Risk and Compliance Officer at the British Council

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Lagos

Posted 3 years ago

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and other countries. We do this by making a positive contribution to the UK and the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust.

We work with over 100 countries across the world in the fields of arts and culture, English language, education and civil society. Each year we reach over 20 million people face-to-face and more than 500 million people online, via broadcasts and publications. Founded in 1934, we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Risk and Compliance Officer – Nigeria

Location: Lagos
Pay band: 6
Contract type: Indefinite

Role Purpose

The post holder will drive the end-to-end risk management process for Nigeria operations in line with corporate standards.
It also acts as support contact within the country for counter-fraud activity and may participate in investigations as needed drawing on the expertise and directives of the regional counter-Fraud lead and acting on their advice.
The role holder will be the Risk and Compliance contact in Nigeria while acting as one of the key finance business partners to senior management teams across Nigeria operations.

Main Opportunities / Challenges for this Role

The appointed candidate will be accountable for Financial Risk Responses, supporting the implementation of and monitoring the adherence to, Finance policy and process in the country, providing a critical part of the feedback loop to Regional Head Risk and Compliance.
In Addition you will proactively analyse the control environment, identify hot spots and ‘trouble shoot’ as needed. You will also make recommendations to Head of Finance, Risk and Compliance Lead – West Africa and Regional Head Risk and Compliance for remediation and drive through change to meet required standards.
The role presents great opportunity for us in building a strong, efficient, effective, innovative and value driven financial risk management & compliance services for the British Council.

Main accountabilities but not limited to the following:

The post-holder will (across operations in Nigeria):
Developing, maintaining and implementing strategies and annual plans for risk and compliance management and related activities.
Maintaining and reviewing policies, procedures, and annual plans for Compliance and Risks area for the Nigeria subsidiaries and the branch.
Overseeing and monitoring the implementation of the risk and compliance frameworks throughout the subsidiaries and branch including risk and compliance assessments, control environment evaluations and action plans.
Ensuring Financial Risk and Compliance Assessments are undertaken regularly including analysis and reports on developments, exposures, control, breaches and related action plans across programs and activities.
Liaising with senior managers to ensure they understand their roles and obligations in risk management and compliance within their jurisdictions and commit to timelines for reporting.
Providing additional appropriate and relevant support to the entire business.
Ensure adherence with the global minimum controls standards (MCS) as defined by Financial Governance and monitor performance on a monthly / quarterly / annual basis as requested by the Head of Finance and/or Risk and Compliance Lead – West Africa/Regional Head Risk and Compliance.
Proactively investigate potential problem areas and provided coaching and training to relevant individuals/teams across the region to raise awareness and build capability in risk management.
Ensure the highest level of compliance and accuracy of all balance sheet reconciliations, bank reconciliations, income reconciliations, and other required financial reconciliations by Financial Control team.
Ensure the highest level of compliance and accuracy on financial and other operational policies in line with corporate standards
Define the reporting requirements to meet the needs of key stakeholders and address key areas of risk.
Ensure that the approach to the development and implementation of risk and compliance initiatives is in line with best practice and is able to respond to changes in the business and regulatory environment
Ensure risk and compliance capacity building for finance team members and colleagues
As with any business that experiences peaks and troughs of activity, there is likely to be a need to work outside office hours from time to time.

Role Specific Knowledge and Experience
The successful candidate will need to possess the following requirements:

Qualified accountant – ACA, ACCA
Bachelor’s Degree
Minimum 5 years relevant experience in a similar role
Knowledge of Nigerian Standards for Risk and Compliance Management
Experience with risk and compliance management, frameworks, procedures and practices
Ability to identify, interpret and document compliance requirements related to legal, contractual, regulator and financial matters.
Track record of managing key risk function in international / multinational organisation in similar context.
Experience of managing a group of stakeholders in multiple locations
Proficiency in Microsoft Excel
Experience of an ERP system.

Desirable:

Experience working with Big 4 audit firm
Deliver and support the implementation of stringent risk and compliance requirements to multi-disciplinary internal staff and external partners.
Direct experience of applying financial controls and procedures within complex and high-risk operating environments to meet challenging contractual standards.
Experience of overseeing, supporting and significantly improving risk management capability and performance of individuals and teams outside of formal / direct line management control
Experience with Risk and Compliance software
Experience using SAP.

Alternative locations the role could be based: