ARC Compliance and Audit Coordinator

Afghanaid is a British humanitarian and development NGO established in 1983. It is headquartered in Kabul and is currently working in nine provinces: Badakhshan, Samangan, Ghor, Daykundi, Balkh, Sar-i- Pul, Jawzjan, Herat and Faryab. We also work through partners in five others: Takhar, Paktia ,Ghazni, Nangrahr and Nooristan. For 4 decades, Afghanaid has developed its thematic expertise and the capacity of its staff in correspondence with the evolving needs of the country, international best practice, and opportunities for innovation. Our work supports four pillars of sustainable development: providing basic services; strengthening sustainable livelihoods and food security; adapting to climate change and reducing disaster risk, and emergency humanitarian assistance. Three guiding principles are mainstreamed in all our work to ensure its contribution to sustainable development: gender and inclusion, good governance and community development, and conflict mitigation and peacebuilding.Afghanaid leads the Promoting Resilient and Equitable Recovery of Agriculture and Livelihoods in Afghan Communities (PREVALE) programme under the Afghanistan Resilience Consortium (ARC). The programme is funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and is delivered by Afghanaid and consortium partners across several provinces. As Lead Partner, Afghanaid remains accountable to FCDO for compliant use of funds, effective risk management and delivery across the full delivery chain, including work implemented by downstream partners.

Person specification

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, Auditing, or a related field.

• Professional certification such as CIA, ACCA, CPA, CISA, or equivalent is highly desirable.

Work Experience

At least five years' experience in audit, compliance, grant finance, risk management or donor assurance, including substantial experience with NGOs or complex partner/consortium programmes.

Professional Skills, Competencies, Values, and Attitudes

Afghanaid seeks dependable professionals with strong initiative, judgement and adaptability as well as excellent skills in communication, presentation, facilitation, interpersonal relations, decision-making, conflict management, and reporting.

Specifically, the holder of this position should also demonstrate the following

Key Skills and Competencies

Essential

• Demonstrable experience reviewing partner expenditure, procurement, internal controls, financial reports and programme evidence, and writing risk-rated findings with practical corrective actions.

• Strong working knowledge of FCDO accountable grants or comparable institutional donor requirements. Direct experience of FCDO Eligible Cost Guidance, downstream-partner assurance, aid-diversion reporting, PSEAH and VfM is highly desirable.

• Experience supporting audits or investigations while maintaining confidentiality, evidence integrity and appropriate role boundaries.

● Fluency in written and spoken in English, Dari, and Pashto.

● A clear and firm commitment to the rights, equality, role, and empowerment of women, minorities, and persons with special needs.

● Excellent communication skills with the ability to persuasively present ideas.

● Ability to work with limited supervision.

● Proficiency in office software applications, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

● Personal integrity with initiative and drive to get things done and achieve results in a fast-paced and challenging environment.

● Strong organizational and coordination skills, and the ability to work with significant levels of autonomy, manage personal priorities and meet tight deadlines.

● Business oriented mentality, with a commitment to build Afghanaid agility and grow its reputation.

● Flexibility and dynamism with the ability to deal with difficult, often ambiguous, and challenging situations and creatively solve problems.

● Resilience to live, travel and work in isolated and possibly insecure locations.

● Demonstrated commitment to continuous learning and professional development.

● Commitment to the vision and mission of Afghanaid.

Desirable

● A master's degree in a relevant filed .

●

● Experience and strong understanding of the security situation and the operating environment in Afghanistan (or a similar conflict- affected context).

● Previous project management experience.

• Maintain a compliance obligations register mapping the FCDO Accountable Grant Arrangement, amendments and derogations, Project Partnership Agreements, budgets, work plans, Afghanaid policies and applicable law to responsible owners, evidence requirements and review frequency.
• Develop and maintain a risk-based corrective actions plan covering all consortium partners, higher-risk locations, material expenditure streams and cross-cutting obligations.
• Maintain a consolidated PREVALE assurance map, delivery-chain risk map, partner due-diligence tracker and compliance calendar, and use risk indicators to adjust the depth and frequency of review.
• Coordinate due diligence of consortium and downstream partners, covering governance, legal status, financial health, internal controls, delivery capacity, procurement, safeguarding/PSEAH, fraud and bribery prevention, sanctions and counter-terrorist financing, data protection, cybersecurity, complaints and whistleblowing.
• Assess whether partner controls are reliable, proportionate to project risk and capable of managing FCDO funds, assets, results and any further delivery partners; document residual risks and proportionate conditions or mitigation measures.
• Agree corrective action plans with implementing partners, clear deadlines and evidence of completion; validate closure rather than relying solely on self-reported status, and escalate persistent or high-risk non-compliance.
• Provide targeted technical guidance and facilitate practical capacity-strengthening, while ensuring responsibility for implementing controls remains with partner management.
• Perform risk-based desk reviews and on-site sample testing of partner expenditure, ledgers, bank and cash records, payroll, allocations, exchange rates, advances, reconciliations, supporting documentation and financial reports.
• Verify that expenditure is actual, necessary, reasonable, correctly authorised, within the approved budget and implementation period, attributable to PREVALE, accurately coded, free from duplicate financing, and compliant with FCDO Eligible Cost Guidance, approved NPAC methodology and any written approvals or derogations.
• Review fund-flow controls, segregation and traceability of FCDO funding, interest, foreign-exchange gains or losses, forecasts, unspent balances, erroneous payments and recovery or repayment requirements.
• Reconcile financial evidence to reported activities, outputs and beneficiary or distribution records where appropriate, and flag unsupported, ineligible, irregular or potentially disallowable expenditure promptly for management action.
• Test procurement and contracting for approved need, fair and open competition, conflict-of-interest declarations, sanctions screening, appropriate evaluation and approval, price reasonableness, supplier due diligence, contract management, receipt of goods or services and a complete audit trail.
• Assess and report procurement economy, savings, efficiencies and VfM, including the justification for exceptions, emergency procurement, single sourcing or deviations.
• Review inventory and asset registers, tagging, custody, use, movement, annual physical verification, loss or damage management and proposed disposal or handover in line with FCDO approval requirements.
• Review selected HR, payroll, logistics, travel, security, data and cybersecurity controls where they create material project, financial, safeguarding or reputational risk.
• Conduct integrated finance-programme monitoring to confirm that activities are delivered as approved and that reported outputs and outcomes are supported by reliable, complete and appropriately disaggregated evidence.
• Test consistency among work plans, budgets, expenditure, procurement, distribution records, beneficiary data, field observations, partner narrative reports and the results framework; coordinate with MEAL without duplicating routine monitoring.
• Review controls over beneficiary selection, feedback and complaints, inclusion, gender equality, conflict sensitivity, do-no-harm, climate and environmental risk, visibility/branding and agreed stakeholder engagement.
• Facilitate and follow up information and access requests arising from FCDO, third-party monitoring, annual reviews, audits, spot checks and other authorised assurance work.
• Monitor whether partners maintain accessible and confidential reporting channels and effective controls to prevent and detect fraud, bribery, corruption, theft, money laundering, terrorist financing, sanctions breaches, conflicts of interest, SEAH and other aid diversion or misconduct.
• Immediately escalate credible suspicions, actual incidents, serious safeguarding concerns, material control failures, data breaches, obstruction, or events threatening delivery or the reputation or integrity of Afghanaid, FCDO or PREVALE through Afghanaid's approved reporting protocols.
• Support authorised investigations and recovery actions through secure evidence gathering, transaction analysis and follow-up, while maintaining an auditable chain of custody and strict need-to-know access.
• Maintain or quality-assure the consolidated project risk register, ensuring clear risk descriptions, causes and consequences, likelihood and impact ratings, owners, mitigation actions, deadlines and residual-risk assessments.
• Facilitate regular risk dialogue with partners and promptly escalate new or changed risks that may materially affect project delivery, use of the grant, safeguarding, compliance, VfM or reputation.
• Maintain a practical VfM framework and evidence file aligned with FCDO expectations, covering economy, efficiency, effectiveness and equity, with agreed indicators, baselines, sources, assumptions and owners.
• Analyse procurement prices and savings, unit costs, delivery timeliness, utilisation, output and outcome performance, inclusion and distributional effects; explain material variances and limitations rather than relying on unsupported ratings.
• Produce quarterly dashboard inputs and an annual VfM assessment at partner and consortium levels, highlighting trends, corrective actions, efficiencies and opportunities to improve results without transferring risk inappropriately.
• Issue concise, evidence-based reports that state scope, methodology, sample limitations, criteria, condition, cause, risk/impact, agreed action, owner, deadline and assurance rating. Obtain management responses before finalisation except where urgent escalation is required.
• Maintain a central findings and recommendations tracker, classify issues consistently by risk, validate supporting evidence for closure and report overdue or repeatedly reopened actions.
• Provide quarterly consolidated assurance reports, and immediately report critical matters outside the routine cycle.
• Prepare an annual assurance summary that identifies the work performed, coverage, systemic themes, unresolved high-risk matters, management actions, VfM conclusions and limitations on assurance.

Please create your portal account and submit your application by filling the Afghanaid standard job application form by no later than 30 October 2026. Your covering letter and CV should be in PDF format. Your covering letter should be no more than 1 standard A4 page in length and explain how you meet the essential and desirable position requirements and why you feel you would be a suitable candidate for this role. Your CV should be no more than 4 pages and include 3 professional references including your current employer.

Afghanaid has a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual exploitation and misconduct, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

Afghanaid is an equal opportunity and inclusive employer that does not discriminate based on race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.

We invite qualified candidates to apply for the position through the Afghanaid HR portal. Please click on the link below to complete your application.

Link for the Afghanaid HR portal: https://afghanaid.odoo.com/jobs

Due to the high volume of applications we receive, we are unable to respond to every application. If you have not heard from us within 2 weeks of the deadline, then you have not been successful for shortlisting.

Application destination: https://afghanaid.odoo.com/jobs/detail/arc-compliance-and-audit-coordinator-68