Regional Director, Finance & Accounting, Latin America

Who We Are

International Justice Mission (IJM) is the global leader in protecting vulnerable people from violence around the world. Our team of over 1,200 professionals are at work worldwide in over 30 offices. Together we are on a mission to rescue millions, protect half a billion, and make justice unstoppable.

We are a global community that cares for one another. We believe that the way we work is as important as the results we achieve. We provide professional excellence with joy and celebration to all those we serve. 

The Need

For 25 years, IJM has pioneered the work to protect vulnerable people from violence. 9 out of 9 times in the last decade, IJM’s Justice System Strengthening Projects have reduced slavery and violence between 50 and 85% for very large populations of people in poverty. As we grow to expand our impact to protect 500 million people from violence by 2030, we are seeking a Regional Director, Finance & Accounting, Latin America to manage all Latin America field office financial activity, finance policy development, and hiring/training of Latin America Regional accounting staff.

The Regional Director will be an experienced accountant and manager in an international environment, with proven capacity to accurately and objectively evaluate the effectiveness and outcomes of strategies and activities, to be a strategic partner with global finance teams.

This position is based in the Latin America Region and reports to the Assistant Controller, Global Finance & Accounting. Candidates must have the right to work within the country in which they reside.

Responsibilities:

Leadership and Management

• Expeditiously resolve all outstanding, irreconcilable, uncategorized, or improperly categorized transactions; instruct and lead field office on adjustments to be made when errors are encountered.

• Supervise Regional Accountants, develop audit and training programs for the Regional Accountants to utilize in the field offices in their respective region, assist them in planning review strategies and mentoring opportunities for the field offices and field office accountants, communicate regularly with the Regional Accountants to assist them in managing their goals and developing their managerial/leadership skills.

• Develop regionwide capacity building on grant financial management.

• Maintain a close working relationship with international staff for the purpose of ensuring good communication and coordination between the regional and local finance teams and Global Finance.

• Train field staff in accounting-related positions; develop and present agenda, curriculum, lessons, exercises, and evaluation instruments for field financial training.

• Provide management with procedural changes and alternative strategies in a continuous effort to improve field financial reporting; communicate and implement new procedures and strategies.

• Provide and regularly update written finance policy documents for all field office finance practices.

• Assist Field Office Directors in hiring Field Office Accountants and Regional Accountants, updating job descriptions, reviewing quiz results and conducting phone interviews.

• Maintain and document internal control procedures.

• Perform field office financial reviews as necessary; follow general accepted auditing standards in planning and executing internal review of field offices.

• Direct and manage the set up of new field offices and training of new staff in accordance with the finance manual.

• Work with the VP of Finance, Regional Directors and international programs staff to resolve field policy and procedure compliance; ensure that field financial practices meet s of all interested parties.

• Collect, Review, organize, and analyze information from the field in conjunction with the annual independent financial audit.

• Direct a team of regional managers and accountants, maximizing inter-team collaboration and communication, individual professional development and accomplishment of department and team objectives.

• Develop the professional and social capabilities of staff on team to enhance their capacity for personal growth and effective performance resulting in skillful and dedicated employees working towards achieving the mission of IJM.

Networking & Partnership

• Maintain a close relationship with regional leadership, program and grants management staff for the purpose of collaborating to find enhanced processes and guidance for effectively supporting field financial operations, grants acquisition and implementation and program goals.

Policies and Procedures

• Develop and update accounting and finance policy and procedure manuals to guide the financial operations of regional offices to ensure internal controls, consistent application and compliance with internal policies and other local, donor and regulatory requirements for purposes of mitigating financial and reputational risks.

• Collaborate with regional office leadership and finance teams to create and/or update their local supplement/Best Practice manuals to guide local operations for maximum compliance with local laws.

Training and Development

• Provide coaching and mentoring to team members to further develop and enhance their professional growth.

• Improve existing and/or create new field office training materials and accounting guidance as resources for site visit support by finance teams as well as for onboarding new finance staff in overseas locations.

• Perform on-site field office financial support and training (as needed) to field office finance and general staff on accounting policies, procedures and internal controls for effective performance.

Qualifications:

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in finance or accounting.

• At least eight years’ experience as an accountant, auditor, accounting manager, or similar position; of which three years’ experience is in an international environment; and a minimum of three years supervising teams.

• Experience with electronic financial systems and an understanding of general journal entries.

• Working knowledge of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and foreign currency exchange rates.

• Proven experience successfully supervising a team of accountants.

• Proven capacity to accurately and objectively evaluate the effectiveness and outcomes of strategies and activities – and experience in implementing appropriate adjustments.

• Experience in training individuals and small groups.

• Experience with federal grants a plus.

Technical Competencies

• Knowledge of GAAP and IFRS or other accounting standards for non-profits in a multi-currency context.

• Experience and mid-level competency with Microsoft Excel and/or other similar software packages.

• Experience with electronic financial and accounting systems.

Critical Qualities:

• Excellent interpersonal skills and proven experience successfully building and supervising a team of accounting professionals.

• Influential and diplomatic in building consensus to achieve cross-organizational objectives.

• Articulate communicator, able to make finance and accounting concepts and processes clear to fellow accounting professionals and non-accountants alike.

• Ability to effectively communicate and collaborate with people from diverse cultures and disciplines.

• Capacity to fairly and objectively understand the effectiveness and outcomes of policies and activities and implement appropriate adjustments.

• Ability to remain winsome, professional, loving and engaged in professional disagreement or conflict.

• Ability to maintain the posture of a servant, ensuring that our customers succeed.

Application Process:

Upload Resume & Cover Letter in one PDF document.

IJM holds strict safeguarding principles and a zero tolerance to violations of the Safeguarding Policy, Protection against Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment Policy, and Code of Ethics. Candidate selection is based on technical competence, recruitment, selection and hiring criteria subject to assessing the candidates value congruence and thorough background, police clearance, and reference check processes.

IJM requires a background check, police clearance and thorough review of references with an employment offer and/or employment contract.

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