projects in order to ensure everything is filed appropriately and ready for a future donor audit.
• Proactively ensuring issues identified during the transaction testing are rectified immediately. Where this is not possible, the Compliance Coordinator must keep a record of issues and associated action points/recommendations and submit to the Country Management Team (CMT). The Compliance Coordinator will be responsible for following up with relevant management on action points/recommendations and making sure they are cleared in a timely manner.
• Conducting reviews/audits of particular processes and procedures in the country office(s), as well as visiting project sites in order to verify activities.

Training

• Providing training and reference materials to relevant staff and implementing partner staff where relevant on the rules and regulations of Irish Aid, ECHO, EU, USAID, UN and other country specific donors. This will be using standard Concern materials where available or in some cases developing new materials.
• In conjunction with the CMT, considering what other necessary training should be scheduled for staff and implementing partner staff where relevant. This may include training on the Anti-Fraud policy, Whistleblowing policy and Conflict of Interest policy as well as other Concern policies/procedures. The Compliance Coordinator will be responsible for delivering the training in a professional manner, keeping attendance records, and reporting of same to management in country, or supporting other staff with this as necessary.

Project Lifecycle Support

• Actively engaging with relevant colleagues (including finance, HR, procurement, logistics and programmes) at the various stages of a project’s lifecycle (proposal, agreement signing, partnership development, implementation, reporting and audit) to advise and highlight specific internal and donor compliance requirements.
• Attending Project Management Meetings held at the various stages of a project/grant (Opening, Interim and Closing) to ensure relevant compliance issues are discussed and understood.
• Supporting Grant Owners with their review of new donor agreements to ensure the main compliance requirements are identified.
• Periodically reviewing grant files maintained on Concern’s Grant Management System (and in hard copy as required) to ensure that all relevant documents are filed and easily accessible.

Audit Facilitation

• Supporting the country finance department with the facilitation of donor audits – checking documents for completion before handing to auditors for review, keeping a log of documents submitted to auditors, and responding to auditor queries where relevant.
• Maintaining a log of actions required from various audits/reviews and working closely with departments/partners to ensure that any issues identified are properly understood, improvement commitments are made and that their implementation is monitored.

Other tasks

• Conducting fraud investigation work when necessary.
• Supporting the Country Director and the Grant Compliance Unit in Dublin HQ, and undertaking any other tasks requested by the same.

Your skills and experience will include:

Essential

• University graduate with a background in finance, management, administration or a related field;
• 3-4 years’ experience working in a finance/accounting/audit role;
• Able to instruct and enforce adherence to rules and regulations;
• Experience in reviewing documents/reports with a keen eye for detail;
• Experience in developing and delivering training workshops and materials;
• Experience in performing audits and/or reviews of systems/controls;
• Excellent Excel and Word skills;
• Willingness to travel and work in challenging environments;
• Fluent in English.

Desired

• A recognised accountancy or auditing qualification (ACA, ACCA, CIMA etc.) would be an advantage;
• NGO experience would be advantageous, preferably in a finance or compliance position, with particular experience of institutional donors such as Irish Aid, ECHO, EU, USAID and UN.