The Voucher Examiner is in the Regional Financial Management Office (RFMO), USAID/South Africa. The job holder is primarily responsible for logging vouchers into the voucher tracking system (ASIST and Phoenix), timely and accurately processing both complex and routine administrative and program vouchers. S/He is responsible for time and attendance payroll application (WebTA) for all USPSC, TCNPSC and FSNPSC employees. S/He performs administrative duties involving filing and records management, travel and transportation arrangement, calendar management, meeting scheduling, and general office support for RFMO.

The job holder receives supervision from the Supervisory Voucher Examiner.

 

Logs vouchers into the voucher tracking system; Phoenix and ASIST. Verifies funds availability to ensure compliance with USG and Agency statutes, regulations, and policies to avoid duplication or improper payment.

 

Reviews, audits, analyzes, and prepares administrative and program vouchers for payment. Administrative vouchers include but are not limited to utilities, rental agreements, office supplies, travel vouchers, cash awards, and allowances for USAID/South Africa. Program vouchers include but are not limited to cash advance requests, cash advance liquidations, and requests for reimbursement by contractors and grantees. Maintains and monitors vouchers in Phoenix, USAID’s web-based financial management system, processing all logged vouchers in accordance with Prompt Pay Act deadlines.

 

Reviews vouchers for appropriate authorizations, obligation documents, properly executed claim/reimbursement forms, receipts, and supporting schedules and/or reports. Ensures program vouchers are in accordance with provisions of agreements, audit trails are maintained, and that all conditions have been met prior to payment. Applies attention to detail to ensure payment amounts are accurate and are not duplicative, and that proposed payments comply with all applicable U.S. and Government of the South Africa laws. Communicates with the Contracting/Agreement Office Representatives (C/AOR) contractors and vendors to request additional information needed to properly process vouchers. Where payments must be disallowed, prepares, and communicates a detailed explanation of the disallowed claim to the payee. Creates and maintains worksheets to track the financial status of contracts and grants and validates the accuracy of the data presented in the vouchers submitted for payment. Verifies the availability of funds by preparing Obligation Liquidation Records (OLR), Unliquidated Obligation Reports (ULO) and other relevant financial reports from Phoenix Viewer. Monitors budget amounts, obligations, disbursements, cash advancements, and cash advance liquidations against each budget line item specified in the contract or grant.

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Sends out Cost of Living allowance (COLA) and Separate Maintenance Allowance (SMA) reminder notices to TCN, PSCS and USPSCs and USDHs by the 15th of every month. Prepares monthly voucher package for COLA and SMA for all eligible employees. Transmits bi-weekly requests to CFO/Payroll for payment of Post Differential for eligible employees on TDY.

 

Serves as the WebTA coordinator for all employees. The job holder ensures all employees’ time and attendance are reported correctly and submitted on a timely basis. The job holder serves as the main timekeeper on the web-based Time and Attendance (WebTA) system that is used to report time and attendance for FSNPSCs, TCNPSCs, USPSCs, and USDHs. S/he ensures that a timecard is taken over or established when an employee starts at the Mission. S/he oversees the work of the Mission’s timekeepers and provides training to ensure that allowances/differentials are reported correctly, corrections are entered, time and attendance reports and certified bi-weekly. Provides training and guidance to new users of WebTA. Periodically provides training and guidance to current users as needed.

 

Provides orientation on basic timekeeping procedures to all newly hired/assigned Timekeepers.

Ensures that payroll records are kept in accordance with USAID’s Records Management program.

Transmits time and attendance records for payroll processing to the Global Financial Service Center (GFSC) – Charleston or Bangkok. Answers employees’ inquiries and aids in resolving questions or problems that arise including, but not limited to, hours worked, premium pay requests, leave earnings and leave balances. Acts as a liaison to troubleshoot and communicate FSN payroll issues between FSN employees and GFSC.

Notifies GFSC of any FSN salary advances and deductions; also processes and notifies GFSC of any changes in allotment of pay and banking information and changes to family composition.

Types and prepares payment notices and monitors and follows up on balances owed to the U.S. government by U.S. direct hires, locally employed staff, and USAID program implementers. Distributes mail and other documents to RFMO staff as appropriate.

 

Serves as the first point of contact for finance and accounting operations, including funding and clearance requests. For the Accounting and Financial Analysis Sections of RFMO, the job holder uses an electronic control log to track documents submitted by other Offices for funding requests or clearance action. Typical documents include, but are not limited to, Purchase Orders, Travel Requests/Authorizations, SF-1190 – Foreign Allowances Application, Representation Allowances, Leases, Modified Acquisition and Assistance Request Document (MAARD), Employee Contracts (FSNPSC), Action Memos, Miscellaneous Obligation Documents (MODs) and program-related financial documents. Sorts and forwards documents to the appropriate RFMO Section for action. Returns funding requests that are not properly prepared and/or supported to their originators for correction prior to acceptance. Ensures that proper filing and forwarding actions are conducted after all necessary actions are completed

 

Provides administrative support to RFMO for routine administrative tasks including, but not limited to, typing documents, arranging, and coordinating meetings, and ordering office stationery and supplies.

Answers phone calls and provides callers with the requested information, referring them to the appropriate staff member as needed. Utilizes USAID’s electronic travel management application, End to End Solution (E2), to make travel arrangements for RFMO staff. Serves as the point of contact for travel, and prepares travel plans and travel vouchers in coordination with EXO/Travel and TMC. Arranges transportation, accommodations, flight itineraries and visas for RFMO staff members and

 

TDY support staff. Coordinates logistics for meetings by reserving conference rooms, requesting the Executive Office for the needed IT equipment (computer, laptops, mobile phones), and audio/visual support including Webex services and equipment using the US Department of State MyServices application. Prepares IT access forms for new employees, including network access, E2, GLAAS (Global Acquisition and Assistance System), ASIST (Agency Secure Image and Storage Tracking System), Phoenix Financial Management System, WebTA, etc. Serves as backfill to the Financial Specialist/Admin Assistant in his/her absence.

 

Maintains RFMO files and records in accordance with the USAID Records Management policy. Files and organizes records according to USAID filing procedures and transfers outdated documents to off-site storage in compliance with US government policy. Performs periodic inspection of documents and files to ensure correct placement and legibility. Scans and stores paper accounting records into the ASIST document storage system. Locates and retrieves information from files in response to requests from authorized users.

Job Knowledge:  Must have or be able to quickly gain working knowledge of applicable ADS policies, USAID Records Management Program, Foreign Affairs Handbook (FAH), Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM), US Department of State Standardized Regulations (DSSR), Mission Orders, the Prompt Payment Act and procedures that govern voucher examination. Knowledge of established office practices and procedures. 

 

Skills and Abilities: Proficiency in Google applications (Gmail and Google Docs) and Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Access and PowerPoint). High accuracy for data entry. Ability to logically apply the detailed requirements for USAID programs to the voucher examining process. Must be able to explain decisions, both orally and in writing. The job holder must have strong time management skills and the ability to manage multiple, competing priorities. Must possess good communication and interpersonal skills and be able to maintain effective working relationships with both internal and external stakeholders.

Supervision Received: Works under the direct supervision of the Supervisory Voucher Examiner and general supervision of the Deputy Controller. The job holder receives work guidance from the Financial Specialist/Administrative Assistant on administrative duties. Receives instructions on the scope and volume of assigned work, goals to achieve, procedures to follow in performing them, and approaches to use to resolve challenging assignments. Consults the supervisor in cases of exceptional difficulty or in the event guidelines are not applicable.

Supervision Exercised: Supervision of other staff is not contemplated. The job holder provides work guidance to the Timekeepers on the policy and processes related to FSN payroll.

Available Guidelines: Available guidelines include applicable Automated Directive Systems (ADS) policies, US Department of State Standardized Regulations (DSSR), FAH (Foreign Affairs Handbook), FAM (Foreign Affairs manual), USAID Agency Notices, and financial procedures from the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, FSN Handbook, Local Compensation Plan and Post Management Policy

Exercise of Judgment: The job holder must demonstrate the ability to deal with routine inquiries and requests that do not require the approval of the Regional Controller/Deputy Controller or Supervisory Voucher  Examiner. The job holder will exercise freedom to plan and organize assigned work but must prioritize assignments to meet deadlines by following up on outstanding tasks without constant follow-up or reminders. Considerable judgement in applying experience and guidelines to the examination of vouchers, invoices, and supporting transactions will be required

Authority to Make Commitments: Final commitments are limited to providing information on the applicable provisions of regulations and in the proper completion of forms.

Nature, Level, and Purpose of Contacts: Contacts are with other members of the Mission staff (FSN, USDH, USPSC), contractors, grantees, staff members of host government institutions and organizations, representatives of local firms, employees on temporary duty assignments, and private persons for the purpose of discussing cash advances, travel vouchers, claims for reimbursement, and a variety of routine and non-routine administrative and financial matters. Routine written communication includes letter, memos, emails, voucher examination worksheets, and mathematical computations. Moderately complex written communication will be required in resolving payroll issues for USDH and USPSC staff with USAID/Washington, and with the Global Financial Service Center – Charlestown, for FSN payroll-related issues.

Time Expected to Reach Full Performance Level: One year.

 

 

The Government may award a contract without discussions with offerors in accordance with FAR 52.215-1. The CO reserves the right at any point in the evaluation process to establish a competitive range of offerors with whom negotiations will be conducted pursuant to FAR 15.306(c). In accordance with FAR 52.215-1, if the CO determines that the number of offers that would otherwise be in the competitive range exceeds the number at which an efficient competition can be conducted, the CO may limit the number of offerors in the competitive range to the greatest number that will permit an efficient competition among the most highly rated offers. The FAR provisions referenced above are available at https://www.acquisition.gov/browse/index/far.

 

The following factors, and points for each, will be the basis for the evaluation of applications meeting the required minimum qualifications. All applications will be evaluated based on the documentation submitted with the application. USAID reserves the right to contact your previous employers for relevant information concerning your performance and may consider such information in its evaluation.

 

 

 

The successful candidate will be selected based upon the following:

 

 

USAID/SA’s Human Resources Section will perform the preliminary review to eliminate those applications that do not meet the minimum educational and English language requirements before forwarding the rest to the Technical Office or Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) for further review and assessment.

 

The TEC will review each of the forwarded applications against the established evaluation criteria to develop a shortlist of applicants to be tested and possibly interviewed. Applicants will be contacted for testing and/or possibly interviews. Based on the results of the tests an applicant may be dropped from the interview list.

 

Following the interview, during which the applicant will be evaluated against the established criteria, the TEC will make a preliminary determination of candidates to be considered for employment and forward that list to HR. The TEC Chairperson will conduct and document reference checks. Please note that references may be solicited from current as well as former supervisors in addition to the references you provide in your application package. References will only be solicited for those interviewed applicants who are being considered for ranking.  

 

Based on this final input, the TEC will make its final decision on candidate ranking, prepare a selection memo after which an offer of employment will be made to the successful candidate. Unsuccessful candidates who were interviewed will be contacted and advised of their non-selection. As positive medical and security clearances are a condition of employment, the selected candidate will undergo stringent investigation prior to employment with USAID/SA.

 

 

 

 

 

This position is open to South African citizens and South African permanent resident permit holders. USAID Southern Africa management will consider nepotism/conflict of interest, budget, need for continuity, and residency status in determining successful applications. Current USG employees on probationary status (i.e., within their first year of employment) are not eligible to apply.

 

The EEO complaint procedure is not available to individuals who believe they have been denied equal opportunity based upon marital status or political affiliation. Individuals with such complaints should avail themselves of the appropriate grievance procedures, remedies for prohibited personnel practices, and/or courts for relief.

References:

 

Three (3) references, who are not family members or relatives, with working telephone and e-mail contacts. The references must be able to provide substantive information about your past performance and abilities. USAID reserves the right to contact your previous employers for relevant information concerning your performance and may consider such information in its evaluation of the application.

 

This position will be compensated in accordance with the U.S. Mission for South Africa’s Local Compensation Plan (LCP). The successful candidate’s salary level will be based on prior job-related experience and salary history.

Once the Contracting Officer informs the successful Offeror about being selected for a contract     award, the CO will provide the successful Offeror instructions about how to complete and submit the forms.

 

The plan includes basic salary, miscellaneous allowance, pension fund and medical aid subsidy.

 

TAXES

Every CCNPSC staff member in the Mission regardless of agency affiliation is required as a    condition of employment, to pay their taxes to the South African Government.

 

USAID regulations and policies governing CCNPSC awards are available at these sources:

 

Education: At least two years of college or university studies in Public Administration, Finance, Accounting or Auditing is required.

Prior Work Experience: .Minimum of five (5) years of work experience in voucher examining, administrative support, and/or related accounting work obtained from the private sector, development assistance related job or from Government agencies, host government, civil society organizations, or other donor agencies where the English language is routinely used in the workplace is required. 

Post Entry Training: Communication and Records Management. On-the-job training of Phoenix financial management system and procedures, E2, ASIST, WebTA time and attendance system. All formal training like Voucher Examiner Courses (Basic and Advance), Communication and Records Management, and additional participation in job-related workshops, will be provided as required, appropriate to the assignment, and available, and subject to availability of funds.

Language Proficiency: Level IV (Fluent) English language proficiency, both oral and written, is required.