James Samuel Combey
Freetown
Summary
Detailed-oriented and dedicated accountant / financial management specialist with 10 years effectively maintaining accurate accounting information for large-scale organizations (profits and non-profits).
History working as part of financial team to manage diverse financial functions, tax management and reporting. Works closely with executive management on financial reporting; budgeting, planning, and forecasting; cost analysis and control.
Overview
14
14
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Accountant
SICPA (SL) Ltd
10.2023 - Current
- Ensures adequate liquidity for operations
- Participates in payment transactions-advances and liquidations
- Supported the smooth take-off of the local finance operations
- Handle taxes and other statutory obligations
- Support managing the chart of accounts
- Support GL accounts analysis and reconciliation
- Overhead cost management
- Facilitates the settlement of vendor invoices
- Prepares Bank Reconciliation statements
- Create, capitalize and depreciate fixed assets in SAP (SAP S4 Hana)
- Month closing: - Amortization of prepaid expenses and payroll reconciliation.
Grants Finance Specialist
Plan International Sierra Leone
09.2019 - 09.2023
- Managed a grant finance portfolio of more than EUR 10m per annum over the last four years
- Prepared financial reports for various donor-funded projects and internal project monitoring reports (BvAs) to assess budget/expenditure performance in local currency
- Monitored inflationary impacts on budgets in local currency and, guided budget revisions and realignment
- Ensured compliance with donors’ financial procedures and policies for grant-funded projects and compliance with Plan’s finance operations manual and donor requirements
- Led/supported the preparation of budgets; ensured project budgets were fully costed and respective donor commitments to co-funded budgets were adhered to when booking project expenditure
- Conducted training and provided technical assistance to staff and implementing partners on financial management and compliance, increasing overall understanding of grant conditions and fostering adherence to grant requirements
- Analyzed central overhead costs (apportionable costs) on a monthly basis and updated the automatic cost apportionment tool in SAP
- Worked on grants data cleansing in 2019 and reduced the number of overdue grants for closure by almost 80% within a few months
- Prepared templates to monitor program advances to partners and supported their reporting
- Led the preparation/review of funding agreement documents for awarded grants making sure contractual match funding commitments were recognized in setting up grants
- Analyzed monthly payroll costs and posted salary recovery to various funding sources
- Reconciled monthly grants reports with SAP transactions and master records
- Completing monthly grant income reconciliation
- Contributed to month-end closing processes as they related to grants.
Country/Senior Accountant
Plan International Sierra Leone
02.2017 - 08.2019
- Consolidated cash forecasts analyzed cash needs and uploaded approved country cash requests on fortnightly basis on the ‘Business Planning and Consolidation’ (BPC) platform
- Reviewed financial transactions/documents to ensure correct account codes have been used and transactions were consistent with project needs
- Led timely month-end and year-end GL financial closing processes: depreciation of assets, amortization of prepaid expenses, manual revaluation of unusual exchange rate errors, trial balance checks, reconciling balance sheet accounts etc
- For over three years
- Reviewed monthly bank reconciliation statements; ensuring outstanding items on previous months reconciliation(s) were cleared/reduced discussing timelines with accounts officer responsible
- In some other cases, I had investigated the issues and sent emails to the bank(s) involved or even had meetings with them depending on the severity of the matter at hand
- Organized training sessions for finance, logistics and programs, etc
- To discuss issues frequently identified reviewing requests for payment, GL coding, projects/funds management reports etc
- Ensured taxes and other statutory deductions were done accurately consistently and remittances made within the stipulated time period to relevant authorities
- Completed quarterly balance sheet reports/ Pack 2 financial reports for country program and, ensured accuracy and compliance with applicable accounting standards
- Led effective data cleansing exercises that improved reliability of financial reports and data accuracy in SAP.
Senior Accounts Officer – Controlling (GL Supervisor)
Dangote Cement (SL) Ltd
07.2016 - 01.2017
- Coordinated submission of detailed unit budgets and consolidated the master budget for fiscal year 2017
- Supervised GL operations and managed the chart of accounts -reviewed all transactions (on paper or system simulations) and ensured correct GL accounts and cost centers had been used
- Supported the preparation of year-end financials reports as at 31st December 2016
- Reviewed simulated payroll posting in SAP HCM
- Led month-end and year-end finance closing processes
- Provided additional support and training in SAP to finance staff
- Led a successful GL clean-up exercise, collaborating with staff from other units
- Effectively reconciled cash book and bank records for pre-start-up periods, I successfully checked and completed bank reconciliation for over six months prior within short time to file for an upcoming audit.
Accounts & Administrative Officer
Arik Air Ltd -Sierra Leone Station
09.2009 - 09.2012
- Prepared annual operating budget for duty station both in USD and in local currency
- Prepared monthly/weekly cash forecasts and cash requests
- Liaise with the bank on various transactions
- Reviewed invoices for landing and handling charges
- Reviewed air navigation invoices and charges
- Participated in re-negotiating ground-handling charges after a new handling company took over
- Computed payments for taxes, social security, and staff severance
- Completed monthly staff salaries payment
- Reconciled and approved daily cash sales reports
- Completed monthly bank reconciliation
- Managed corporate deposit accounts initiative.
Education
B.Sc. (Hon) Accounting -
Bayero University, Kano
Skills
- Analytical thinking
- Attention to detail
- Strong Communication skills
- High Computer Literacy: SAP (Finance, Grants, Project System), SAP BI, Dynamics GP
- Financial Process Review and Compliance
- Accounts reconciliation and consolidation
- Cash Flow analysis
- Payroll Processing
Certification
- Executive Diploma in Data Analytics, Athena Global education (UNIATHENA), 06/2023, https://docs.uniathena.com/prod/course/certificate/125_1687011133_certificate.jpg
- Essentials of Data Visualization Using MS Excel, Athena Global Education /Acacia University, 04/2023, https://docs.uniathena.com/prod/course/certificate/124_1684885912_certificate.jpg
- USAID Rules and Regulations: Grants and Cooperative Agreements, Humentum, 09/2022
- Internal Audit for Government of Sierra Leone Internal Auditors, Sarante Tutorials Consultancy, Sierra Leone, 11/2008
- Certificate in Public Sector Management, Institute of Public Administration & Management, University of Sierra Leone
- Plan UK Budgeting and Implementing Commercial Contracts in the NGO Sector
www.linkedin.com/in/jamescombey
I am a dedicated accountant and I comments on a wide range of issues relating to finance and economics
Timeline
Accountant
SICPA (SL) Ltd
10.2023 - Current
Grants Finance Specialist
Plan International Sierra Leone
09.2019 - 09.2023
Country/Senior Accountant
Plan International Sierra Leone
02.2017 - 08.2019
Senior Accounts Officer – Controlling (GL Supervisor)
Dangote Cement (SL) Ltd
07.2016 - 01.2017
Accounts & Administrative Officer
Arik Air Ltd -Sierra Leone Station
09.2009 - 09.2012
B.Sc. (Hon) Accounting -
Bayero University, Kano
- Executive Diploma in Data Analytics, Athena Global education (UNIATHENA), 06/2023, https://docs.uniathena.com/prod/course/certificate/125_1687011133_certificate.jpg
- Essentials of Data Visualization Using MS Excel, Athena Global Education /Acacia University, 04/2023, https://docs.uniathena.com/prod/course/certificate/124_1684885912_certificate.jpg
- USAID Rules and Regulations: Grants and Cooperative Agreements, Humentum, 09/2022
- Internal Audit for Government of Sierra Leone Internal Auditors, Sarante Tutorials Consultancy, Sierra Leone, 11/2008
- Certificate in Public Sector Management, Institute of Public Administration & Management, University of Sierra Leone
- Plan UK Budgeting and Implementing Commercial Contracts in the NGO Sector
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