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About the Association for Progressive Communications

APC is an international network of civil society organisations founded in 1990 dedicated to empowering and supporting people working for peace, human rights, development and protection of the environment, through the strategic use of information and communications technologies (ICTs).

APC has a team of 60 people working from 26 countries, growing steadily, with a majority located in the global South. APC’s team are activists, feminists, technologists and policy-change actors working at the intersection of technology, social and environmental justice, human rights, sexual rights and women’s rights.

APC’s annual budget is between USD 7 million and USD 8 million, sourced from a range of donors, including governments, private and public foundations and intergovernmental organisations, and it is used to implement a complex set of programmes and projects with detailed financial compliance, monitoring and reporting requirements.

Purpose of the Role

The finance manager is a critical member of the senior leadership team, providing information, advice and guidance in support and development of APC’s financial resilience and organisational development strategies. 

The finance manager is responsible for accounting oversight, control and management of APC’s finances and ensuring APC is compliant with all financial statutory requirements. They lead the finance team to maintain strong financial controls, provide accurate financial data and reports, make timely payments to creditors and invoices/receipts of debtors, maintain accurate accounts, and ensure compliance across finances at all levels of the organisation. 

Duties and Responsibilities

Global Accounting oversight: Establish and implement internal control measures on the organisation’s financial and accounting procedures. Those measures will be based on internationally agreed accounting principles and procedures, donor guidelines and requirements.  Create and maintain APC’s organisational accounting ledger. Develop and document financial policies and procedures. 

Financial resilience and organisational development: Develop annual finance work plan and monitor its implementation; work with APC’s Operations Director and Resource Mobilisation Coordinator to build APC’s reserves and explore social investment opportunities; oversee capacity-building work with budget holders and project coordinators to increase awareness and knowledge of finance and compliance-related policies, procedures and guidelines. 

Statutory compliance: Ensure APC’s financial statutory compliance obligations are fulfilled. This includes liaising with accountants, banks and lawyers in two countries to prepare annual tax returns, VAT returns, and state and federal non-profit statutory reporting requirements. 

Audits and special procedures: Oversee implementation of APC’s organisational and project audits and/or procedures and ensure they are implemented in line with statutory and donor deadlines;  liaise with auditors, the APC board and leadership teams, as required; coordinate the implementation of project audits with APC leads and other staff, as required. 

Financial control: Oversee development of financial guidelines and reporting templates for APC collaborative activity implementation; ensure APC contracts reference financial guidelines and that financial reports are compliant with these guidelines; manage vendor agreements and review and sign off on all financial agreements and insurance policies; ensure expenditure is aligned with approved budgets. 

Budgets: co-lead the organisational budget development process working closely with the APC operations director; develop and maintain budget guidelines and templates. 

Financial data and reporting: Oversee preparation of all financial data and reports, including management reports for the APC Board and leadership every quarter; annual reports for the APC council; donor reports as per agreements; and general ledger and other data as needed. 

Systems: Oversee ongoing development plans for APC’s cloud-based accounting system, working with the finance and tech teams as well as external consultants; oversee input of budgets into APC’s cloud-based accounting system and provide management oversight of the APC accounting solution.

Team Management: Lead a core finance team of three, providing effective supervision, coordination and performance management, and providing mentorship and support to staff located in APC programmes who have responsibility for finance work.

Skills and Experience

• Qualified accountant with a degree in accounting/business management (accounting)/equivalent experience and/or certification.  
• Demonstrated experience (10 years minimum) in senior financial organisational management and accounting, ideally in the non-profit sector. 
• Experience developing financial management strategies, including management and building of reserve funds and/or social investment funds.  
• Knowledge of accounting regulations and procedures, including the Generally Accepted  Accounting Principles (GAAP) and/or International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
• Leadership ability, excellent team management and interpersonal skills, and the ability and experience of working in a team, cross-culturally and across time zones.  
• Experience working with cloud-based complex accounting systems (ERP) and technical staff involved in the development and maintenance of financial and accounting systems and packages.  
• Experience with organisational and project audits, donor financial and administrative reporting and financial compliance requirements, management reports and budget development.
• Experience in documenting financial management and compliance policies and procedures.
• Excellent organisational, analytical and planning skills and attention to detail, with an ability to prioritise and delegate effectively.  
• Excellent written and spoken English.  
• Significant experience working in an online virtual/remote environment.  
• Tech savvy and has good technical computer literacy
• Excellent skills in Excel including the ability to demonstrate the use of visual basic and other Excel/report management functions
• Belief in APC’s vision and mission and experience working for organisations or networks with similar goals and values.  
• Available for occasional travel.  

Also an advantage:

• Recognised full accounting qualification/accreditation (ACMA, ACA, ACCA, CIPFA, CIMA).
• Relevant post-graduate qualifications (e.g. Master’s degree).
• English is required, and working knowledge of Spanish, French, Arabic, or Portuguese is advantageous. 

APC is committed to providing equal employment opportunity without regard to ethnicity, colour, religion, sexuality or gender identity, disability or any other protected status concerning recruitment, hiring, development and training, promotion, and other terms and conditions of employment. APC values people from diverse backgrounds and encourages applications from people from the global South, working to create an open atmosphere of integrity, trust, honesty and respect. They encourage women and trans, gender-queer, non-binary and gender-diverse people to apply.