Team leader - Audit and Finance Expert - Technical Assistance to the Ministry of Finance for the implementation of the Ghana Public Finance Management Support Programme

Position: Team leader - Audit and Finance Expert

Country: Ghana

Start date: 11 September 2018

Duration: 600 working days

Deadline: 10 May 2018

About the project

The overall objective of this project is to improve economic governance and business environment and to maximise the benefits of the Economic Partnership Agreement for Ghana. Its specific purpose is to build a more robust oversight function of Independent Government Institutions (the Ghana Audit Service, the Internal Audit Agency, the Public Procurement Authority) and Parliament.

To do so, the Contractor will be expected to:

• provide support to the Ghana Audit Service (GAS), the Internal Audit Agency (IAA), the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) and Parliament in the implementation of their respective activities;
• provide support to the Ministry of Finance (MoF) for the preparation and the follow up of procurement processes to be undertaken under the project;
• enhance coordination between the four key institutions and ensure cooperation with the Ministry of Finance (MoF).

The project has 2 key result areas which are interlinked and mutually supportive in a view to achieve the objectives of the programme:

• Key result 1: External and internal audit functions of Ghana Audit Service (GAS), Internal Audit Agency (IAA) and Public Procurement Authority (PPA) are improved and coordination among Independent Government Institutions (IGIs) is enhanced.
• Key result 2: Legislative oversight is strengthened through improved capacity building initiatives and targeted training.

Duties of the Team Leader

The Team Leader will be in charge of the following activities:

• Activities in support of the Ghana Audit Service:
  • Provide training on Oracle for at least 5 GAS auditors to effectively carry out financial audit within government IT-based financial management database (Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), Total Revenue Integrated Processing System (TRIPS), Human Resources Management Information System (HRMIS), Integrated Payroll and Personnel Database (IPPD), etc.)
  • Develop the technical specifications and assist the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to prepare the tender documents for the supply of the audit management and information software
  • Develop Terms of Reference for the non- key experts to be recruited when necessary
• Activities in support of the Internal Audit Agency:
  • Develop the technical specifications and assist the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to prepare the tender documents for the supply of the web-based audit tracker;
  • Develop Terms of Reference for the non- key experts to be recruited when necessary;
  • Provide training for Audit Committee members on how to hold the executive accountable and also implement audit recommendations;
  • Carry out a feasibility study on amendment of Internal Audit Agency (IAA) Act 2003

Moreover, the Team Leader will supervise non-key experts in the implementation of activities in support to Parliament:

• Conduct a needs assessment for training equipment at the Parliamentary Training Institute (PTI);
• Develop the technical specifications and assist the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to prepare the tender documents for the supply of this equipment;
• Develop PFM related training modules for parliamentarians, staff of Parliament Training Institute (PTI) and staff of research department of Parliament and provide training to selected committees;
• Provide train-the-trainer for the core Parliament research staff and PTI;
• Develop Terms of Reference for the non- key experts to be recruited when necessary

The Team Leader will also be involved in project management and coordination activities.

Requirements

Qualification and skills

• Master’s Degree in financial management, accountancy, audit and accounting or equivalent professional experience of at least 2 years in addition to the requested general professional experience
• Membership of a professional body such as ACCA, ICA-Ghana or other professional accountancy body

General professional experience

• At least 8 years of work experience in management, accounting and information systems for controlling and reporting project activities, financial forecasts
• At least 1 proven experience in financial management of development cooperation programmes/projects in the last 6 years (2012 – 2017) 

Specific professional experience

• Experience in applied audit and financial accounting systems for central and/or decentralised programmes;
• Experience of internal audit systems, financial monitoring and reporting;
• Computer literate with demonstrable knowledge of use of financial management packages for production of financial reports with ability to use relational database software;
• Experience of 5 years at management level;
• Ability to coordinate the process of documentation of lessons learnt and reporting on progress being made;
• A strong knowledge of EDF rules and procedures of EU funded projects;
• Experience in Sub-Saharan Africa will be an advantage;
• Excellent communication skills with good command of both spoken and written English