Finance Assistant

Role and Responsibilities

Support many of the financial activities of Medair HQ. On a day-to-day basis, the Finance Assistant is responsible for providing accounting, clerical and administrative services to ensure that accounting and financial information related to Medair HQ is maintained timely and accurate at all times.

Project Overview

Medair Headquarters (HQ) provides operational guidance for country programmes and activities, along with both technical and compassionate support for our relief workers. Within our headquarters, we are also responsible for promoting the work of Medair to the world, to raise and manage the funds needed to run our life-saving and sustaining programmes. Our headquarters teams are also responsible for recruiting international and HQ staff, and like our field teams, we are committed to serve the world’s most vulnerable with practical and compassionate care.

Medair

Medair is a humanitarian organisation inspired by Christian faith to relieve human suffering in some of the world’s most remote and devastated places. We bring relief and recovery to people in crisis, regardless of race, creed or nationality. As signatories of the Red Cross Code of Conduct, we believe that aid should be given to everyone who is in need, regardless of political, social or religious viewpoint. We save lives in emergencies and then stay to help people recover from crisis with dignity—working side by side with communities to leave a lasting impact. We provide a range of emergency relief and recovery services: health care and nutrition; safe water, sanitation, and hygiene; shelter and infrastructure.

Workplace         

Medair Headquarters, Ecublens, near Lausanne, Switzerland

Starting Date

July 2015

Initial Contract Details

Full time, open-ended contract

Key Activity Areas

Finance and Accounting

• Assist with day-to-day accounting functions of Medair HQ including, but not limited to:

• Generate and/or post purchase/sales invoices to bill internal/external vendors/customers, set standard payment/collection periods.

• Book bank entries, conduct bank reconciliations on a monthly basis, and set reporting schedules to meet specific deadlines for reconciliations of bank, payable/receivable accounts.

• Regularly update information on accounting system to ensure bank, vendor and customer information accurate and up to date at all times.

• Review vendor/customer accounts on regular basis and define procedures and improvement measures to reduce open and past due payable/receivable transactions in order to avoid non-payments, delayed payments, and other irregularities.

• Provide assistance to the HQ finance team for monthly, quarterly, and the annual financial closing process with specific tasks requested.

• Ensuring all financial transactions are carried out in accordance with the Medair guidelines and procedures and any donor requirements.

• Work with the General Accounting Manager on specific projects.

Administration

• Ensure that a clear and transparent paper trail is adhered to for all financial transactions and that all filing and archiving is in line with Medair and donor requirements which follow international accounting standards.

   

  Communication

• Maintain open and frequent communication, where applicable, with the General Accounting Manager concerning all financial issues.

   

  Quality Management

• Adhere to all financial internal controls by using and promoting the Medair e-library and other operating procedures, ensuring that all standardised formats are used and guidelines are followed.

• Maintenance of accurate and timely accounting records for all financial transactions.

• Filing and retrieval of accurate supporting documentation for all financial transactions.

Qualifications

• Finance / Accounting or Management degree (Bachelor level) or Swiss degrees: CFC Employé/e de Commerce degree in accounting sector

• Relevant training (school or internship) desirable

Languages

• Strong working knowledge of English (spoken and written)

• Working knowledge of French (spoken and written) desirable

Experience / Competencies

• Up to 2 years work experience desirable

• Ability to maintain strictly confidential data and organization’s critical financial information used in performing assigned duties

• Ability to prioritise work to meet deadlines, efficient use of time

• Competent with administrative tasks

• Take initiative proactively while remaining within the range of assigned duties and responsibilities

• Promote and maintain a positive organizational image

• Problem solving ability

• Organised and structured; good attention to detail

Medair Standard Working Requirements for the International Headquarters

• Committed Christians; commitment to the Medair values

• Reflect the vision and values of Medair when interacting with team members and external contacts

• At least one year of professional experience in a relevant field (more experience preferred)

• Strong working knowledge of English (spoken and written)

• Working knowledge of French (spoken and written) for French-speaking roles

• Competent with MS Office Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook

• Motivated by a spirit of service

• Solid team player

   

  Benefits

• Salary commensurate with pay-grade of the position

• Travel expenses to country programmes (for staff who are required to make field visits)

• Annual leave; Accident insurance and pension; Death and disability insurance; Health insurance for loss of earnings

• The opportunity to work in a Christian organisation where your contributions make a difference for the world’s most vulnerable

HQ Working Conditions

• Swiss or eligible EU citizens, or those with a valid work permit for Switzerland, can apply.

• This is a HQ based position in Lausanne Switzerland.

Application Process

Follow this link: www.medair.org/work-with-us, check if you fit our standard working criteria, then: apply for this vacancy (or another position that matches your profile).

Please do not make multiple applications. We will not review email applications. Only English-language applications / CVs will be reviewed. Medair does not set closing / deadline dates for applications; recruitment is on-going until the position is filled.

Follow Us

You can follow us on Facebook , Twitter , or LinkedIn .