Finance Officer - CRS
Field Office Mithi

CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES
Pakistan Program
Job Description
Position Title: Finance Officer
Department: Finance (Operations)
Location Sub-Office, Mithi
Reports To: Base Manager; with a dotted line to CPFM
Band: TBD
Supervises: None

BACKGROUND: CRS Pakistan is currently working in the following sectors: education, drought mitigation, WASH, livelihoods, and protection sectors. Alongside this, CRS continues to work in the areas of emergency response and disaster preparedness & mitigation.
CRS has been working on Drought Mitigation in Tharparkar District since 2004. The Drought Mitigation project has focused on improving household and community resilience to drought through water infrastructure, water efficiency for multiple purposes, Natural Resource Management (NRM), improved agricultural productivity, and improved livestock health and productivity.
Currently, CRS is preparing to initiate a new, six month project that will build on CRS previous experience to support improved resilience for drought-affected communities and households in Tharparkar. This project will focus on livestock productivity, including immediate response to the current severe drought and improving mitigation and coping strategies for future droughts. CRS hopes to secure continued funding for disaster risk management in the future.

JOB SUMMARY: The Finance Officer reports to Base Manager and is responsible for all phases of financial activities as per policies and procedures of CRS, including cash handling, bank dealings, safe keeping of financial records, and check books and recording of all transactions on daily basis, in consultation with CP Finance Manager for general guidance.

FUNCTIONAL RESPONSIBILITES

Primary Responsibilities:
1. Preparation and maintenance of financial records and files.
2. Preparation of original voucher, keeping supporting documents etc. maintaining cash accounts, bank accounts & check books.
3. Handling of all cash transactions, deposits and disbursements.
4. Assist field staff in charging expenses to the correct account codes.
5. Prepare entries of cash, bank vouchers in the templates on daily basis.
6. Keep back up of data on regular basis.
7. Reconcile cash and bank balances at the end of each month.
8. Cancellation of all vouchers by stamping as ‘Paid’ or ‘Cancelled’ after approval and posting; and before filing to prevent their reuse.
9. All cash and check receipts are acknowledge by issuing “Receipts” for official receipts.
10. Timely preparation of cash transfer request.
11. Management of effort reporting (time sheets) of staff on monthly basis.

Key Responsibilities:
1. Processing of Receipts & Payments
i. To process all the payments to vendors after due verification of invoices and all supporting documents required as per policy.
ii. Issuance of travel and other advances to staff members and vendors and keeping track of liquidation of these advances.
iii. Keeping track of security deposits and payables including accruals, taxes, provident fund, EOBI and severance payables etc.
iv. Collection of balances due from the staff, and depositing them in CRS bank account on timely basis.
v. Checking up the Travel Expenses Vouchers (TEVs) submitted by the staff members.
vi. Getting signature of approving authority (CR, HoOP or Designate per approving matrix) over vouchers for approval and from authorized signatories over checks.
vii. Filing of vouchers after assurance that all the documents are complete.
viii. Preparation of final settlement payment vouchers and coordination with Person responsible for clearance activity such as no amounts are outstanding and timely payment as per policy to staff leaving CRS.
ix. Timely complete all payments to avoid delays, and ensure that proper acknowledgements are obtained.
x. Data entry in to the cash template after processing of all the payments and making every possible adjustment on daily basis.
xi. Always ensure that each disbursement at the location has been made as per policy and all procedures have been followed for payments and procurements

2. General Accounting
i. Preparation of Cash Disbursement Vouchers as per CRS accounting policies.
ii. Preparation of Receipt Vouchers.
iii. Preparation of General Journal Vouchers for adjusting entries, prepayment adjustments, rectification entries and to allocate expense to relevant fund / project and to record the accounting entries for adjustment of advances etc.

3. Taxation
i. Deduction of withholding taxes from the payments to vendors and from staff salaries and deposit the accrued taxes in Government treasury as per policy.
ii. Preparation and submission of tax returns through e-filing and provision of income tax deduction certificates to vendors and staff.

4. Cash Management
i. Assist his/her supervisor in timely preparation of cash transfer request through CP Finance Manager, so that sufficient process time is available.

5. Preparation of staff salaries and effort reporting
i. Preparation and disbursement of salaries on monthly basis; and making all the deductions and adjustments from the salaries.
ii. Processing of all payable payments including staff income taxes, provident fund, EOBI on monthly basis as per policy.
iii. Assist CP Finance for allocation and adjustment of severance benefit, and in preparation of severance report on monthly basis.
iv. Disbursement of pay slips and updating of relevant salary files / payroll record in soft and hard.
v. Review of staff timesheets regularly on monthly basis and check salaries are being charged accordingly, intimate differences, if any, to respective staff and Sr. Finance Officer for correction or adjustment.

6. Cash for Work
i. Collecting CFW attendance sheets and payment forms from each field office / partner office as per defined frequency
ii. Cross-checking every entry to ensure accurate attendance and payment details.
iii. Ensuring that forms are accurate through cross-checking with laborers at time of payment.
iv. Make accurate and timely payment of CFW to daily laborers in the field.
v. Ensure that CFW details are entered into a database on a regular basis.
vi. Maintain filing of all CFW documents according to CRS and donor policies for record keeping.
vii. Reconcile cash and bank balances at the end of each month.
7. Responsible for photocopying of vouchers for CP, HQ and for different donors and maintaining these vouchers in different donor wise files.

8. Keep high level of confidentiality for information that will be known to the staff because of the nature of job.

9. Assist Supervisor for any related task, as assigned

Supervisory Responsibilities
 None

Emergency Response:
"The Finance Officer may be called upon as part of their roles and responsibilities to participate and/ or provide support in emergency response situations when and where required in consultation with their supervisor."
Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff)
These are rooted in the mission, values, and principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and to achieve the desired results.
 Servers with integrity
 Models Stewardship
 Cultivates Constructive Relationships
 Promotes Learning

KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS:
Internal: Base Manager, CP Finance Manager and Country Program Finance Staff, Livelihoods Technical Advisor, Office & Administrative Assistant, Project Officers, Field Engineer, MEAL Project Officers, Emergency Coordinator and Program Support Staff.

External: Bank Officials, Government Finance Officials, Income Tax Department Officials, External Auditors, Donor’s Finance Staff and Project Holder Finance Staff

PROFESSIONAL & PERSONAL SKILLS:
 Advanced University Degree in Business Administration.
 Fluency in English, Urdu and Sindhi is mandatory for this position.
 Minimum three years professional experience in Finance.
 Excellent computer skills, including MS software: Word and Excel, and Outlook.
 Ability to work effectively with a team.
 Good communication and writing skills.
 Ability to meet deadlines.
 Ability to work in team setting, taking initiatives and performing multiple tasks.
 Honest, Reliable, responsible and detail oriented.
 Takes initiative and is able to act independently and responsibly within the assigned field of work.
 Willingness to travel.
Note: List of responsibilities, professional and personal skills are considered indicative and not exhaustive; actual duties may differ or change depending on office and agency priorities at the time.