Financial Controller

Reporting to:                                   Regional Manager North

Location:                                          Livingstone, Zambia

BACKGROUND

Peace Parks Foundation, founded by President Nelson Mandela, HRH Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands and Dr. Anton Rupert, is a leader in large-scale ecological restoration across southern Africa. Through co-management partnerships that unite governments, communities and donors, it restores vast transboundary landscapes that deliver measurable conservation and livelihood outcomes. Vision 2050 will secure 18 functional landscapes spanning 980,000 km², one of the world’s largest land-conservation initiatives.

Visit: www.peaceparks.org

JOB PROFILE

The Financial Controller plays a dual role:

• Operational support by participating in budgeting, forecasting, procurement compliance, expenditure monitoring, and donor reporting
• Primary Financial Management by undertaking the first level of internal financial checks, coordinating local audits, and ensuring compliance with both policies and donor requirements.

JOB PURPOSE

The position supports project teams and implementing partners in applying sound budgeting, expenditure tracking, and donor compliance practices, while maintaining robust financial controls, reconciliations, and reporting systems.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

 Operational support

• Assist in the preparation and consolidation of annual and project-specific budgets, ensuring alignment with donor requirements and organisational objectives.
• Monitor procurement processes to ensure compliance with internal controls and donor guidelines, providing guidance to project teams and implementing partners as needed.
• Track project expenditures against approved budgets, identifying variances and collaborating with relevant teams to implement corrective actions.
• Support the preparation of timely and accurate donor financial reports, ensuring all supporting documentation and financial records meet audit and compliance standards.
• Facilitate regular financial reviews with project teams, providing operational insights and recommendations to optimise resource allocation and financial performance.
• Contribute to capacity building by training project staff and implementing partners on financial management procedures, compliance requirements, and effective budget tracking.
• Coordinate the timely transfer of funds from the Livingstone office to field teams, ensuring that all disbursements adhere to established financial controls and project requirements.

Financial management of Peace Parks operations.

• First review of Cash On Hand reports from the field teams
• Accounting Management for Accounts Payable, including reviewing and approving payments.
• Reconcile, review, and analyse Foundation’s accounting records and other financial reports to assess accuracy, completeness, and conformance to reporting and procedural standards.
• Prepare, review, reconcile, and analyze accounting records and other financial reports to assess accuracy, completeness, and conformance to reporting and procedural standards.
• Oversee the efficiencies of the accounting systems in line with best practice, as well as oversee the implementation of relevant policies and controls.
• Conduct annual internal audit reviews on project accounting processes and systems and follow up on suggested enhancements and corrective measures. These reviews will require travel to African countries where projects are implemented.
• Analyze business operations, trends, costs, revenues, financial commitments, and obligations, to project future revenues and expenses or to provide advice.
• Oversee financial management and report to management regarding the finances of the project.
• Oversee and manage budgets, preparing reports that compare budgeted costs to actual costs.
• Maintain budgets on D365, ensuring budget amendments adhere to donor requirements.
• Ensure timeous requests for funding and report submissions to ensure liquidity within the project.
• Analyse project operations, trends, costs, and financial commitments to aid project managers and provide advice.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

• 10+ years in the financial sector, but with an excellent financial management and internal auditing track record.
• Experience with managing programmes with multiple donors.
• Experience with institutional financial reporting practices.
• Good communicator and ability to build/work with a diverse multi-disciplinary team and, crucially, to always embrace and embody the culture and values of Peace Parks Foundation.
• Technologically astute, with the ability to establish strong KPI frameworks both for self- measurement and portfolio performance.
• Bachelor’s Degree in an appropriate field of study.
• Audit background and articles completed CAA preferred.
• Experience with creating financial statements.
• Excellent accounting software user and administration skills.
• Accuracy and attention to detail.

Interested candidates are invited to submit a Curriculum Vitae, with full address, telephone number, email address, and contact details of at least three contactable references. These should be submitted by 11 March 2026.

Please apply online.

We appreciate the time and effort taken by all applicants in expressing their interest in this role. Due to the high volume of applications received, we are only able to contact candidates who are selected for further consideration. If you do not hear from us within 3 weeks, please assume that your application has not been successful on this occasion. We encourage you to apply for future opportunities that match your skills and experience.