Accounting and administrative officer for Mada's Platform

Context: 

Mada's Platform is a space that offers flexible support for civil society groups to help them grow and reach their full potential. Active since 2005, it has supported many organizations or groups, such as artistic communities, municipalities, environmental associations, informal community-based initiatives, early-stage social businesses… Since the end of 2019, the Platform has grown in capacity which has enabled it to open up to new groups and offer closer support. Currently, the Platform is supporting 7 groups including two social enterprises, a local association, a food cooperative, a youth grassroots initiative with a hybrid model, and two educational initiatives.

Among other services, the Platform provides accounting, financial and administrative services to the groups that do not have the financial means to internalize this expertise. Several groups have requested closer support, which is the reason why Mada is hiring an accounting and administrative officer for a period of 6 months, with a possibility of extension depending on needs and budget available.

Definition of the mission: 

The general objective is to help the supported groups carry out their accounting, financial and administrative duties, in order to allow their activities to run smoothly. The accounting and administrative officer will carry out tasks in the following fields:

Accounting

• Do the accounting of the supported groups (data entry, bookkeeping, archiving supporting documents, follow-up of the cash flow).
• When applicable, structure the accounting of the supported groups (provide adapted templates, organize the archiving of invoices, put in place a follow-up mechanism of the cash-flow).
• Tool used for the data entry: accounting software or excel, depending on the supported group.

Financial reporting and analysis

• Produce monthly financial reports for internal use and for donors when applicable.
• Provide budget estimations and identify risks and opportunities for the supported groups.

Administrative follow-up

• Help the staff of the supported groups respect standard procedures (collecting supporting documents for the monetary transactions, procurement procedures, etc).
• Comply with institutional obligations such as following the registration process of informal groups (in coordination with a lawyer), producing institutional reports to the Lebanese State, paying taxes if applicable, etc...

The supported groups have small-scaled activities so their monetary transactions are limited. Some of the groups already have an accounting system, others don’t. The main challenge of this mission is to show flexibility and to adapt to different partners and types of activities.

Timeframe of the mission and main work interfaces: 

The officer will be contracted as a consultant and will work 20 days per month over a time period of 6 months, with a possibility of extension depending on the needs and budget available.

During the first two months, the officer will mainly work with a grocery shop operating on the model of a food cooperative in the area of Ras el Nabaa (Beirut) and with a forest pre-school located in Baabda. He/She will also work from Mada’s office, located close to Tayouneh (Beirut). Physical attendance is compulsory. The scope of the work and the supported groups will diversify over time.

The officer will report to Mada’s Platform coordinator and count on Mada’s finance and administrative manager for general advice. He/She will be directly in contact with the supported groups and define the scope of his/her mission depending on their objectives, which will evolve with time.

Budget and modality of payment: 

The accounting and administrative officer will be paid on a monthly basis, depending on the number of working days (around 20 days per month). The daily rate is 40 USD fresh money.  The officer will also be paid upon deliverables which will we determined later on (such as monthly financial reports).

Education and knowledge required: 

• Sensitivity to Mada's values;
• Bachelor’s in administration, finance and/or accounting;
• Good command of accounting software and Point of Sale (POS) software;
• Excellent command of Excel;
• Over 3 years of experience as an accountant, including experience working with small businesses;
• Fluency in Arabic and in English;
• Solution-oriented and flexible;
• Collective work spirit.