I am a seasoned Auditing and Finance Professional and a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan with an overall 14 years of professional working experience. I have completed my Articleship from Deloitte Touché Tohmatsu, one of the Big Four Audit firms. I bring with me almost 10 plus years of diversified post qualified experience in Audit & Compliances, Financial Management and Reporting, Grants & Partnership Management and has worked with prominent national and international organizations.
Currently, I am heading the Internal Audit Department of a multi-billion investment finance company named "Pakistan Microfinance Investment Company" based in Islamabad. This role requires me to be responsible for initiating and managing audits, that includes financial, operational, compliance and information technology audits. The results of these audits help the business manage strategic risks, improve or develop efficient and effective business processes, identify and communicate best practices, and foster appropriate control levels for operational and financial risks.
Prior to joining PMIC, I was serving as Finance Manager for “The Indus Hospital”, one of the biggest and renowned charity hospital of Pakistan. I have also worked with various international development organizations like Save the Children, USAID, The Global Fund, UNICEF & DFID and participated in their vision of serving the community.
I possess strong financial and technical skills, with an experience of team building and team leading, and a track record of successful reengineering in business processes to achieve efficiency in organizations. I have demonstrated track record of consistently achieving corporate financial goals and recognized as a hands-on expert problem solver who can rapidly resolve cross-functional business process problems, formulate strategic plans, and implement change, with benefit to the company's bottom line.
As Head of Internal Audit my responsibility is to direct a comprehensive program of internal audit for Company to ensure that internal control systems to support the reliability and integrity of financial, operational and information technology are reviewed at appropriate intervals and effective recommendations are made for corrective actions as required. Additionally, the role of the Head of Internal Audit is to develop, update and execute the implementation of the Internal Audit Charter as approved by the Committee and in line with the IIA Standards. The Head of Internal Audit establishes goals, performance standards and objectives for subordinates. The goals, performance standards, objectives and remuneration of the Head of Internal Audit are established by the Committee and/or the Board of Directors.
Grant Management
• Preparation and monitoring of grant-funded budgets for Global Fund MALARIA and TB NFM grants considering the donor rules, regulations and guidelines
• Ensuring compliance with donor regulations, local laws and legislation and organizational policies.
• Preparation and submission of timely and accurate donor and internal management reports
• Reviewing policies, standard operating procedures and suggesting improvement there in.
• Preparation of budget variance analysis with detailed justifications for over/underspending on periodic basis.
Financial Management
• Ensuring that all the financial transactions comply with the organizational financial policies and procedures
• Ensuring compliance of financial transactions with regulatory laws and legislations
• Processing of routine payments of different nature like travel claims, procurement of goods and services, trainings/workshops etc
• Submission and filing of monthly withholding taxes details on FBR
• Design and implementation of various policies and procedures for the organization
• Monthly finance close out and submission of reports to higher management at Head Office level in Karachi
• Facilitate internal & external audits and higher management in responding to the Management letters
• Maintaining monthly cash flow statements and preparation of funds forecast for submission to Head Office at Karachi
• Processing of staff salaries.
• Ensure compliance with the USAID Financial Management policies and procedures & local laws and legislations.
• Reviewing all vouchers prepared by the financial officers (disbursement, receipt and general journal vouchers) for ASP program in Pakistan expenditures, and ensuring that expenses are reasonable, allowable, and allocable to the project.
• Submission of accruals data and spend forecast projections to USAID quarterly.
• Administering payroll for ASP staff including monitoring employee time keeping and payroll payment procedures.
• Preparing cash projections and program funding requests for programs and operations in consultation with the COP
• Reviewing and submitting for approval monthly financial reports to CFO & CoP.
• Submission of all financial and tax returns to the Pakistani Federal Bureau of Revenue
• Facilitate internal/ external audits and donor reviews.
• Management of the project budget, including monitoring the financial status of the contract on a regular basis.
Budgeting, Compliance & Reporting
• Preparation and monitoring of grant-funded budgets for Global Fund Malaria, TB and AIDS.
• Ensuring compliance with donor regulations, local laws and legislation and organizational policies.
• Timely and efficient reporting of PUDR and EFR/EFR to Global Fund, facilitating LFA reviews and responding to Global Fund Management letters
• Ensuring that all the financial transactions meet the organizational compliance
Requirements
• Compliance with Grant standard terms and conditions for both PR and SR
• Reviewing policies, standard operating procedures and suggesting improvement there in.
Support to Implementing Partners
• Conduct risk and capacity assessments of the partner organizations for its various functions like financial management, internal audit, donor compliance, summarizing the gaps and recommendations thereon in the form of a capacity building report to make recommendations for assistance and/or corrective actions.
• Support program in selecting more efficient partner/SR based on Risk & Capacity
Assessment Tool
• Review sub-grant agreements and contracts clauses with Partners to ensure that they fulfill donors/legal requirements with subsequent financial monitoring.
• Visit all partners to check that appropriate financial systems are in place and resolve financial matters, and produce visit reports with recommendations for the concerned
Budget holders and senior members of the team in the form of Management Letter.
Capacity Building:
• Identify staff training needs to increase their capacity to maintain and improve financial reporting and fiscal management as per Global fund requirements.
• Design and conduct grant management training for SRs, Budget Holders, sub-office staff and partner.
Audit
• Supervise the protection of the organization's assets through adherence of internal controls and auditing procedures.