The Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education (ZIMCHE), a quality control regulatory authority, was established by an Act of Parliament, [Chapter 25:27], in 2006, to promote and co-ordinate education provided by higher and tertiary education institutions, superintend over standards, act as a regulator in the determination and maintenance of examinations, academic qualifications and research. The ZIMCHE is looking for a Director: Audit and Risk Management who is a thought leader and ready to re-think the way we think about Audit and Risk Management in the Public Sector Since the ZIMCHE sits at the pinnacle of Zimbabwe’s Higher Education system, we are looking for someone who is prepared to be at the fore front intellectually of re-inventing and re-imaging the audit and risk function in the ZIMCHE and the Higher and Tertiary Education system and remaining within the purview of the rues and regulations set by the Office of the Auditor General.
Job Profile
The role of the Director: Audit and Risk Management is inter alia, to support the work of other units in the main functions of the ZIMCHE which are to:
- Design and recommend an institutional quality assurance system for higher education, that is, a system whereby the courses, programmes and degrees offered by institutions are evaluated on a regular and objective basis”.
- Promote and coordinate education provided by institutions of higher education and to act as a regulator in the determination and maintenance of standards of teaching, examinations, academic qualifications and research in institutions of higher education.
This position exists to objectively and creatively examine and evaluate the adequacy and effectiveness of ZIMCHE’s internal controls, risk management and corporate governance systems. The incumbent is also responsible for monitoring and evaluating internal quality assurance processes and assessing adherence to approved performance standards as well as making appropriate value adding recommendations. The incumbent will be expected to be part of the teams that visit universities from time to time. He will also be expected to “inspect” reports from the divisions of Finance, HR, Administration and Directorates whenever he feels fit.
This position requires strong analytical skills and thorough knowledge of the audit process. The Auditor plays a vital role in the development of internal controls for the management of risk and maintenance of corporate governance systems. The Director will take a lead in developing policies in this area as well.
The position will review financial statements for reliability and integrity and will ensure adherence to stipulated standards, policies and procedures. The Director: Audit and Risk Management will review ZIMCHE’s operational activities against approved policies and procedures and set standards and recommend economic use of resources based on allocated budgets, performance targets, human resources and other operational standards to provide an independent and objective assessment of the internal control environment. The incumbent will regularly review the means of safeguarding the organizational, physical, human and financial resources, and verify the existence of such resources and discuss audit findings with concerned staff.
The Director: Audit and Risk Management will oversee the establishment of internal quality assurance policies, processes and systems at ZIMCHE including the development of procedure manuals and handbooks for use by staff, to ensure the prevalence of high-performance standards at ZIMCHE. The incumbent will monitor and evaluate the internal quality assurance systems and work towards ISO 9002 certification of ZIMCHE to ensure high quality service delivery and high operational standards. This is what we mean by re-thinking the way with think about the Audit and Risk Management function of the ZIMCHE going forward.
The position will review financial statements for reliability and integrity in as far as international and national standards and the ZIMCHE policies and procedures are concerned and will carry out risk assessment of all operational activities in accordance with auditing standards and techniques.
Internal Controls
The incumbent will review ZIMCHE’s operational activities for economic use of resources based on allocated budgets, performance targets, human resources and other operational standards and conduct ad hoc assignments within the organization to provide an independent and objective assessment within the ZIMCHE.
Investigative Audits
The incumbent will carry out investigative audits on request by reviewing internal controls and establish any weaknesses in the system and make appropriate recommendations for corrective action including gathering enough, reliable evidence as a basis for audit findings for inclusion in audit reports in the ZIMCHE.
Process Audits
The incumbent will assess the suitability and effectiveness of processes in all the ZIMCHE Directorates to ensure successful achievement of the mandate and objectives of the ZIMCHE. This will involve a full understanding of the operational processes of all the directorates as well as assessing effectiveness of policies and procedures. From then on, the incumbent will assess operational adherence to set policies and/ standards of the ZIMCHE.
Safeguarding Organizational Resources
The incumbent will review the means of safeguarding organizational, physical, human and financial resources and verify the existence of such resources and discuss audit findings with concerned staff during the audit and in exit meetings. He/she will highlight conditions, criteria, cause, risk and recommend improvements and carry out follow up audits on agreed action plans to assess implementation.
Policies and Procedures Formulation
The incumbent will oversee the establishment of internal quality assurance policies, processes and systems at the ZIMCHE including development of procedure manuals and handbooks for use by staff, to ensure prevalence of high-performance standards at the ZIMCHE.
Quality Assurance Systems
The incumbent will monitor and evaluate the internal quality assurance systems and work towards ISO 9002 certification of the ZIMCHE to ensure high quality service delivery and high operational standards of the ZIMCHE.
- Ensure the efficient and economic use of resources available to the ZIMCHE as well as ascertaining that appropriate action is taken on the reported operational activities.
- Provide technical support in writing policies and procedures to guide audit staff and ensure audit work conforms with the standards for the professional practice of Internal Audit and the ZIMCHE Regulations and Procedures.
- Develop Strategic Plans to guide the execution of the responsibilities of the Audit Unit and ensure that these are consistent with the Audit Charter and the goals of ZIMCHE.
- Review and approve the final Audit work (reports audit findings).
- Monitor and ensure that the Audit function fulfills the general purpose and responsibilities approved by management and as required by Section 80 or the PFM Act.
- Provide professional advice and upraising subordinates on a regular basis.
- Present Audit reports to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for onward transmission to the Audit and Risk Committee of ZIMCHE Board.
- Prepare documents for the Board’s Audit and Risk Committee.
- A Master’s Degree in Finance or Accounting;
- ACCA or equivalent; and
- A member of at least 2 Accounting Professional Bodies.
- Five to seven years’ relevant experience in a similar organization (government parastatal) or a university.
- A minimum of three years at a senior level would be desirable.
Candidates are expected to upload their application on the ZIMCHE website or send six (6) copies including a detailed CV, including the name, and the contact details of three references; and certified copies of education and birth certificates to the Chief Executive Officer, the ZIMCHE, No 21 J. M. Nkomo Road, Hatfield, Harare, Zimbabwe not later than 6th September 2019.
Offer ended on September 6, 2019
