Senior Accountant - Treasury

ABOUT ALU

ALU provides higher education for a higher purpose. Our students declare missions, not majors.They develop the real-world skills to take on the world’s most pressing challenges. And they take ownership of their learning from day one through our peer and student-led approach – because ALU believes in the power and agency of young people to start shaping the future right now. Together with a world-class faculty and staff, our students are igniting a ripple of positive impact across Africa and the world.

We are dedicated to fostering an open yet secure environment, balancing the safety of students, staff, and visitors with respect for individual rights, and safeguarding responsibilities.

HOW WE WORK

The ALU Team works in starkly different ways to traditional academic bureaucracies. We approach education from first principles, empower individuals to design, test, and implement creative new ideas, and work closely together to craft transformative learning experiences. We are deeply passionate about our students and excited by the challenge of building something entirely new.

The African Leadership University is committed to ensuring the safety and Well-being of all students under our care. As part of this commitment , we have a comprehensive safeguarding policy in place , which outlines our Zero-tolerance approach to any violation of safeguarding. 

ABOUT THE TEAM

The Finance function at ALU is focused on building a disciplined, scalable operating model across Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Treasury, Payroll, and FP&A, supporting a multi-entity, multi-country institution.

The Senior Accountant role sits within the core finance structure, at the intersection of Treasury and Accounting. It is responsible for ensuring effective cash management, payment execution, and financial control, while supporting the integrity of financial records and reporting.

Working closely with Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Payroll, and FP&A, the role plays a key part in maintaining liquidity, enabling smooth day-to-day operations, and supporting the broader finance team in delivering accurate and timely financial information.

ABOUT THE ROLE

The Senior Accountant - Treasury is a core execution and control role within the finance function.

This role is responsible for day-to-day treasury operations, cash management, and bank control, while supporting broader accounting and month-end close processes.

This is a hands-on operator role, requiring strong attention to detail, ownership, and the ability to work across fragmented systems and incomplete data environments. This role will be the anchor for treasury execution, bank integrity, and cash control across the institution. The role sits at the intersection of Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, and Treasury, ensuring that cash positions are accurate, reconciled, and actionable on a daily basis. 

You will play a critical role in:

• Establishing cash visibility and control
• Driving bank and wallet reconciliations to completion
• Supporting payment execution discipline
• Anchoring month-end close 

As the function matures, this role will take on ownership of core accounting areas (intercompany, tax support, and balance sheet), contribute directly to month-end close, and assume responsibility for reporting across selected entities/subsidiaries. 

This role reports directly to the Finance Operations Director (FOD) and operates under the oversight of the VP Finance (VPF). This role has one reportee, the Treasury & Compliance Coordinator.

ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Treasury Operations Ownership & Cash Control 

• Own the end-to-end integrity, visibility, and control of cash across all ALU entities, accounts, and payment channels
• Define and enforce treasury operating standards, including:
• Daily cash visibility requirements
• Reconciliation timelines and ageing thresholds
• Payment execution protocols
• Review and validate daily cash position reports prepared by the Treasury & Compliance Coordinator
• Provide forward-looking cash insights, including:
• Liquidity constraints
• Funding gaps
• Timing mismatches between collections and disbursements
• Act as the central point of coordination for cash impact across functions:
• Accounts Payable: payment readiness
• Accounts Receivable: collections and cash application
• Payroll: salary and statutory disbursements
• FP&A: cash forecasting and reporting
• Ensure all teams operate against a single, aligned cash position

2. Oversight of Payment Execution

• Oversee execution of all treasury activities performed by the Treasury & Compliance Coordinator, including:
• Payment processing (across all ALU jurisdictions)
• Bank platform activity
• Cash monitoring
• Validate payment batches prior to release, ensuring:
• Proper approvals
• Complete documentation
• Alignment with cash availability
• Enforce discipline across bi-monthly payment cycles (15th and month-end)
• Validate payment batches against supporting documentation and approvals
• Act as control gatekeeper, flagging:
• Out-of-process spend
• Policy breaches
• Payment prioritisation issues 
• Ensure full traceability and audit ready documentation

3. Bank, Wallet & Reconciliation Control

• Own end-to-end bank reconciliations across all entities and accounts. Emphasis on the accuracy and completeness of all reconciliations across:
• Bank accounts
• Mobile money / card channels
• Intermediary payment platforms
• Review reconciliations prepared by the Treasury & Coordinator and:
• Challenge unreconciled items
• Enforce timely resolution
• Approve final balances for reporting and close
• Drive clearance of historical reconciliation backlogs
• Ensure all balances tie to NetSuite GL and supporting schedules
• Escalate systemic issues (data gaps, integration issues, timing breaks)

4. Month-End Close – Treasury Integration

• Own treasury deliverables within the month-end close process, ensuring:
• All bank accounts are reconciled and signed off
• Cash balances tie accurately to the general ledger
• Cut-off is properly applied to receipts and payments
• Review and approve:
• Cash schedules
• Bank reconciliations
• Payment cut-off reports
• Coordinate with FP&A and reporting teams to ensure accurate cash representation in management accounts
• Support preparation of cash and liquidity reporting for management accounts
• Progressively take ownership of:
• Balance sheet reconciliations
• Journal entries (cash, accruals, prepayments, intercompany)
• Support preparation of cash and liquidity reporting for management accounts
• Progressively take ownership of:

5. Intercompany Accounting & Balance Sheet Integrity

• Manage intercompany accounting and reconciliations across ALU entities
• Ensure timely and accurate balances for consolidation and reporting
• Investigate and resolve intercompany mismatches
• Maintain clean, auditable supporting schedules for key balance sheet accounts

6. Tax & Compliance Oversight

• Oversee preparation of tax schedules and statutory obligations (VAT, WHT, CIT support) prepared by the Treasury & Compliance Coordinator 
• Prepare annual tax computations and supporting schedules 
• Support statutory filings and external audits with required documentation
• Work with internal and external stakeholders to ensure compliance readiness
• Maintain organised documentation for all tax-related processes

7. Entity / Subsidiary Reporting 

• Take ownership of financial reporting for assigned entities/subsidiaries
• Ensure completeness and integrity of:
• Trial balance
• Balance sheet
• Supporting schedules
• Support consolidation readiness and reporting accuracy
• Statutory audits
• Donor audits

Tools & systems

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE

Essential qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field
• 4–6 years of experience in accounting or treasury roles
• Strong experience in:
• Liquidity management and cash control
• Payment processing and treasury operations
• Month-end close processes
• Experience working with ERP systems (NetSuite preferred)
• High attention to detail with a focus on accuracy, completeness, and control
• Strong grounding in financial accounting and reporting principles
• High attention to detail with a focus on data integrity, controls, and completeness
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to enforce deadlines and challenge slippage constructively

OTHER COMPETENCIES

Preferred

• Experience in multi-entity / multi-currency environments
• Exposure to intercompany accounting and consolidation processes
• Experience supporting tax computations and statutory processes
• Background in audit or structured accounting environments, with significant exposure to financial close and reporting processes
• Experience in education, non-profit, or international organisations

Personal Attributes

• Ownership mindset: Takes full accountability for cash integrity, reconciliations, and outputs end-to-end..
• Control-oriented: Naturally focused on accuracy, completeness, and auditability; builds and enforces strong financial controls.
• Attention to detail: Operates with precision in cash-sensitive environments; identifies and resolves discrepancies proactively.
• Structured and disciplined: Brings order to fragmented processes; enforces timelines, standards, and consistency across workflows.
• Execution-driven: Delivers reliably in high-pressure, time-sensitive environments (e.g., payment cycles, month-end close).
• Analytical and problem-solving: Able to interpret financial data, investigate variances, and resolve complex reconciliation or cash flow issues.
• Strong judgement: Makes sound decisions on payment prioritisation, risk escalation, and control exceptions.
• Leadership through oversight: Effectively manages and develops junior team members; reviews, challenges, and elevates output quality.
• Collaborative and cross-functional: Works effectively across AP, AR, Payroll, and FP&A; aligns teams around a single cash view.
• Clear communicator: Communicates financial issues, risks, and insights clearly to both finance and non-finance stakeholders.
• Integrity and accountability: Trusted to operate in a high-risk, cash-intensive environment with strong ethical standards.
• Adaptable and resilient: Comfortable operating in a rebuilding environment; able to navigate ambiguity and evolving structures.