Senior Audit Officer

BACKGROUND ON IMPACT AND REACH

REACH was born in 2010 as a joint initiative of two International NGOs (IMPACT Initiatives and ACTED) and the United Nations Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT). REACH’s purpose is to promote and facilitate the development of information products that enhance the humanitarian community’s decision making and planning capacity for emergency, reconstruction and development contexts. REACH facilitates information management for aid actors through three complementary services: (a) need and situation assessments facilitated by REACH teams; (b) situation analysis using satellite imagery; (c) provision of related database and (web)-mapping facilities and expertise.

IMPACT Initiatives is a humanitarian NGO, based in Geneva, Switzerland. The organisation manages several initiatives, including the REACH Initiative. The IMPACT team comprises specialists in data collection, management and analysis and GIS. IMPACT was launched at the initiative of ACTED, an international NGO whose headquarter is based in Paris and is present in thirty countries. The two organizations have a strong complementarity formalized in a global partnership, enabling IMPACT to benefit from ACTED’s operational support in its fields of intervention.

POSITION OVERVIEW

We are currently looking for a Senior Audit Officer to support our IMPACT Initiatives Team in Geneva, Switzerland.

Position: Senior Audit Officer

Department: Transparency & Compliance

Duration: Open Ended contract
Start date: 1 January 2025
Location: Geneva, Switzerland

FUNCTIONS

Under the line management of the Chief Operations Officer (COO), the senior Audit officer is responsible for assessing and improving the relevance, quality and effectiveness of IMPACT’s risk management and internal control systems at HQ and field level in order to ensure transparency and accountability

The officer provides reasonable assurance[1] that there are efficient and effective policies and procedures complying with donor and relevant internal requirements in place in IMPACT’s HQ and countries of operation, well understood and implemented throughout the organisation and its partners.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Together with the COO, the Audit officer is responsible for the functions of Compliance and Transparency within IMPACT, whose objectives and related responsibilities are described as follows:

With the objective of ensuring (i) that internal control systems at HQ and field level, when applicable, are effective and efficient in identifying, preventing, detecting and correcting noncompliance with applicable policies and procedures (ii) the preparation and proper conduct of external audits commissioned by institutional donors, (iii) the compliance with HQ and field missions country rules and regulations; the Audit officer is responsible for:

(i) Prepare, implement and follow-up on the Internal audits of IMPACT’s HQ and field missions: the department’s mission is to assess the level of compliance of IMPACT’s HQ and, when relevant, field missions, to issue action plans and monitor the implementation of recommendations.

– Ensure that internal control systems are effective and efficient in identifying, preventing, detecting and correcting noncompliance with applicable policies and procedures

– Prepare and ensure implementation of an IMPACT annual internal audit plan, including the preparation, implementation and follow-up of monthly internal audits in accordance with the IMPACT Internal Audit SOPs (to be confirmed)

– Maintain up to date the Internal Audits Follow-up andthe Internal Audits Recommendations follow-up

– Together with the COO, ensure the follow-up of recommendations by each IMPACT department through action plans followed-up on a monthly basis and closely follow up on findings, with a special focus on high risks findings

– Develop documents, processes and procedures that improve internal audit management

(ii) Ensure the preparation of external audits and follow-up

– Prepare and ensure proper conduct of external audits commissioned by institutional donors and conducted by external auditors, including among others the organization of kick off and close out meeting of each external audit, the gathering, reviewing and submitting of expense supporting documentation in liaison with the relevant IMPACT departments, staff and/or IMPACT partners, drafting of management responses, follow-up the reception of the signed audit report.

– Maintain the External Audits Database up to date

– Maintain the External Audits Recommendations follow-up up-to-date and closely follow up on findings, with a special focus on high risks findings, with the relevant IMPACT’s department

– where required, provide support and/or a second level of review to the Institutional Partnerships Unit (IPU) within the projects and Institutional Partnerships Department (PIPD) in the preparation of due diligences conducted by institutional donors. Include recommendations in the External Audits Recommendations follow-up and closely follow up on their implementation

(iii) Prepare, disseminate and follow-up on lessons learnt on internal and external audits

– Together with the COO, analyse key trends, lessons to be learned from these internal and external audits, make recommendations to improve IMPACT’s procedures to relevant Head of departments

– Together with the COO, partner with other departments to ensure that lessons-learned and recommendations are implemented and followed.

(iv) Contribute to procedures improvement and development of trainings

– Maintain current knowledge of donors’ requirements pertaining to audit functions and contribute to the improvement of IMPACT’s policies and procedures

– Identify opportunities to increase efficiencies and improve systems related to compliance and control processes and partner with appropriate functional head of departments to develop and implement such enhancements, where required.

– Identify issues and subject areas for employee training programs. Work with relevant functional directors to develop and implement trainings to further develop and build capacity in compliance and internal controls

1. GENERAL:

Within the C&T functions, the Audit officer is also responsible for the following:

(i) Reporting

– Prepare and submit to the COO a Monthly Audit Report (MAR) including relevant annexes (to be confirmed)

(ii) Workplan

– Ensure a workplan for internal audit and internal capacity reinforcement is developed and validated before roll out. This can include partners’ capacity building aspects, to be determined together with IMPACT’s IPU in relation to due diligence exercises and risk mitigation plans that might be developed.

[1] Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance regarding material misstatements, but not an absolute one. Reasonable assurance includes the understanding that there is a remote likelihood that material misstatements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.

REQUIREMENTS

• University degree in Audit / Finance / Accounting / Business Management or equivalent (Master preferred);
• At least 2 years of experience in internal and external audits is required for this position;
• Fluent English; French a plus
• Excellent working knowledge of Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint and Excel);
• Ability to build rapport and trust within the organization and to manage competing demands in a timely manner;
• Awareness when to refer non-routine inquiries to more senior colleagues;
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written with the ability to listen and connect with staff deployed in the field.
• Strong organizational and planning skills, attention to detail, ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure
• Previous experience working with institutional donors is preferred;
• Previous experience or demonstrated interest in the no-profit sector is preferred;
• Audit certification is preferred.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

• For this position, gross salary between 5’500 CHF and 5’770 CHF monthly (before income tax). NB – IMPACT salaries are strictly determined by our salary grid depending on the grade of the position and the level of education and experience of staff. A contribution to medical insurance of 520 CHF per month is already included in the salary figure.
• Insurance covering professional and non-professional accidents throughout the period of employment with IMPACT.
• Health insurance, life insurance and repatriation assistance in case of field visits/temporary deployments.
• Applicants must hold a valid work permit for Switzerland or be EU/EFTA citizens.
• Up to 40% of remote work on a weekly basis.