Finance and Compliance Associate

Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) is a movement to empower women working in the informal economy. SEWA Bharat is part of the national SEWA movement. Established in 1984, it is a national federation of SEWA organisations of women working in the informal economy. SEWA Bharat emerged out of the need to address the SEWA movement’s challenges with geographical expansion and coordination. SEWA Bharat comprises a family of SEWA organisations to further informal women workers’ rights, livelihoods, financial independence, education, health and social security.

SEWA Bharat runs a programme to strengthen and build resilient women-owned collective enterprises which keep the shareholder i.e. the women worker at the centre of its operations, leadership and business model. SEWA Bharat has set up Women’s Enterprise Support System (WESS) to help these collective enterprises scale, and become sustainable to ensure regular, continuous and dignified work for the women associated with the enterprise. WESS provides in-depth support to collective enterprises in the areas of access to finance, strategic planning, compliance, and marketing to make these enterprises profitable and sustainable in the long run. WESS has a small yet enthusiastic team of professionals who are passionate about promoting women’s economic empowerment with a network of industry mentors, working under the guidance of an advisory board of SEWA leaders and experts.

The key role of the ‘Finance & Compliance Training Associate’ would include overseeing the operations of the WESS finance vertical, including the design of a social enterprise structure adequate for achieving the goals and objectives. For this specifically, it would entail:

• Focus on accounting and compliance work for collectives and enterprises
• Supporting the enterprise team in all statutory compliances like GST, other taxes
• Managing the financial database for all social enterprises and collectives
• Capacity building of the enterprise/collective team members on basic accounts bookkeeping, statutory compliances, and financial data management
• Identifying and analysing potential operational improvements and proposing solutions
• Develop and deliver training programs on accounts and compliance key metrics. This will include topics like – documenting financial data effectively enabling the collective & enterprise team to make strategic and data-driven decisions, reports preparation, and compliance

Accounting:

• Maintain a documented system of accounting policies and procedures
• Develop and maintain financial accounting systems for cash management, accounts payable, accounts receivable, credit control, and petty cash
• Reconcile bank and investment accounts
• Oversee the bookkeeping function including maintenance of the general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable and payroll

Finance:

• Develop and implement policies and procedures to ensure that personnel and financial information is secure and stored in compliance with current legislation
• Review monthly results and implement monthly variance reporting
• Manage the preparation of the social enterprises’ budget
• Manage the cash flow and prepare cash flow forecasts in accordance with policy
• Engage in ongoing cost reduction analyses in all areas of the social enterprises
• Review the performance & report on key issues to management

Compliance:

• Responsible for fulfilment of the monthly, quarterly & annual compliances before due dates like TDS, ESI, EPF, GST, monthly payment, Returns, Annual ITR filing, KYC in bank accounts, KYC of director, Advance taxes and all others as per suggested by the Chartered Accountant of the social enterprises.
• Conduct the Internal and external audits Coordinating internal audit and statutory audit process for all cohort enterprises
• Coordination with Chartered Accountant for monthly, quarterly, and annual compliance on time

Reporting:

• Prepare all supporting information for the annual audit and liaise with the Board’s Audit Committee and the external auditors as necessary
• Document and maintain complete and accurate supporting information for all financial transactions
• Compile key business metrics and report them to senior managers
• Assist the Finance & Compliance Lead with financial reporting as required for board meetings, programme communications etc.

Experience:

• 5-7 years of relevant work experience.
• Experience in managing accounts and training
• Experience working and leading financial systems and overall due diligence and compliance

Education:

• A candidate with an MBA in finance will be preferable
• Minimum educational qualification should be graduation in commerce
• High degree of familiarity with Microsoft Office-based software, especially MS Word and Excel, Tally
• Preferred languages that the candidate should know – English and Hindi

Personal Skills:

• Should be good at managing various stakeholders
• Ability to work on quick timelines to complete tasks and processes
• Takes initiative and is capable of working independently
• Ability to work with different teams across various functions.
• Good communication skills.

• Preference will be given to Female candidates between the age of 25-35 years.

This profile requires frequent travel within India.

New Delhi

6- 7.5 LPA

To apply please email your resume and a cover letter expressing your interest in the position to
wess@sewabharat.org