Admin/Finance Manager

About Afghanistan Centre at Kabul University:

The Afghanistan Centre at Kabul University (ACKU) is the premier research institution and archive on Afghanistan in the region, with the most extensive collection of primary resources available in print and digital formats. The mission of ACKU is to promote literacy, facilitate scholarly work, and provide academic research training through its archive, digital library, and outreach and research programs.

ACKU was initially known as ACBAR Resource & Information Center (ARIC). The concept was envisioned by Louis Dupree and Nancy Hatch Dupree, two of the foremost experts on Afghanistan history and culture. After the death of Louis in 1989, Nancy continued to work for the protection of cultural heritage through ARIC and later ACKU with a motto of “nation building through information sharing.”

Programs

The Library/Digital Resources

The ACKU library holds extensive collection of documents on Afghanistan collected from various sources. Currently, it has more than 170,000 documents in Farsi, Pashto, English, and some other local and European languages. Its collection comprises of monographs, posters, newspapers, slides, CDs, fact sheets, music recordings, periodicals and magazines stretching back decades. The primary activities of ACKU library includes acquiring, cataloging, digitizing the documents and making these accessible to local and international users through user-friendly online databases.

ACKU Box Library Extension

The mission of ABLE is to improve literacy among children and adults by promoting a culture of reading through easy-to-read books and educational material that is locally written and published. Since 1996, ABLE has established 277 libraries in communities across all 34 provinces. These libraries have over 200,000 annual users. ABLE has published 419 books in Farsi, Pashto and, recently in, Uzbeki, on a variety of subjects based on the user suggestions, of which over 50 titles are for young readers.

Communications and Research

ACKU promotes and supports a strong research environment in Afghanistan by training local scholars in research methodology, critical analysis and academic writing. University students and faculty members are main beneficiaries of the research courses. An academic research project on the issue of migration was completed at ACKU in collaboration with City, University of London in late 2018. In addition, ACKU organizes various events, such as seminars, conferences and workshops, and hosts sponsored events from partner institutions on its premises. Through this, ACKU aims to provide a platform for Afghan and international scholars to interact and exchange ideas.

Job Description:

Overall Responsibilities

The Admin/Finance Manager is responsible to oversee all financial and administrative activities and for ensuring compliance with ACKU’s accounting, procurement and reporting requirements as well as donor regulations. The Admin/Finance Manager reports to the ACKU Program Manager and Executive Director.
Key Responsibilities.

Finance:
• Manage day-to-day accounting functions including regular cash verification, bank account and balance sheet reconciliations, monthly closing, timely submission of financial reports to the ACKU management, donors etc.
• Ensure that expenses are incurred/charged to different donors/grants according to the approved budget(s) and compliance requirements are met as per grants agreement and guidelines.
• Completes monthly balance sheet, budget monitoring reports as per donor requirements.
Reporting and Budgeting:
• Monthly closing, timely submission of financial report to ACKU management, donors, etc.
• Ensure on-time monthly submission to ACKU management of all reports.
• Prepare timely budgets, cash requests for donors and accounting reports.
• Monitor grant spending and projections.
• Assist in the preparation of budgets for all proposals and develop clear and concise narratives.
• Provide regular and timely budget reports and analysis to the Director and the Program Manager.
• Liaise with donors on finance and budget issues as required.
• Preparation and submission of the bi-annual reports to the Ministry of Economy.
• Preparation and submission of the ACKU Annual Tax return to the Ministry of Finance and follow up for tax clearances.
• Follow up for Staff TIN and their salary taxes.
• Follow up for submission of salary tax and contractual taxes.
• Review all outgoing budget requests for conformance with all donor requirements as well as all internal policies and procedures.
• Ensure that all costs are accounted for and recovered to the maximum extent possible in conformance with the donor guidelines.
Staff Management:
• Supervise staff in the Finance Department. This includes ensuring they are properly trained and know what performance expectations are.
• Carryout staff appraisals for finance staff.
• Organize and lead orientation and training session related to finance.
Audit and Internal Control:
• Implement and administer ACKU systems for internal control, compliance, accounting data-processing and financial reporting functions in accordance with donor regulations.
• Develop internal audit function and perform internal audit and reviews to ensure compliance with the ACKU and donor requirements.
Administration:
• Manage day-to-day administrative functions including procurement and transportation. Enforce the policies and procedures of the organization. Make sure that procurement are done in compliance with the set policies and procedures.
• Manage and maintain updated inventories.
• Regular follow up of the ACKU building maintenance

Procurement:

• Ensure appropriate policy and procedures are followed during procurement.
• Manage and maintain inventory ledger and make sure that donors guidelines are followed in the regard.
• Engage as the procurement committee member for all of the ACKU bids.
Liaison and Compliance:
• Liaise with different government offices and make sure that ACKU’s policy and procedures are complying with Afghanistan government’s laws.
• Assist the Director and Program Manager for Admin, Finance and other related issues.

Human Resource:
• Follow up with the ACKU HR officer for his/her daily activities.
• Check monthly times-sheets and attendance sheets.
• Get regular follow up of the staff leave record with the HR Officer.

Other Responsibilities
• Maintain an up-to-date, accurate accounting system, including: computer data entry and paper file system.
• Ensure local taxation law and any other legal requirements are fully complied with.
• Other appropriate duties as assigned by the Director and the Program Manager.

Job Requirements:

• This position requires a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration (BBA). Candidates with MBA, ACCA and CPA certificates are preferred.
• Strong knowledge in accounting software (QuickBooks).
• At least 5 years of working experience in a non-profit organization in the similar capacity.
• Fluent in English, Dari and Pashto languages.
• Strong problem solving and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to exercise sound judgment and make decisions based on accurate and timely analysis.

Submission Guideline:

Interested Afghan applicants should submit their CVs along with cover letter indicating their interest and suitability for the position. Please indicate the position and vacancy number (Admin/ Finance Manager ACKU-VA#2020001) in the subject line of your email.

Submission Email:

applications@acku.edu.af