Country: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Closing date: 04 Feb 2019
1. Background/ context
Plan International UK (PIUK) strives for a just world that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. Plan International UK is currently bidding for a number of commercial contracts and requires additional support during a busy period. The role will be supported by the Grants Finance Team which is part of the Programme Effectiveness and Compliance Unit (PEC) and work closely with the relevant staff within International Programmes and Finance Operations and Plan International Global Headquarters (GH) Grants Finance Team. The Grants Finance Team supports the organisation in budgeting for institutional and major donor proposals as well as ensuring sound financial management, compliance and reporting on active grants and contracts, all of which contribute towards the effective delivery of programmes.
2. Purpose
This assignment is to lead on the close out of historical projects on the Plan International UK accounts (income recognition) and support Plan International Inc. in the closeout of these projects on their accounts.
The overall objectives of this assignment are:
- Lead of PIUK on undertaking the required financial close-out on the pre-identified grants.
- Liaise with GH Grants Finance Team to ensure financial close-out on the pre-identified grants is reflected in / reconciles with GH financial data.
- Support the Grants Finance Manager in proposing which grant balances should be written off for those below the close-out threshold**3. Approach**
The assignment will entail four main stages:
· Briefing: This will be carried out by the Grants Finance Manager at Plan International UK’s offices and will entail an overview of: Plan International UK’s approach to financial grant management, historical issues leading to the requirement for this consultancy, and Plan International Global Headquarters grant management and contracting.
· Grant Remediation Handover: This will be carried out by the Grants Finance Manager (PEC), and the Finance Operations Team Leader.
· Undertaking Tasks: To be performed by the consultant over the duration of the consultancy. · Debrief and Handover: To be undertaken between the Consultant and the Grants Finance Manager (PEC), and Finance Operations Team Leader.
4. Deliverables / Expected Outputs
The specific tasks under this assignment are:
a) Financial grant closeout:
- Lead of PIUK on undertaking the required financial close-out on the pre-identified grants.
- Support the Grants Finance Manager in proposing which grant balances should be written off for those below the close-out threshold.
- Identify the final cash position for grants, including the amount to be settled for unspent funds.
- Final report on financial grant closeout, and any actions that need to be handed over.
5. Indicative timeline
The timeframe for this consultancy is estimated to be 4 months. It is anticipated that the support will be provided over the period 11th February 2019 to 30th April 2019.
Activity-Date
Upon Commencement of consultancy (10%) - w/c 11/02/2019
Milestone – reporting to Plan International Inc on Plan UK pre-identified reconciled grants (40%) - 31/03/2019
Upon debriefing, final report and handover (50%) - 30/04/2019
6. Responsibilities of Plan International UK
- Provide a detailed induction of Plan International UK’s and Plan International Inc’s key Grants Finance related policies, systems, procedures and tools as part of the Consultant onboarding process.
- Provide an overview of pre-identified grants for financial grant closeout.
- Provide Financial Operations Support (Finance Operations Team Leader) to address historical accounting that needs to be amended to ensure financial grant closeout.
- Provide ongoing guidance and advice to the Consultant in case of emergence of nuanced issues within the pre-identified grants for financial grant closeout.
- Provide timely inputs to drafts shared for review and approval.
- Process timely payments in line with the milestones set out under section 5 above.
7. Qualifications skills and experience
- Experience in reconciling accounts, ideally financial grant closeout with reconciliations of income and/ or expenditure.
- Substantial experience of working with Excel.
- Demonstrated ability to analyse and manage large volumes of data.
- Experience in an International Non-Governmental Organisation (INGO) environment.
- Be flexible in approach and able to undertake tasks of varying complexity and interest in quick succession working under own initiative where required.
- Demonstrate an awareness of child protection issues and child safeguarding standards.
How to apply:
8. BID REQUIREMENTS
Interested consultants or firms are requested to submit:
- An expression of interest detailing their interpretation of the TOR, work schedule and a statement demonstrating how they meet the required qualifications and competencies.
- A detailed budget for proposed costs including all taxes liable to be paid
- Curriculum Vitae (CVs).
- Two references (including one from your last client/employer).
- N/B: The entire bid should be a MAXIMUM OF Four (4) pages including the budget.
Bids not meeting this requirement will not be considered.
9. APPLICATION PROCEDURE
a. If you believe you qualify for this post and you are the candidate that we are looking for, please submit your applications as per the bid requirements in English by submitting proposals to: shoumojit.kanjilal@plan-uk.org
b. The closing date for this post is (04/02/2019).
c. The shortlisted 3-4 candidates may be invited to submit modifications or make a short presentation for the final selection.
10. CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION
a. All documents and data collected will be treated as confidential and used solely to facilitate analysis.
b. Where necessary, the respondents will not be quoted in the reports without their permission.
c. All those contracted by PIUK must agree to sign and abide by the ‘safeguarding policy’.