Finance Manager

📢 Job Opportunity with WCS!
WCS is looking for a “Finance Manager” to join our team.

📍 Location: WCS Vientiane
🗓️ Type: Full-Time
🕗 Working Hours: Monday to Friday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm (1.5-hour lunch break)
• Reports to (Supervisors): Directly to Deputy Director, Secondary report to the WCS Regional Comptroller.
• Supervisory For: WCS Laos Finance Department
• Country Program/Sector: WCS Lao Program, Greater Mekong Region, GCP
• Expected travel: As required within the country to field offices, and internationally if/when needed

• Organization Background:
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a US non-profit, tax-exempt, private organization established in 1895 that saves wildlife and wild places by understanding critical issues, crafting science-based solutions, and taking conservation actions that benefit nature and humanity. With more than a century of experience, long-term commitments in dozens of landscapes, presence in more than 60 nations, and experience helping to establish over 150 protected areas across the globe, WCS has amassed the biological knowledge, cultural understanding and partnerships to ensure that vibrant, wild places and wildlife thrive alongside local communities. Working with local communities and organizations, that knowledge is applied to address species, habitat and ecosystem management issues critical to improving the quality of life of poor rural people whose livelihoods depend on the direct utilization of natural resources.

• WCS Lao Program Overview:
WCS began working in Lao PDR in the 1980s, surveying wildlife and habitats around the country to assist the government in creating Lao PDR’s national protected area system. In the early 1990s, WCS documented wildlife and habitats in many of the newly created national protected areas and began supporting the government to train protected area managers, as well as raise awareness about illegal wildlife trade. In 1994, WCS officially established a country office in Lao PDR. Over almost three decades, WCS Lao PDR has successfully implemented more than 30 projects with the Government of Lao PDR, supported by more than 30 donors, and has increasingly moved away from a project approach into a more integrated, programmatic, strategic, and holistic approach to conservation.
Our vision for the Lao PDR Program is that the unique ecosystems of Lao PDR thrive indefinitely and are valued by the people of Lao PDR, and the world, for their biodiversity, natural beauty, and the services they provide to humanity. A core strategy to fulfill that vision is to improve protection and management of wildlife and wild places by building the capacity and meaningful participation of government and local stakeholders, raising public awareness through conservation outreach and education, providing alternative livelihoods—including nature-based tourism—to guardian villages, influencing institutional, policy, legal and regulatory reforms relevant to protected areas and wildlife, developing the national wildlife health surveillance network, and combatting illegal wildlife trade.
The current portfolio consists of (i) Four conservation landscapes: Nam Et-Phou Louey National Park (NEPL NP), Bolikhamxai Landscape, Khoun Xe-Nong Ma Landscape, and Xe Champhone Wetlands; (ii) Two cross-cutting programs on Counter-Wildlife Trafficking and Wildlife Health; and (iii) a thematic focus on conservation policy and research.

• Job Purpose Summary:
Deputy Finance Manager will assist in the development,
performance and maintenance of the accounting and financial
acitivites of the organization. S/he will assist the finance
manager with a range of administrative and financial tasks.
These involve assisting with billing invoices, process
payment, preparing budgets, managing cash flow, coordinating
and requesting information from other colleagues.

🔍 Key Responsibilities Include:
Main tasks/duties/responsibilities:
A. General responsibilities
• Provide overall leadership and supervision of the Finance Department for the WCS Laos Country Program.
• Ensure financial efficiency and cost-effectiveness across all operations, and advise the WCS Laos leadership of any risks, weaknesses in financial controls, or opportunities for cost optimization
• Strengthen, implement, and document administrative and financial policies and procedures, ensuring alignment with WCS global standards and Lao national regulations;
• Uphold that highest standards of financial integrity, internal controls, and ethical conduct;
• Ensure full compliance with national laws and regulations (including cost norms, customs/ tax regulations, labor laws, benefits, etc) across WCS Laos activities and offices;
• Under the guidance of the WCS Laos Direction, lead the review and periodic update of the Finance Manual to reflect changes in WCS global policies and local legislation.

B. Financial Management 
1. Budgeting, projections and cash flow  
• Assist the WCS-LA Leadership, Project Leaders and WCS Regional and New York in preparing budgets for project proposals and annual budgeting
– Prepare staffing and office operational costs for budget proposal
– Review budget proposal for program team to make sure budget is accurate, realistic, sufficient and  compliant with donor requirements
– Coordinate with regional business manager on budget proposal development, review and submission
• Maintain and regular update internal annual budget file, reconciling with the BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation) system.
• Monitor and manage the WCS Laos budgetaccording to established procedures
– Regular update annual budget in BPC including adding new grants, new unapproved budget proposals, and budget adjustments
– Report funding gaps per program
– provide forward-looking budget projections for the next 5 years for direction information and for program team in term of doing new budget proposal
• Ensure accurate, up-to-date cost data of staff salaries, taxes, and benefits for budget planning
• Compile and review quarterly projections of expenditure and cash flow for programs and country office to ensure sufficient liquidity that sufficient funds are available for project operations
– Supervise the Deputy Finance Manager in updating the cash flow templates regularly from regional controller or from ourwcs.org webpage
– Supervise the Deputy Finance Manager on budget projections to justify the unusual cash flow
– Analyse GL07 reports and update current-year BPC budgets to aligncash flow forecasts and spending projections

• Maintain an accurate database of project funding, including contracts, project budgets and donor-specific procedures and regulations
– Work with program team and regional team on contract amendment or award modification, if any.

analyses and present monthly BvA report to programs team in each landscapes

2. Monitoring and managing expenditures 
• Ensure all expenditures are made in accordance with established procedures, including verification of supporting documents and budget availability
• Work clsely with grant manager and program leaders to monitor expenditure. Where expenditures on projects is not in line with budgets, bring this to the attention of the project leaders and/or WCS-LA leadership and make recommendations to adjust budget variances accordingly
• Monitor all bank transactions in coordination with WCS NY and review and approve monthly bank reconciliations by the 5th day of the following month
• Where funds are received in-country, ensure that these are correctly reported to WCS NY and  posted to the appropriate project and account code
• Work with grant manager to oversee proper cross-charging across country programs as per established procedures
• Ensure complete, auditable accounting records (physical and digital) are maintained including vouchers, authorizations, and reconciliations
• Ensure that backups are made of SAP data at least twice per week, and that a copy of the latest back up is maintained at a secure location out of the office.

C. Financial Reporting
• In consultation with the WCS-LA Leadership, the Project leaders, and Grant Manager ensure communication, reporting and administrative requirements of donors are met

D. Audit and quality control
• Ensure that all transactions entered into the SAP system in the central office are correctly and consistently recorded, including donor and/or activity information where needed. Perform a monthly check of all SAP data by the 10th day of the following month.
• Ensure that revenue and expenditure postings by WCS NY is correct, and is assigned to the correct project, fund, grant  and account codes, and where problems are found ensure that these are resolved with the appropriate staff in NY along with project staff as required
• Supervise finance team to prepare of internal and external audits, lead on audit responses and ensure implementation of accepted recommendations
• Lead on the auditor selection and coordination processes

E. Contracts and sub-awards
• Review budgets for contracts and sub-awards to other organizations to verify that costs are reasonable and sufficient for proposed activities, and meet donor requirements for budget presentation
• Ensure that contractees and sub-awardees meet financial and reporting requirements
• Where necessary, perform financial reviews or audits of contractors or sub-awardees financial systems and reports

F. Staff Administration and Payroll
• Assist the WCS-LA leadership and HR in establishing salary scales and benefits packages, terms and conditions of employment in adherence with WCS policies and the national labor law.
• Assist WCS-LA leadership in the evaluations of current national financial staff levels and competence, and assist in training and recruiting of new finance staff
• With HR, assist in preparation of payroll including taxes and other statutory deductions, ensure salary advances are paid and recovered according to WCS’s established procedures.
• With HR, assist in the implementation and administration of expat staff contracts.  This includes compliance with NY policies and specific terms within expat contracts and agreements.
• Verify budget for new recruitments and prepare budget projections for new positions

G. Service and Consultancy Contracts Oversight
1. WCS Service Contracts
• Maintain and regular update WCS invoicing to donors
• Ensure compliance with fundingallocations under WCS service contracts.

2. Monitor consultant agreement (consultancy)
• Review and validate budgets and terms for consultant
• Monitor all consultancy payments
• Maintain payment schedule listing with regular update
• Work with program leaders and regional team on modification of service agreement, if any

🎓 Qualifications:
• Education:
– Bachelor of Finance/Business Administration or other equivalent

• Knowledge
– Working knowledge of Generally Accepted Accounting Practices
– Knowledge of finance management systems and accounting practices
– knowledge of policy and institutional context in Lao PDR

• Experience
– At least 3-5 years’ experience working with international NGO’s, private sector or government
– Experiences working with project teams to financially administer projects
– Experience managing a small financial team of up to 5 staff

• General skills
– Excellent Lao language skills both written and verbal
– Excellent English language skills and the ability to produce financial reports in English
– Computer literacy, particularly proficiency using Microsoft Office products

• Ability
– Ability to work as part of a team
– Ability to learn quickly and adaptively manage activities
– Ability to administer country and project level budgets
– Ability to conduct training sessions

• Personal qualities
– Honesty
– Cooperative attitude
– Patience
– Tolerance

📬 To Apply:
Interested candidates, who meet the above qualifications should apply by emailing an application letter and CV to 📧 recruitmentlaos@wcs.org

🗓️ Deadline: 18 June 2026

📝 Subject line: Please include “Finance Manager” in the subject line of your email.

WCS is an equal opportunity employer, and the organization complies with all employment and labor laws and regulations that prohibit discrimination in hiring and ensures that candidates from all backgrounds are fairly and consistently considered during the recruitment process. We are dedicated to hiring and supporting a diverse workforce. We are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment and look for future team members who share that same value. The organization provides equal employment opportunities for all qualified candidates. The organization does not discriminate for employment based on age, color, disability, gender identify, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by laws and regulations.