Finance and Human Resources Officer

PACT Overview

Pact is an international nonprofit that works in nearly 40 countries building solutions for human development that are evidence-based, data-driven and owned by the communities we serve. Founded in 1971, Pact works with partners to build resilience, improve accountability, and strengthen knowledge and skills for sustainable social impact.

Department

Programs - Pact strives for a world where all people are heard, capable, and vibrant. The Programs Team helps realize this objective by bridging program management, technical support, and business development, enabling Pact to achieve its global strategy. We ensure program excellence through continuous learning, monitoring and evaluation and provide organizational and industry-wide thought leadership by leveraging a complementary set of cross-functional, multi-disciplinary skills, expertise, and experiences. The Programs team: influences progressive change through the development and implementation of global and regional strategies and business plans; supports advancement of innovative solutions; pursues new business opportunities; and drives effective internal and external engagement to maximize Pact’s impact across the globe. Across all aspects of its role, the Programs Department adheres to and promotes a culture of inclusion, accountability, and respect.

Position Overview

Pact seeks an experienced Finance and Human Resources (HR) Officer to support the overall financial and HR operations of the USAID CSM-STAND Sri Lanka Bolstering Civil Society Activity. The project’s overall goal is to assist Sri Lanka in maintaining a vibrant civil society that empowers citizens to advance the democratic values of citizen participation. Activities will link CSOs across communities, districts, and regions to have a voice in local governance and national reform processes. This is to be a 5-year activity that commenced in September 2022.

Reporting to the Finance Manager, The Finance and HR Officer will support daily finance and HR tasks. The Finance and HR Officer will support the Finance Manager in expenses liquidations, program sub-grants and sub-contracts payments, procurements, travel advances for field staff, Activity administration, HR management tasks, compliance with USAID financial and accounting rules and regulations, and other daily finance and HR tasks.

Key Responsibilities

Finance:

• Contribute to the development of policies, guidelines, and criteria for the management of project finances in accordance with Pact standards and USAID regulations, and in close coordination with lead partner teams in the project office;
• Ensure that disbursements are reviewed for allowability and properly allocated to the projects.
• Ensure that all financial transactions are timely recorded in the system and in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Practices (GAAP) supported by relevant and verifiable source documents.
• In collaboration with the Finance Manager, prepare and submit monthly financial report package to DC office as per the deadlines, and documenting the monthly review of the financial performance of those activities under his/her oversight (including monitoring of cash balances, aging receivables and payables, etc.)
• Ensure that monthly account reconciliations are performed, and appropriate plans are put in place and executed, as applicable, to resolve unreconciled differences.
• Monitor management of cash flow and ensure project liquidity at all times. This includes the preparation of 3-months cashflow forecast and wire transfer request to DC office.
• Work closely with the Finance Manager to ensure compliance and effective and proactive fiscal management;
• Support the Finance Manager in establishing appropriate internal control for effective and efficient utilization of Pact resources.
• Monitor and analyze Pact’s program budgets, which allow accurate projection of expenditures and comparisons of actual and budget spending and advise on corrective plans;
• Support quarterly budget reforecasting exercises;
• Maintain sufficient and appropriate financial files for cash deposits, payments and journals according to generally accepted accounting practices and Pact standards.
• Support the project payroll and statutory remittances as required by the law in country;
• Facilitate the establishment of a bank account in collaboration with Finance Manager and Global Finance and maintain a good relationship with the bank.
• Support annual budget preparations which include overseeing work plan costing and the integration of work plan and donor-approved budgets;
• Coordinate review of Pact’s financial and audit reports;
• Assist on annual auditing process;
• Maintaining fixed assets register

Human Resources

• Support with full life cycle of recruitment for national job vacancies, including partnering with hiring managers, drafting job advertisements, posting jobs, screening candidates for minimum qualifications, ensuring compliance with labor laws, coordinating testing and interviews, preparing contingent offers, performing reference checks and Bridger checks, sharing information about compensation and benefits and ensuring the recruitment file is complete;
• Support with new hire orientations;
• Manage ADP to ensure accuracy of data which feeds into the Pact performance Management System, Inspire
• Assist with maintenance of the Employee Handbook including tracking amendments;
• Maintain accurate and complete recruitment and personnel files;
• Assist with HR data management including; coordinating documentation and filing of updates to emergency contact information, address changes, dependent information, marital status etc.
• Track employee probation periods, advise the manager of upcoming probation end dates, ensure the probation evaluation form is completed in Inspire Maintain confidentiality of employee personal data.
• Work closely with management to support the Performance Management Process in compliance with policy; including distribution and collection of documents, scheduling meetings, tracking and reviewing forms as they are received;
• Track employee benefits in compliance with labor law, including requests for leave balances, advising staff on the procedures for taking leave, following up on required documentation for taking leave or returning from leave, maintaining an accurate record of all leave and ensuring the leave trackers are updated monthly, ensuring leave requests are filed in the personnel files, ensuring leave carry over balances are communicated at the end of each calendar year;
• Prepare Public Holiday (annually) calendar and send out notifications;
• Assist with internal communications to staff, such as amendments to the employee handbook, end/beginning year activities, performance review process, public holidays, benefits changes and new policies.
• All other duties as assigned

Basic Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field, such as business administration, finance, or accounting and 6+ years relevant experience in financial and operations management related to international development or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Experience with USG project management and managing the finances of USAID-funded programs;
• Knowledge of accounting and finance principles including Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).
• Previous human resources experience and ability to exercise sound and timely judgement and maintain confidentiality of sensitive information.
• Fluency in local language(s) and functional proficiency in English.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in a similar position with international technical assistance programs supported by USAID and/or other international donors
• Demonstrated knowledge of local Sri Lankan laws strongly preferred.
• Critical thinker with a can-do approach to problem solving, disaggregating larger/complex problems to identify underlying drivers and critical nuances;
• Ability to perform and prioritize multiple tasks;
• High degree of professionalism and ability to deal sensitively with confidential material;
• Strong time management and organization skills, flexibility, excellent interpersonal skills, and ability to work collaboratively on a wide range of issues
• Self-motivated and committed to Pact’s mission and values