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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Development Accountant

💰 $45,000 - $75,000

FinanceAccountingNonprofitDevelopment

🎯 Role Definition

The Development Accountant is a finance professional who combines technical accounting expertise with a deep understanding of donor-funded project management and nonprofit fund accounting. This role is responsible for accurate financial stewardship of development programs, ensuring compliance with donor terms, preparing detailed project and fund reports, and partnering with program teams and external auditors to deliver timely, transparent financial information. The ideal candidate brings strong ERP and Excel skills, a proven ability to manage restricted funds and grants, and experience improving financial controls and processes in a development or NGO setting.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Junior Accountant / Accounts Assistant (with exposure to fund or project accounting)
  • Finance Officer / Program Finance Assistant in an NGO or development program
  • Accounts Payable / Accounts Receivable with nonprofit experience

Advancement To:

  • Senior Development Accountant / Senior Fund Accountant
  • Finance Manager / Grants & Compliance Manager
  • Head of Finance / Finance Director for a regional or global program

Lateral Moves:

  • Grants Manager / Grant Compliance Specialist
  • Programme Finance Officer
  • Fund Accountant (corporate/nonprofit crossover)

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Manage full-cycle accounting for multiple development projects and restricted funds, including processing supplier invoices, recording program expenditures, and posting journal entries to ensure accurate project-level ledgers and adherence to donor restrictions.
  • Prepare month-end and quarter-end financial statements, including project-level trial balances, accruals, prepayments, fixed asset schedules, cash reconciliations and variance analyses to support transparent reporting and management decision-making.
  • Maintain and reconcile program and fund balances across multiple bank accounts and currencies, performing daily/weekly cash reconciliations and cashflow forecasting for medium- and long-term program sustainability.
  • Prepare donor-specific financial reports and schedules in accordance with grant agreements, donor guidelines, and contract terms (e.g., USAID, DFID/FCDO, EU, UN agencies), including backup documentation and narrative explanations for expenditures.
  • Ensure compliance with funder reporting requirements and internal grant management policies by maintaining accurate supporting documentation, coding expenditures correctly to restricted vs. unrestricted funds, and tracking deliverables tied to financial milestones.
  • Lead the preparation of audit-ready files for internal and external auditors, responding to audit requests, preparing audit schedules, reconciling differences, and implementing audit recommendations to strengthen controls and compliance.
  • Develop, maintain and refine project accounting processes, including the chart of accounts, project cost centres, and coding conventions to ensure consistent and accurate financial tracking across programs and geographies.
  • Work closely with program managers and field teams to validate and code transactions, review budget vs. actuals, advise on allowable vs. unallowable costs, and support month-end close activities at the program level.
  • Design and deliver training to program and finance staff on accounting policies, expense documentation, timesheet allocation, VAT/GST recovery procedures, and donor-compliant record-keeping to improve financial literacy and reduce non-compliance.
  • Own the preparation and reconciliation of salary and payroll-related postings for program staff and consultants, coordinating with HR and payroll providers to ensure accurate allocation to project codes and timely reversal of accruals.
  • Manage fixed assets for programs, including capitalization, depreciation schedules, disposals and inventory control, ensuring asset tracking aligns with donor rules and organizational policy.
  • Reconcile and investigate intercompany and interproject transactions, identify and correct allocation errors, and produce adjusting journal entries that maintain integrity of program financials.
  • Contribute to budgeting and forecasting cycles for new proposals and existing grants by preparing project budgets, conducting budget virement analysis, and modeling scenario-based budget forecasts to support program planning.
  • Implement and support ERP/financial systems (e.g., Sage Intacct, NetSuite, QuickBooks, Xero, SAP), including mapping project codes, uploading budgets, troubleshooting transaction flows, and working with IT to improve reporting functionality.
  • Monitor and process VAT, GST or other indirect tax claims/recoveries for projects operating in multiple jurisdictions, ensuring compliance with local tax laws and maximizing eligible recoveries for program budgets.
  • Lead grant close-out activities, preparing final financial reports, reconciling outstanding transactions, archiving records per donor and organizational policies, and facilitating retention of documentation for audit purposes.
  • Provide timely financial analysis and project performance dashboards for senior management and program directors, highlighting key variances, cash burn rates, forecasted funding gaps and recommended corrective actions.
  • Support procurement coordination for program purchases by reviewing supplier invoices against purchase orders, ensuring competitive procurement rules are enforced and costs charged to grants are compliant with donor procurement clauses.
  • Manage relationships with local finance teams, sub-grantees and implementing partners by reviewing partner financial reports, verifying expense eligibility, coordinating partner audits and consolidating financial information into central reporting.
  • Ensure robust internal controls for petty cash, travel advances, and expense reimbursements by performing periodic surprise cash counts, reconciliations and approvals to minimize risk and strengthen fiduciary responsibility.
  • Drive continuous improvement initiatives to automate reconciliations, streamline month-end close, and enhance the quality and timeliness of project financial reporting through process documentation and system enhancements.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
  • Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Fund and project accounting expertise with demonstrated experience managing restricted funds, donor contracts and project-level financial reporting.
  • Strong month-end close capabilities: preparing journal entries, accruals, prepayments, fixed asset depreciation, and reconciliations.
  • Advanced Excel skills including pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, INDEX/MATCH, complex formulas, and data visualization for financial analysis.
  • Proficiency with ERP systems commonly used in development organisations: Sage Intacct, NetSuite, QuickBooks, Xero, SAP Business One, or similar. Experience with system implementations or upgrades is a plus.
  • Knowledge of donor financial rules and compliance frameworks (e.g., USAID, FCDO, EU, UN, foundations) and familiarity with donor budget formats and reporting templates.
  • Experience preparing and supporting external audits, internal audits and donor compliance reviews, including preparing schedules and responding to auditor queries.
  • Understanding of GAAP and IFRS principles as applicable to nonprofit and project accounting; ability to apply accrual accounting for program financials.
  • Strong reconciliation and analytical skills: bank reconciliations, intercompany, grants, and partner reconciliations with attention to immaterial and material differences.
  • Budgeting, forecasting and financial modelling experience at project level, including scenario planning and variance analysis to support grant management.
  • Knowledge of VAT/GST, withholding taxes, payroll allocations and local tax compliance issues affecting international programs.
  • Experience with payroll systems and accurate allocation of salary costs to project codes in accordance with donor rules.
  • Experience in fixed asset management and capital expenditure accounting, including tagging, depreciation schedules and disposals.
  • Comfortable producing management reports, dashboards and KPIs for program leads and senior management using Excel, Power BI, Tableau or built-in ERP reporting tools.
  • Strong documentation and process mapping skills to maintain SOPs for accounting workflows and ensure audit readiness.

Soft Skills

  • Excellent attention to detail and a high degree of accuracy in financial record-keeping and reporting.
  • Strong communication and interpersonal skills to liaise effectively with program staff, donors, external auditors and partners.
  • Problem-solving mindset with the ability to investigate discrepancies, propose corrective actions and implement process improvements.
  • Time management and organizational skills to prioritize competing deadlines across multiple projects and reporting cycles.
  • Integrity and ethical judgment in safeguarding donor funds, maintaining confidentiality, and upholding fiduciary responsibilities.
  • Collaborative team player who can train and mentor finance and non-finance staff in basic financial controls and compliant expense documentation.
  • Adaptability and resilience in fast-paced, resource-constrained environments common in development operations.
  • Customer-service orientation with a pragmatic approach to supporting field teams and partners to meet financial compliance and reporting needs.
  • Critical thinking and the ability to translate financial data into actionable insights for program decision-makers.
  • Leadership potential for supervising junior finance staff and coordinating with cross-functional teams during audits, closings, and system upgrades.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Economics, or a related discipline.

Preferred Education:

  • Professional accounting qualification (ACCA, CPA, CIMA) or postgraduate degree in Accounting/Finance.
  • Additional certifications in nonprofit accounting, grants management or ERP system administration are advantageous.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Accounting
  • Finance
  • Economics
  • Development Studies / International Development
  • Business Administration

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 3 to 7 years of progressive accounting experience, with at least 2–3 years working in fund/project accounting or nonprofit development finance.

Preferred:

  • 5+ years of experience in NGO, international development, or donor-funded program accounting, including demonstrable experience with donor reporting (USAID, FCDO, EU, UN), ERP systems and external audit support.
  • Experience supervising junior accountants or finance assistants, leading grant close-outs and implementing system/process improvements.
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