Compliance Officer

General Description of the Programme   

GOAL has been operating in Haiti since the country was devastated by a major earthquake in January 2010. GOAL is transitioning to a much longer-term programming approach linking relief and recovery to development through an integrated community-led development program approach. GOAL Haiti has developed a strong focus on urban development and building of resilience within communities in the Metropolitan area of Port au Prince and in the South West department.

In the objectives to be compliant with every single donor that GOAL is dealing with, a process to recruit a Compliance Manager is launching.

General Description of the Role:

The main function of this position is to ensure that GOAL Haiti is fully compliant with GOAL, Donor and  Government rules and regulations. The person will work across all departments including programmes, finance, logistics and HR and will work under the supervision of the Systems Director. She/he will be responsible to plan and coordinate the department activities, create awareness and ensure the implementation of donor, GOAL and Government rules and regulations, Complete the Quarterly Compliance Task List for HQ submission each quarter, Sub grantee management, monitoring and reporting, maintain GOAL Haiti hard and soft copy grant files centrally, facilitate grant management meetings and the coordination of donor audits either in country or through Dublin. He/She is also responsible to ensure the regular internal audit is conducted for all GOAL Haiti programmes and Operations and identifies potential areas of compliance vulnerability and risks. The audits will assess whether internal controls are adequate and identify improvements where necessary across all departments.

The role is based in the office in Port-au-Prince but will require visits to field sites of operation and provide training as per the need.

Key Duties

• Stay informed of and ensure adherence to GOAL procedures and policies in relation to Logistics, Finance, HR and Programmes as set out in the relevant manuals.
• Understand and ensure adherence to Donor rules and regulations in relation to Logistics, Finance, HR and Programmes as set out in country grant agreements and through GOAL donor guidelines and training materials (as and when required based on assigned donors).
• Understand the relevant Government rules and regulations and ensure that it is addressed by GOAL Haiti.
• In liaison with Finance and the Systems Director the Compliance Officer will handle the following tasks:
• Identifies potential areas of compliance vulnerability and risk; develops/implements corrective action plans for resolution of problematic issues and provides general guidance on how to avoid or deal with similar situations in the future.
• Prepare, agree and coordinate periodic Internal Audit & Donor Compliance plans which fulfil the responsibility of the department, scheduling and assigning work and estimating resource needs. This will be reviewed and reassessed at least every 6 months, in co-ordination with country management. Assist in implementation as required.
• Ensure the risk register is regularly updated and submitted quarterly to risk@goal.ie
• Walkthrough and test GOAL Haiti’s systems and controls, assessing whether they are operating as per policies, procedures and donor regulations (as noted above), with emphasis on finance, cash handling, logistics, procurement, fleet management, trainings, stores, HR and distributions. Modify and implement internal controls in any areas of weakness in each department.
• Make recommendations on the systems and procedures being reviewed, report on the findings and recommendations and monitor management's response and implementation.
• Ensure regular internal audits for the head office and field office(s) with particular emphasis on; transaction testing, cash management, float transaction testing, asset management, stock keeping, vehicle operations, personnel management, beneficiary distributions and records, and general donor compliance are conducted as planned/required.
• Work closely with all staff to produce audit reports for presentation to the Roving Internal Auditor with findings and issues identified during the audit, give appropriate recommendation and actions, providing advice and suggestions on improvements to GOAL Haiti systems and procedures where appropriate and ensure work papers are adequately documented and audit evidence is sufficient.
• Conduct any ad-hoc internal audit, compliance and financial investigation assignments as requested by the Systems Director and Roaming Head of Internal Audit or HQ Compliance Department, including internal audit/review of GOAL Haiti, if requested
• Maintain an up-to-date issues log and action or follow up on all outstanding issues until they are closed.
• Perform tasks as per the quarterly Donor Compliance Task List and submit report on findings of same to HQ Compliance Department.
• Administration of Grant Management Meetings (This includes preparation of the yearly GMM schedule, review of sample finance, HR, Logs and programme documents and keep informed the responsible departments including senior management staff about the progress of compliance efforts, take and share the minutes etc…)
• Ensure comprehensive grant file is managed in soft copy and hard copy for all grants.
• Ensure Donor/External audit is well facilitated and all required documents are submitted
• Ensure that recommendations given by HQ internal and external/donor auditors are implemented accordingly.
• Work closely with the training team to provide training, capacity building and support to GOAL staff in the head and field offices to enhance their knowledge and understanding of GOAL, wrongdoing policy, Ethic policy, Donor policies and procedures and ensure proper implementation and on-going use and also to discuss changes in policies that will impact the system flow of information. Including appropriate inductor training for new employees.
• Ensure relevant department working manuals are available and are updated.
• Sub grantee management: -
  • Oversee sub-grant administration including conducting a pre award assessments,
  • implementation, extensions, Compliance monitoring and reporting.
  • Ensure monitoring plans are developed and implemented for all sub grants
    Monitor reporting, accountability and internal controls for all grant.
  • grantees/Partners
  • Provide compliance guidance and consultations to sub grantees on a demand-
  • driven basis and conduct formal sub grantee training workshops.

• Ensure all financial documents are scanned and shared to Dublin accordingly (including timesheet and distribution documents).

• Ensure the scheduled field visits are conducted as planned.
• Prepare the yearly schedule for the expected donor/grant audits and alert the responsible departments.
• Conducts monthly/annual performance evaluations for staff of the department.
• Any other request made by the Systems Director  

Mainstreaming issues

• Familiarize self, understand and implement according to area of responsibility, GOAL’s policies and procedures on mainstreaming of Gender, HIV/AIDS and Child protection.

Compliance Issues

• Familiarize self to GOAL, Donor and relevant Government Compliance issues and implement accordingly in area of responsibility.

Requirements (Person Specification)

• A degree in finance, compliance, or related area of study with a minimum of three years of related work experience in administration, finance, compliance or audit - at least one year at a position with management of staff.
• Excellent communication skills in French both verbally and in writing – English an advantage
• Excellent computer skill in Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook.
• Ability to learn new systems and IT software quickly and effectively.
• Organised and flexible, ability to respond to changing priorities, with good attention to detail
• Ability to work independently with initiative
• Willingness to travel to field sites on a regular basis and work in challenging environments
• Experience in dealing with institutional donors such as BHA,EU,UNICEF ECHO
• Good team player, flexible and capable of working with a multinational country team with a commitment to capacity building
• Excellent interpersonal, motivational and management skills
• Gender sensitive.

Internal interesting candidacies with capacity to evolute in this position are recommended.

This Job Description only serves as a guide for the position available.  GOAL reserves the right to change, revise, omit, add in part/in whole this document any time without giving any reason thereof.