Internal Controls Officer
Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organization that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We believe in the power and potential of every child. But this is often suppressed, by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it’s girls who are most affected. Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children. We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood. And we enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge. We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 75 years, and are now active in more than 70 countries across Africa, Asia and the Americas. Plan aims to reach as many children as possible, particularly those who are excluded or marginalized; with high quality programs that deliver long-lasting benefits by increasing its income, working in partnership with others and operating effectively.
Purpose: How does this post support Plan’s strategy and mission?
Reporting to the Internal Controls Manager the purpose of the role is to review and audit Plan International Malawi offices/operations and partners operations to ensure the promotion of good stewardship of resources, objective assurance, and compliance with donor rules and regulations, in order to improve Plan International Malawi operations, and help Plan International Malawi accomplish its objectives by bringing in a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve effectiveness of Risk management, control and governance processes and also to promote compliance with minimum standards laid down for Plan globally and Malawi Government laws & regulation.
Specific Responsibilities of Position
- Executes internal audits of country programs, operations of program implementation areas across the country and partner operations in accordance with professional auditing standards, Plan policies and procedures, donor rules, and regulations.
- Prepares timely reports on country program and partner operations that are based upon disciplined audit programs as documented in professionally prepared work papers.
- Works collaboratively with country program staff to share knowledge, perform root cause analysis, and agree on practical and effective recommendations for improvement and efficiency.
- Responsibility of all risk management practices, and control and promotion of the same
- Assist in developing annual audit plan to cover audit/control reviews during the year for various departments, program areas and the partners.
- Discuss the audit findings with the auditees and make appropriate recommendations for improvement to the noted short falls.
- Drafting the audit report based on the findings noted for review by the Internal Controls Manager before release to the Country DireCtor and Country Management Team (CMT).
- Following up on all audit recommendations and actions, whether by Internal Audit and/or Global Assurance, in the quarter following the audit report release by using the Audit Action List (AAL) in Magique software, and updating the status of Global Assurance audit actions in the Magique
software - Assist in facilitating capacity building for Risk Management on staff and partners.
- Assist in monitoring and consolidating the Country’s identified risks into a Risk Register for Plan International Malawi Risk Register every quarter.
- Assist in verification of all actions taken to reduce the identified risks in all Plan stations and departments and follow up with the Program Area Manager and head of departments at Country Office on the status of the risks.
- Facilitate and conduct due diligence exercises for partners i.e. assess partner capacity to implement projects
- Assist in supporting Plan International Malawi management to ensure compliance with procedures and policies.
Key performance measures
- Timely completion of Audit assignments and reports of high standard and of great value to the business owners (internal audit clients – auditees).
- Timely completion of departmental administrative functions, e.g. preparation of travel request in time, preparation of assignments requests, partners assessments request, circulation of notification of audit assignments to auditees, entrance and exit meetings documentation, etc
- The post holder works independently and alone on the various audit assignments and should be capable of handling any audit assignment within the organization.
Dealing with Problems, planning and decision making
- Complexity of problems handled & the degree of investigation, analysis, & creative thinking required to solve them
- It involves making complex decisions in solving problems in an event of investigations and assisting management in provision advice or recommendations to improve the operations efficiency and effectiveness. It also involves dealing with peoples’ attitudes towards audit exercises.
- The post holder should demonstrate strategic thinking in advising CMT and confidentiality in dealing with issues taking into account of the following;
- Identification of key risks within an auditee entity and convincing management of the potential severity of such risk exposures to the wellbeing of the business entity, especially where such weaknesses are perceived as a norm.
- Development of original and pragmatic solutions to management of audit risk exposures identified in the course of performing an audit, especially where the solutions require some originality of thought. In most cases, solutions come in the form of a laid down procedure, policy, regulatory and/ or statutory requirement, etc.
- Managing fragile business relationships with managers and key members of staff, as they tend to view adverse audit ratings/findings negatively since they have a bearing on their performance rating.
- The post holder should demonstrate maturity and confidentiality in dealing with issues.
Planning
- The post holder’s planning horizon normally spans a year based on the annual audit work plan developed at the beginning of the financial year.
- On a monthly basis, the post holder has to plan
his work so as to ensure (she)/he is in line with the annual work plan for the department. - The annual plan is subject to revision in the light of developments arising in the course of the year that were not foreseen at the beginning of the year.
- And also preparation of Terms of Reference (TOR’s) for all assignments to be conducted.
Decision making
- The post holder may decide on appropriate sample sizes to test in the performance of the field audit work, based on his assessment of the risk and controls in an audit section.
- The post holder may decide on the level of substantive work to perform based on the risk and control assessment of a particular audit section
Knowledge, Skills, Behaviours, and Experience Required to Achieve Role’s Objectives:
Skills Required
- Strong analytical skills Strong planning and organizational skills Ability to undertake performance audit
- Good understanding of statutory requirements.
- Strong management and coordination skills
- Good Administrative and communication skills
- Good interpersonal skills.
- Attention to detail and ability to present work in a professional format.
- Ability to adapt readily to changes in systems and procedures.
- Ability to reinforce standards and objectives.
Qualifications and Experience
- Degree in Accounting, Business Administration or its equivalent Studying towards professional accounting/internal audit qualifications i.e. ICAM, ACCA, CIMA or CIA desired.
- A minimum of 3 years of progressive accounting or financial or program/project auditing experience is required
- Well versed in computerized accounting and good working knowledge of auditing applications is required.
- Able to prepare period audit reports on/ tight deadlines
- Conversant with project management cycle preferred
- A good working knowledge of the Internal Auditing standards as promulgated by the Institute of Internal Auditors, Inc. (USA) and a member of Institute of Internal Auditors (Mw) is required.
Plan International Inc. is a median payer and will pay the successful and enthusiastic candidate competitively commensurate with skills and experience in line with Plan International Inc. Global Pay Policy. Applications with detailed CV, contact phone numbers and three traceable referees must be forwarded to the following address by close of business on 14th April 2017:
The Country Director,
Plan Malawi,
Off Presidential Way Area 14,’1000 Block A,
P.O. Box 2053
Capital City , LILONGWE
Or
