Job Description

The Horn of Africa Regional Environment Centre and Network, Addis Ababa University (HoA-REC&N-AAU) is a peculiar regional organization established to bridge the gap between policy, knowledge and practice in environmental matters of the Horn of Africa region. The organization is serving as a regional multi-stakeholder platform of knowledge exchange whereby academia, policy-decision makers and practitioners convene to promote environmental conservation and natural resources management. It also facilitates collaboration as well as strengthens and advocates for sustainable development and environmental governance across the Horn of Africa.

HoA-REC&N-AAU has broad goal of curbing the increasing trend of environmental degradation caused by mismanagement and conflicts that is aggravated by climate change, lack of coordination and collaboration to restore degraded ecosystems and to ensure sustainable use of natural resources by supporting local communities to transform their livelihoods, to cope with their changing physical environment in the Horn of Africa countries. This is done by strengthening capacity, raising environmental awareness, improving environmental governance and policy throughout the region by facilitating and stimulating practical and demand driven action research to address societal problems. A detailed overview about HoA-REC&N is available at www.hoarec.org.

HoA-REC&N is, thus, seeking to hire experienced professionals for the following vacant position to support the realisation of its organizational goals.  

Job Summary:     

The Internal auditor is responsible for ensuring that financial and non-financial assets of the Centre are protected and safeguarded against reputational damage, operational losses, financial losses, regulatory action, etc....The internal auditor is responsible for controlling  the underlying structure that controls and monitors these risks on an on-going basis.

The internal auditor reports about the effectiveness of controls and the quality of reporting and lapses or issues of concerns that is covered during the periodic audits.

 Duties and responsibilities

• Contributes to the financial, operational, compliance, control and governance functions of the Centre;

• Checks the financial operations manuals are properly applied, rules are followed, government and funding organizations guidelines are properly implemented and no breaches of government policies occur in the operations of the organization

• Verifies that all financial reports are reliable, compliant with applicable local laws and international standards, as well as any internal guidelines set by the Centre's top management;

• Conducts a complete assessment of what aspects need to be looked at, what data will be required, planning for resources, budgets, etc.;

• Conducts data analysis of all available information in order to perform a thorough risk assessment and identify any errors or control issues and report to the management and the board for the necessary corrective action that may be taken;

• Develops annual Audit plan and conduct the audit  accordingly; 

• Distributes finding to  management and board;

• Conducts ad-hoc investigations into identified or reported risks;

• Checks robust control, reporting and governance structure are in place for effective financial stability and reduced risk of operational lapses;

• Controls that robust reporting and governance structure are in place for effective financial stability and reduced risk of operational lapses; and

• Collects the right data from the relevant sources/projects/partners/ and in a timely manner.

Duty station:   Addis Ababa and it may require occasional travel

Duration:   On contract basis with possible extension

Job Requirements

Required Skills

Risk management skills

• Identify and reduce the overall operational risks thorough understanding of risk management principles

• Come up with plans and implementation strategies in order to better control and monitor those risks and take timely corrective actions 

Problem-solving skills

• Have a multidisciplinary approach combined with operational, technological, risk management and business principles

Project management skills

• In order to effectively plan, execute and report on such audit missions

Regulatory knowledge

• A thorough understanding of local laws related to the business as well as international accounting and reporting standards;

• Internal guidelines, control mechanisms and governance rules that need to be followed; and

• Understanding regional policies and procedures to effectively perform his/her duties.

Communication skills

• Good verbal, written and interpersonal communication skills in order to get the relevant data from the relevant people and at the right time;

• clearly understand the Centre that is being audited in order to be effective at his/her job; and

• Communicate effectively to management, the board or other decision-makers where laws or regulations have not been followed.

Data analytics

• Advanced computational and data analytics techniques

• Knowledge of relevant database management tools 

Leadership skills

• Team management, budgeting, task allocation, coordination, conflict management skills to lead a team and achieve the intended goals

Designing and maintaining a control structure

• Process guidelines, reporting chains, system architecture, technology processes;

• Validate the quality of these control structures/mechanisms and document their effectiveness to prevent operational or other lapses; and

• Suggest improvements if any loopholes are detected to ensure quality control and governance. 

Education:

• MA/BA in accounting or finance; economics; business administration or other relevant fields

• Professional accounting certification is also an asset

Work experience:

• A minimum of 5/8 years in an internal audit role in a donor funded projects 

How to Apply

 Applications can only be accepted through the following e-mail:

recruitment@hoarec.org

Send your cover letter, CV and relevant credentials in a single pdf format and please write the position that you are applying for on the subject line.  Applications sent in Scanjet, word, CAM scanner and other media will be rejected immediately.

 Deadline for Application: September20, 2022.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted