Finance & Operations, Associate/Senior Associate

Role: Finance & Operations, Associate/Senior Associate

Start Date: Immediate

Employment Type: Full-time, 1 year contract (renewable)

Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Objective

By taking up this role, you have the opportunity to use your skills to create tangible impact in the lives of students in Malaysia by ensuring operational excellence in the Finance & Operations team and strengthening TFM’s financial and internal governance to continuously build credibility and inspire confidence to our internal and external stakeholders. You will also have the chance to learn the ropes and understand in-depth the financial management and reporting framework for a non-profit organisation while honing your technical finance/accounting skills. As part of the Finance & Operations team, your work will have a direct and tangible impact in co-creating a sustainable, effective and efficient organisation to make TFM the greatest place to work. 

Overview of Role

To support the financial and administrative functions in the Finance & Operations Department. This is a full-time position which will report directly to the Finance Manager, and has a dotted line reporting to the Technology Manager.

Key Measures of Success

• Financial and Operational Accuracy, Effectiveness and Efficiency – Operational Finance, Human Resource, and Administration is the foundation and key enabler of talent and organisation sustainability, effectiveness and impact. It ensures that the organization is able to run seamlessly. Operational excellence includes ensuring the timeliness and accuracy of operational output, as well as the efficiency and effectiveness of processes. It is about getting the operational basics right and with minimal energy.
• Staff Engagement Rate (measured via the annual Engaging For Results Survey) – Staff engagement is key in supporting staff members to stay passionate and motivated. The Finance & Operations function, inclusive of the Talent team, plays a critical role in being the custodian of culture, efficiency and effectiveness of the organisation by mobilising various resources to achieve optimal staff engagement.
• Timely completion of key projects within the stipulated period.

Duties and Responsibilities

You will be reporting directly to the Finance Manager and working closely with the Talent & Operations Team to support all activities that drive the key measures of success above. Your responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:

Finance

Work closely with the Finance manager on the following:

Management of Accounts

• Record all vendor invoices in the accounting system in a timely manner.
• Process invoices against purchase requisitions and prepare payment summary during payment cycles.
• Verify and record staff expenses claims for payroll processing.
• Review employee credit card activity, reconcile to monthly statements, and record activity into accounting system
• Record all bank deposits in a weekly deposit schedule and post deposit entries into the accounting system accurately and in a timely manner.
• Ensure Accounts Receivable report is updated and manage collection of aging items.
• Raise invoices in the accounting system upon project teams’ request.
• Raise donation receipts at the end of the month for corporate donors.
• Assist in updating revenue and expense forecasts following the month end closing.

Month-end Financial Processing and Financial Reporting

• Process financial close journals and ensure books are closed by the 15th of the following month.
• Update and prepare monthly receivables and payables sub-ledgers, fixed assets register, bank reconciliation and corresponding journals.
• Highlight and follow up on overdue balance sheet items and insufficient funding balances.
• Generate and file payment vouchers, receipts vouchers and journal vouchers from the accounting system after financial closing with supporting documents.
• Prepare and disseminate monthly budget utilisation reports to budget holders after month-end closing.
• Prepare Management Accounts, Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, and Project Report Sheet for Finance Manager and Finance & Operations Director’s review.
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Annual Budgeting Process and Audit Support

• Assist the Finance Manager with the annual budget preparation process.
• Prepare and manage budget input templates and main budget database to facilitate a smooth and accurate annual budget preparation process.
• Assist the Finance Manager with auditors’ queries and manage the preparation of supporting documentation during the annual financial audit.

IT and HR Administrative Support

Work closely with the Office Manager and Talent & Operations team to:

• Manage IT related tasks, including laptop assignment & set-up, monitoring and maintenance of IT hardware tracker.
• Liaise with TFM’s third-party technology vendor for critical IT/technical support.
• Support with the effective adoption of TFM’s internal knowledge management platforms.
• Support with inventory management of TFM assets and merchandise.
• Support with recruitment and selection for staff and internship vacancies during peak recruitment period. 

Other Functional Projects

• Conduct research and analysis work for tools, strategies and policies to digitalise internal operations, such as accounting system migration, adoption of Human Resource Information System “HRIS” and support the implementation of these transitions. 
• Together with the Talent Team, plan and organise TFM’s org-wide events such as org-wide staff retreats, and other staff engagement events. 
• Support the Finance & Operations Director and Manager in crafting financial policies and procedures, Memorandum and Articles of Association “M&A” review work and other financial governance projects to ensure TFM is financially compliant and our internal financial governance is strong.

Any other reasonable finance, operations, and administrative duties as assigned.

Required Competencies

• Possess a relevant Bachelor’s degree in the Finance or Accounting field.
• Passionate about our mission: Believes deeply in the importance of inspiring/investing external people in our mission, and has high expectations for how Teach For Malaysia is viewed by external constituents.
• Aligned with our core values: Sense of Possibility, Excellence, Collaboration and Integrity.
• Basic finance/accounting/bookkeeping knowledge 
• Basic ability to understand and utilize budget effectively
• Exceptional organisational skills with strong attention to detail
• Comfortable and understand the importance of meeting deadlines
• Highly empathetic yet objective, able to strike a balance between the needs of people and the organization
• Proven ability to build and maintain good relationships with internal and external stakeholders
• High degree of adaptability: ability to quickly adjust in a fast-paced, achievement-oriented, and Volatile, Uncertain, Challenging, Ambiguous (VUCA) environment
• Able to think strategically and in a resourceful manner
• Strong verbal and written communication in English
• Tech-savvy: Has knowledge of or willing to learn on how to build, develop, manage and maintain knowledge management systems, analytics dashboards, and customer relationships management softwares (including but not limited to Excel, Google Suite, Salesforce, and accounting softwares).
• Willing to (dependent on COVID-19 restrictions) travel to office for on-site work for finance, HR, and administrative duties.