Inspiring Accountants for charities in Africa and Asia

Job Location:

Job Description:

Do you want to use your accounting skills to help those less fortunate? Would you like to swap London for Lilongwe, Canberra for Cambodia or Washington for Windhoek?

Accounting for International Development (AfID) arranges voluntary placements tailor-made to fit your availability, skills and preferences. We support more than 150 NGOs, charities and community organisations across 28 countries and we desperately need the assistance of more volunteer accountants, of all ages and specialisms, to coach and mentor some amazing local people.

Volunteer assignments last between 2 weeks and 12 months in length. They form part of an on-going strategy to build the financial management capacity and long term sustainability of development organisations across Africa, Asia and South America. These organisations, which include street-child centres, health clinics, international charities, social enterprises and microfinance institutes, are doing amazing work to tackle extreme poverty in their communities but sadly have little or no access to vital accounting skills and services.

Placements focus on issues such as:

- Organisational needs assessment and internal audit
- Understanding financial statements
- Bookkeeping and cash management
- Creating, Monitoring & Evaluating budgets
- Cash flow forecasting
- Debt & credit management and control
- Internal controls and financial procedures
- Management information systems
- Training on accounting systems
- Division of staff duties and responsibilities
- Confidential tutoring of non-finance staff including members of the management committee
- Business development & young entrepreneur skills training

The need for skilled accountants is largely driven by a lack of training at local level, combined with the complex reporting requirements of overseas charities (donors). This is further complicated by the fact that these donors will typically restrict funding to individual projects and limit the allocation for core costs. When you are a headmistress, a doctor or a nun trying to run an small NGO with very limited resources, it can be very difficult to keep accurate records and perform your normal duties - with a different set of accounts, reports and sometimes bank accounts required by each donor, of which there can be many, the task becomes impossible.

If you want to use your specialism to help local accountants in the developing world, whether it be during your holiday, in-between jobs or if you are retired, please get in contact and help us make a difference!

For more information on volunteering, including volunteer blogs, FAQs and partner/ country details please visit our website: www.afid.org.uk

Alternatively, please e-mail your CV to info@afid.org.uk or call +44 (0) 208 741 7000.