We are hiring a Finance and Accounting Officer!

A sustainable income for farmers, and nutritious, affordable food for everyone: this is what Rikolto works for.

Rikolto (formerly VECO) is an international network organisation with more than 40 years of experience in partnering with farmer organisations and food chain stakeholders across Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America.

Our work is structured around three global programmes: our global Rice, Cocoa and Coffee, and Food Smart Cities programmes. Inclusive business is at the core of each of these programmes. In every aspect of our work, we pay special attention to the empowerment of women and young people, as well as to climate change and biodiversity.

Annually, Rikolto works with 207 farmer organisations, reaching 109,156 farming families across 17 countries, to change the recipe of our food system. This means that food systems should become more inclusive and offer value to all parties in the food chain.

Rikolto is looking for an analytical and reliable Finance and Accounting Officer. We are looking for someone who can complete and support our team with a backpack full of skills: accuracy, independent work attitude and strong communication skills. In addition, it is a plus if you love numbers and enjoy processing financial and accounting data. You will be part of an enthusiastic and diverse international team. We look forward to welcoming you to a warm environment.

As a future finance and accounting team member, you will contribute to a high-quality accounting for our various teams: the Rikolto Global Support Team, and Rikolto BV. In addition, you are responsible for providing support to financial management processes (we are talking about audits and consolidations). Finally, you will also be responsible for the financial completion of all donor reports so that they are ready for consolidation. A varied and challenging range of tasks, with many international contacts in a socially relevant environment.

• Performing all accounting operations, management of liquidities, execution of payments
• Taking care of the necessary declarations such as taxes, national bank
• Executing the financial transfers to the Rikolto regions
• Checking the financial reporting of the Rikolto programs to the donors
• Facilitating the financial audit process
• Supporting in the preparation of the integration of accounts and consolidation
• Preparing quarterly reports and month-end and year-end financial statements

Teamwork: We work together in formal and informal groups and take responsibility for the team result. We communicate in an open and connecting way. We develop ourselves and others by working together.

• In this job, this means working with very diverse teams: colleagues in Belgium and in Latin America, Africa, or Asia, with the financial team, mostly in English, sometimes in Dutch or French.

• You can communicate a message in a clear, constructive, and respectful way. You adapt to the situation or the culture of your interlocutor and listen in an active and empathic way.

Customer focus: For our internal and external "customers": we make sure that customers get what they expect or even more. We deliver good quality, in a correct, timely, flexible, and well-organised way. Communication is essential. Our goal is to have satisfied customers.

• This is about delivery. Understanding what your "customers" want. Doing everything to find the right answer. Being a good listener is very important for that.

Self-leadership: we are aware of our strengths and weaknesses and can regulate ourselves.

• Knowing yourself, knowing what you do well and what you do not do so well, being open to learn and to grow. That is the spirit we seek.

Networking: we identify opportunities and actively build relationships

• In this role, you have very diverse contacts. Many internal contacts with your financial colleagues but also with colleagues who are not familiar with the world of balance sheets, cost centres and accounting codes.

• Externally, you are the discussion partner for suppliers, colleagues from other NGOs and donors. You stand there as the accounting specialist of Rikolto. You are in constant interaction with all these people. By exchanging you become stronger, and you learn more.

Entrepreneurship: In a creative way, we take initiatives to improve our own work and the solutions we provide.

• You are full of ideas, think along with your Rikolto colleagues to improve our financial procedures and come up with feasible solutions. You can also motivate your colleagues to apply them.

Self-leadership: we are aware of our strengths and weaknesses and can regulate ourselves.

• Knowing yourself, knowing what you can do well and what you can't do so well, being open to learn and to grow. That is the spirit we are looking for.

• Member of the Global Support Team
• Job size: 80 or 100%
• Contract: Open-ended contract
• Location: Leuven, Belgium

• Has education in Economics, Finance or Accounting, or relevant work experience,
• Loves figures - that goes without saying - and handles them with integrity
• Speaks and writes good Dutch and English. A word in French, Spanish or German is a plus.
• Has at least 5 years of experience in analytical accounting in an international context.
• Good computer skills: Excel, Isabel. Knowledge of Exact accounting software is a definite plus!
• Is accurate and honours agreements,
• Enjoys delving into complex bookkeeping and likes to explain it in a simple way
• Is problem-solving: a difficult question is not a problem for you, but an opportunity to crack a puzzle. Can work autonomously, but also likes the dynamics of a team