Working at Accounting for International Development

AfID offers every type of accountant, from anywhere in the world the opportunity to use their skills to support a broad range of non-profit organisations globally. Volunteer assignments of between 2 weeks and 12 months form part of our ongoing strategy to build the financial management capacity of charities in over 50 countries.

AfID have now arranged assignments for over 1300 accountants from over 50 countries, providing over 250,000 hours of one to one support to more than 500 non-profit partners.

Our partners, which are a blend of international charities and grassroot NGOs, such as street child centres, hospitals, micro-finance institutions, conservation projects, women’s empowerment programmes and schools, are all doing amazing work to tackle extreme poverty and inequality but due to limited resources are unable to access vital financial management training.

The main focus of all AfID assignments is to develop the skills, confidence and potential of local people, enabling organisations to ultimately have the financial management capacity they need to deliver more sustainable programmes to their many beneficiaries, whilst maintaining good relations with their donors. Volunteers could be budgeting with a street child centre in Kampala (Uganda), coaching a hospital bookkeeper in Kigali (Rwanda) or financial reporting for a primary school in Kathmandu (Nepal).

Each volunteer’s assignment forms an important part of a long-term strategy to develop the financial management capacity of non-profit organisations. The primary focus is always to develop and enhance the skills, confidence and potential of local people and for our partners to develop the capacity they need to deliver more effective and sustainable services to their beneficiaries.

Volunteer Accountant or Consultant, Coach or Mentor?

Whilst we use the term ‘volunteer accountant’; a more accurate description might be accountants that can volunteer as consultants. An accountant can be responsible for a whole host of skilled functions on a day-to-day basis such as bookkeeping, auditing or producing financial statements and reports. The problem with a volunteer accountant, ‘doing’ rather than ‘guiding or advising, arises as they are temporary and local staff will need to be equipped to thrive without support. We work with our charity partners with the ultimate aim being that after a series of assignments the skills of their staff will be raised to a level that they are able to work effectively without outside assistance.

The role of our volunteers is therefore much more of consultation, coaching and mentoring rather than standalone accounting.