Accountant – Job Description 

December 2023 

Location: Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, Sierra Leone, West Africa

Position: Accountant

Minimum Stay Required: 6months – 1 year;

Start Date: ASAP

Background 

Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary (TCS) was established in 1995 by Mr. Bala Amarasekaran. The goal of the sanctuary is to rescue and protect western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus), recently declared as Critically Endangered. Since its  establishment, TCS has rescued hundreds of chimpanzees and currently hosts a resident population of 119 individuals.

Despite one priority focus of TCS being the care of the resident chimpanzees, in 2011 TCS established its own outreach  department to begin addressing the cause leading to the high number of orphans at the sanctuary. Now, another one of  TCS’ major and most critical objectives is the development of this department. The Tacugama Community Outreach  Program is responsible for conducting biodiversity and social research, as well as raising awareness and sensitizing the  local people, stakeholders, government officials and others, through media engagement and environmental education.

The Vacancy 

The Accountant will work alongside the Conservation Manager and Operations Manager and report to the Program  Director.

Accountant – Main Responsibilities 

∙ Trip Budgets – Responsible for checking and overseeing the calculations for all trip budgets before money is  disbursed to a field team;

∙ Trip Reconciliations – Responsible for going through all financial receipts and expenditure documents when a  field team returns from their site mission to ensure expenses add up and are deemed appropriate; ∙ Financial Analysis – Provide regular summary financial reports and analysis for various outreach projects to  compare project budgets received vs project budgets spent

∙ Financial Projections – Guide the Conservation Manager on fund availability to implement more or less field  activities; Guide the Program Director on annual conservation budgets to assist in strategy planning for the  organization;

∙ Capacity Building – conduct regular capacity building and training sessions for staff to improve the skills of the  team;

∙ Report Writing – Compile regular financial reports in a professional and timely manner;

Accountant – Person Specification 

∙ Ability to work independently and as part of a team

∙ Be proactive

∙ Good problem-solving skills and ability to be adaptive

∙ Excellent communication skills

∙ Fluent in English (verbal & written)

∙ Computer literacy, including Excel

∙ Willingness to work long and flexible hours

∙ Ability to live and work closely with the rest of the team, comprising both International and National Staff ∙ Analytical and critical thinking skills

∙ Patience and a willingness to work to different cultural values

∙ Experience working in West Africa – an advantage.

∙ Suitable candidates must be able to commit for a minimum of 6 months to 1 year

Requirements 

University degree in financial management, accountancy or related.

Contract 

This is a full-time, six (6) day a week position with a competitive salary.

To apply 

Please send CV and cover letter to info@tacugama.com and conservation@tacugama.com . More information at www.tacugama.com.