Country Accountant

The Market Development Facility, an Australian Government funded initiative, aims to:

• Create additional employment and income earning opportunities for poor women and men throughbroad-based and sustainable pro-poor growth.
• Make rural and urban sectors of the economy in which the poor are involved as producers and workers,more competitive and making them grow.
• Trigger lasting, 'systemic' changes in the markets systems around these sectors to reduce constraintsto growth and to increase their capacity to innovate and deal with competitive, regulatory, social andenvironmental pressures, so that the benefits for the poor will sustain and expand in time.

The Facility is committed to implementing a systems approach to stimulate pro-poor economic growth. Rather than working with the poor directly, the Facility seeks to develop partnerships with players in the private and public sector with the ability and leverage to trigger lasting systemic changes that createbroad-based, sustainable pro-poor growth.

With each partner, the Facility designs and negotiates detailed action plans, which include clearfinancial and resource commitments, to arrive at appropriate, innovative and sustainable solutions.These partnerships and plans are called interventions.

Sector players take the lead in implementing the interventions and the Facility's role is limited and short-term. MDF is a multi-country facility, operational in an expanding number of countries; each country has its ownCountry Team (CT) on the ground.

Assignment Objectives:

• The Country Accountant is primarily responsible for sound and complaint accounting practices with theCountry Team. While the Country Accountant coordinates work on a day to day basis with the CountryRepresentative, to whom s/he reports, s/he also works in close collaboration with the Central FacilityAccountant (CFA).
• The Country Accountant is primarily responsible for implementing sound and compliant accounting practiceswith the Country Team.

Specific tasks include:

• Supporting preparation of the annual budgets for Pakistan, providing monthly end close accountingdata and reports, fund requests and financial monitoring reports, and preparing semi-annual budgetrevisions in close collaboration with the Country Representative and CFA, and providing any otherdocumentation, as required
• Maintaining diligent financial oversight of the Facility’s day-to-day activities in Pakistan. This will involve accounts payable duties and review/verification of invoices for correct authorisation, administration ofpetty cash, payroll processing, data entry into QuickBooks, organising cheques for payments based onappropriate supporting documentation
• Ensuring all payments made from MDF are in accordance with MDF, Cardno and DFAT policies andprocedures, verifying the accuracy of all cheque requisitions and other requests for payment beforesubmission for authorisation.
• Reconciling monthly bank statements and verifying all deposits and withdrawals.
• Preparing accurate monthly financial reports and funds advance for submission to the CountryRepresentative and the Central Facility Accountant, and Cardno, in a timely manner.
• Overseeing tax processes and ensuring tax payments and other contributions are remitted to theappropriate authorities in a timely manner.
• Assisting with external and internal audits, as required.
• Organising and maintaining comprehensive Facility financial files and ensuring all records are compliantwith legal and donor agency requirements.
• Working closely with the Pakistan Business Advisers to provide guidance on the costing of proposedMDF activities and structure of the Partnership Agreements, in line with Commonwealth Grant Guidelines and Procurement Rules.
• Maintaining accurate and up-to-date records of all Partnership Agreements entered into in Pakistan andpayments made under these Agreements.
• Providing capacity building support and advice to MDF partners in the establishment of financialmanagement and reporting systems for funded activities (if required).
• Working closely with the Central Facility Accountant to ensure consistency of processes between the MDF country offices
• Other duties related to financial management as reasonably requested by the Central Facility Accountant, Pakistan Country Representative or Deputy/Team Leader.

Selection Criteria:

• A Bachelor Degree, or its equivalent, in Accounting. A Post Graduate Degree in Accounting would behighly desirable.
• Experience in financial management of large projects, preferably for international development donorsor organisations.
• In-depth experience with QuickBooks
• Demonstrated knowledge of Pakistan’s taxation laws
• Experience in providing advice and financial capacity building of local partner organisations (desirable).
• A high degree of personal initiative, lateral thinking, and ability to work under pressure to meetdeadlines.
• Ability to work with minimum supervision in a multi-cultural environment.
• Excellent command of English, both verbal and written.

Application Requirements:

• This position is open to Pakistan nationals and permanent residents with authority to live and work in Pakistan. Rates of pay are based on local labour standards.