Finance officer (NGOs and projects)

What interviewers look for

• Donor compliance in practice: you check every cost against the grant agreement and the approved budget before paying, not after.
• Budget control: you can build a budget-versus-actual report, forecast the rest of the grant and warn managers early.
• Strong documentation: a complete voucher for every payment, filed so an auditor can find it in minutes.
• Cash and procurement discipline, especially in field offices with few banks and a lot of cash.
• Integrity and courage: you notice red flags, say no politely to programme pressure, and report through the right channel.

Questions they ask

1. 1“What makes a cost eligible under a donor grant?”

   Why they ask: This is the core of the job. They want the main tests, and they want to hear that you read the grant agreement rather than guess.

   How to answer

   • List the main tests: inside the grant period, in the approved budget, necessary for the project, reasonable in price.
   • Add: fully documented, bought following the procurement rules, and not charged to another donor as well.
   • Say that each donor has its own rules, and that you check the agreement and ask the grants team when unsure.

   I use a short checklist before approving any cost. Is it inside the grant period? Is it in an approved budget line? Is it needed for the project and reasonably priced? Is it fully supported, with the request, quotations, invoice and proof of payment? Was procurement followed? And is it charged to this grant only? Each donor adds its own rules, so for every new grant I read the agreement and note the special points on one page, such as costs that need prior approval. When I am unsure, I ask the grants manager before paying, not after.

2. 2“How do you monitor a grant budget during the year?”

   Why they ask: They check whether you only report the past or also look ahead: commitments, forecasts and early warnings to the programme team.

   How to answer

   • Describe a monthly budget-versus-actual per grant, by budget line, showing spent, remaining and percentage used.
   • Include commitments (signed orders not yet paid) and a forecast to the end of the grant.
   • Explain how you share it: a short meeting with the programme manager and a note on the lines that need action.

   Each month, after the close, I run a budget-versus-actual for every grant by budget line: budget, spent to date, open commitments, remaining and percentage used. Then I add a simple forecast to the end of the grant based on the activity plan. In my last post at a health NGO in Baidoa, this showed the fuel line would run out three months early, while a training line was underspent. We met the programme manager the same week and asked the donor for a realignment in time, instead of discovering the problem at the final report.

3. 3“How do you allocate shared costs, like office rent, across three grants?”

   Why they ask: Shared costs are where double charging and 'charge whoever has money' happen. They want a fair, documented method used the same way every month.

   How to answer

   • Choose a fair basis written in the budget or policy: staff time for salaries, staff numbers or floor space for rent.
   • Support it: timesheets, an allocation sheet signed each month, and the same method all year.
   • Say that the total charged to all grants never goes over 100 per cent of the real cost.

   I agree the basis with the grants manager and write it down, so it is the same every month. For rent, we used the number of staff funded by each grant: if one grant funds six of our twelve staff, it carries half the rent. For shared salaries, we used signed timesheets, not the budget percentages. Every month I prepare one allocation sheet showing the full invoice and each grant's share, so the three shares add up to exactly one hundred per cent. A copy goes into each grant's voucher file, so any auditor can follow it.

4. 4“What supporting documents do you need before you pay a supplier?”

   Why they ask: They check that you know what a complete voucher is, and that you will not pay on a photocopy or a promise to bring the receipt later.

   How to answer

   • Name the chain: approved request, quotations or bid analysis, purchase order or contract, delivery note or GRN, original invoice.
   • Then the voucher itself: coded to the grant and budget line, checked, and approved within the authority limit.
   • After payment: proof of payment attached and every document stamped PAID.

5. 5“A programme manager says a purchase is urgent and asks you to pay one supplier 8,000 dollars for supplies without quotations. What do you do?”

   Why they ask: They test whether you know procurement thresholds and can be firm without being unhelpful. 'Urgent' is the most common reason rules are skipped.

   How to answer

   • Say you would not pay without the process that the procurement policy and the donor rules require for that amount.
   • Offer the fast legal route: quick quotations the same day, or the emergency procedure with written approval if the policy has one.
   • If the pressure continues, involve your line manager; never split the purchase into small orders to stay under a threshold.

   I would say I also want the supplies to arrive quickly, but at that value our policy needs competitive quotations, and the donor can refuse the cost if we skip them. Then I would offer the fastest correct route: logistics can request three quotations by phone and email that afternoon, and I can process the payment the same day the bid analysis is signed. If it is a real emergency, our policy has an emergency procedure with the country director's written approval, and I would help prepare that request. I would not split the order to avoid the threshold.

6. 6“How do you manage cash in a field office far from a bank?”

   Why they ask: Many field offices in Somalia and Somaliland run on cash and mobile money. They want safe limits, counts and documented advances, not trust alone.

   How to answer

   • Use an imprest petty cash with a fixed limit, topped up only against receipts, and a safe with few keys.
   • Pay by bank transfer or mobile money wherever possible, so every payment leaves a record.
   • Surprise cash counts with a witness, and staff advances that must be cleared with receipts within a set time.

7. 7“Walk us through how you prepare a financial report for a donor.”

   Why they ask: They check accuracy and process: a report taken from the ledger, in the donor's format and currency, reconciled and reviewed before the deadline.

   How to answer

   • Start from the closed ledger: extract the grant's costs, check the coding and remove anything ineligible.
   • Put the figures into the donor's template and budget lines, using the exchange rate method in the agreement.
   • Reconcile the report to the ledger and to funds received, explain big variances, check it matches the narrative, then get it reviewed.

   I start about two weeks before the deadline, once the month is closed. I extract the grant's transactions from the ledger, check that each one is coded to the right budget line, and remove anything outside the period or not allowed. Then I enter the totals into the donor's template, converting local currency costs with the method in the agreement. I reconcile the report to the ledger and to the funds received, and write a short explanation for any line far from budget. The programme manager checks it matches the narrative, and the finance manager reviews and signs it.

8. 8“What fraud red flags would you look for in a project's payments?”

   Why they ask: Aid money is a target for fraud. They want concrete signs from experience, and they want to hear that you would report, not investigate alone.

   How to answer

   • Give document signs: quotations in the same handwriting or with the same phone number, invoices with no real address, altered dates, photocopies only.
   • Give pattern signs: purchases split just under a threshold, the same supplier always winning, attendance lists with repeated signatures.
   • Say what you do: keep the documents safe, report to your manager or the whistleblowing channel, and do not confront the person yourself.

Example answers are in English, the language most panels use. Say it in your own words.

Topics to revise

• Budget vs actual (BvA)A report per grant and budget line showing the budget, spent to date, remaining and percentage used. Add commitments and a forecast to the grant end to make it useful. Expect to build one in Excel with SUMIFS.
• Burn rateHow fast a grant or budget line is being spent compared with the time that has passed. 30 per cent spent at the grant's halfway point means underspending; know what you would recommend to catch up or realign.
• Budget flexibility and realignmentMany grant agreements allow small shifts between budget lines up to a set limit; bigger changes need the donor's written approval before the money is spent. Know the words realignment, budget revision and no-cost extension.
• Eligible and ineligible costsA cost is usually eligible if it is in the grant period and the approved budget, necessary, reasonable, documented, procured correctly and not funded twice. Ineligible costs found later usually have to be refunded to the donor from the organisation's own money.
• Cost allocation (shared costs)Shared costs such as rent, utilities or a shared driver are split between grants on a fair, documented basis: staff numbers, time or space. The shares must add up to 100 per cent, and the method does not change from month to month.
• Indirect cost recovery (ICR)A percentage some donors allow on top of direct costs to cover head-office support such as finance, HR and audit. Know that direct shared costs and ICR must never cover the same cost twice.
• Payment vouchers and supporting documentsA voucher is the pack behind each payment: approved request, quotations or bid analysis, order or contract, delivery note, original invoice, approvals and proof of payment. It is numbered, coded to the grant and budget line, and stamped PAID.
• Petty cash (imprest system)A fixed float for small office costs. Receipts plus the cash in the box always equal the float. It is topped up only against receipts, counted by surprise with a witness, and kept under a set limit.
• Cash advances and liquidationMoney given to staff for field activities (fuel, venue, per diem) must be liquidated with receipts and signed attendance lists within the time in the policy. Know why a new advance is not given until the old one is cleared.
• Procurement thresholdsRules that set the process by value: small purchases need one quote, medium ones several written quotations, large ones an open tender and a committee. The amounts are in your organisation's and the donor's policy. Splitting a purchase to avoid a threshold is a serious breach.
• Donor financial reports and exchange ratesReports use the donor's template, budget lines and currency. Local currency costs are converted with the method in the agreement, such as the rate of the funds received or a monthly rate, applied the same way every time. The report must reconcile to the ledger.
• Audit readiness and fraud red flagsAudit-ready means vouchers filed in order by grant, reconciliations signed, a fixed asset register, and last year's audit findings closed. Red flags include split purchases, look-alike quotations, altered documents, ghost staff or beneficiaries, and staff who never take leave.

Practical tasks you may get

1. 1BvA Excel test: a ledger extract and a budget. Build budget, actual, variance and percentage by line with SUMIFS, then write one sentence on each big variance. Practise with a realistic dataset and leave 10 minutes to check your totals.
2. 2Voucher review test: five or six payment vouchers with hidden problems, such as a missing quotation, an invoice dated after the grant end, a wrong total, no approval or a split purchase. List each problem and what you would ask for. Practise with your own checklist.
3. 3Cost allocation exercise: split a shared rent invoice and three shared salaries across grants using timesheets or staff numbers. Show the basis, the calculation, and that the shares add up to 100 per cent.
4. 4Case study or role-play: a programme manager pushes for an urgent payment, or you find a red flag in a field advance. Prepare a calm, firm answer that offers the correct route and names who you would inform.

Mistakes to avoid

• Using donor words without the controls behind them: say what you actually check, not just 'compliance'.
• Suggesting a cost goes to whichever grant still has money. That is misallocation, and auditors look for it.
• Accepting 'we will bring the receipt later', or paying on photocopies, to be helpful.
• Treating procurement as logistics' problem only: finance must check the process before paying.
• Quoting a donor rule or threshold you are not sure of. Say you would check the agreement.
• Promising 'the audit will find nothing' instead of describing how you keep files audit-ready.

Quick check

5 questions. Answer each one to see the explanation.