ALOU DIARRA
Summary
Results-driven manager experienced in financial analysis, risk and compliance management and reporting. Well-versed in producing reports, assessing and mitigating risks. Meticulous, conscientious and methodical in approach.
Overview
20
20
years of professional experience
Work History
Regional Finance Officer, Cash-Based Transfer CBT
World Food Programme, United Nations
11.2021 - Current
- Contribute to CBT cross-functional activities including the implementation of the regional CBT strategy and oversight missions to country offices.
- Prepare the Annual financial assessment planning and financial providers due diligence review.
- Support the country offices in drafting, negotiating and reviewing the financial provider's contracts and standard operating procedures.
- Prepare and monitor the annual regional finance CBT risk register.
- Follow-up on the country offices' risks and mitigation actions issued from different sources.
- Prepare the monthly CBT Finance updates.
- Organize the monthly country offices' finance officers meeting.
Risk and Compliance Officer
World Food Programme, United Nations
04.2021 - 10.2021
- Set-up the country office's risk management governance structures including the risk management committee and other standard committees such as the local purchase and contracts committee.
- Prepare the annual risk management programme and designate the risk focal points at each unit and field office's level.
- Establish the standard operating procedures (SOP)' register and coordinate the SOP review and updates.
- Organize the annual performance planning and risk register review.
- Prepare the monthly risk report and present it to the risk management committee.
- Prepare and implement the internal oversight plan and share the quarterly reports.
- Coordinate the audit missions received by the country office and follow-up and support on the pending recommendations.
- Implement the Organization fraud policy at the country level and coordinate cases with the Investigation unit at Headquarters.
- Coordinate the planning, the monitoring and the reporting of the due diligence review and spot-checks on the partners and suppliers obligations.
Finance Officer
World Food Programme, United Nations
01.2019 - 03.2021
- Governance : Annual update of the Finance unit's organizational chart for better effectiveness. Preparation of the annual unit and staff's work plan and monitoring.
- Internal Control: Annual review of the oversight checklist and quarterly reporting. Coordination and oversight of all technical finance functions including Treasury and Payment process, Fund management, CBT related assessments and operations, Accounting and Reporting.
- Cash based Transfers (CBT): Establish the monthly consolidated cash distribution's calendar and share with the financial service providers in view to set the feasibility in term of logistics. Preparation and availability of physical cash into dedicated bank account. Create and perform the CBT tracking sheet for distribution cycle monitoring (including the Grants) and better reconciliation and distribution closure. Preparation of the Business Model Process for DRC CBT distribution and input to the internal CBT SOP. Organization of webinars to develop the capacity of staff accessing and analyzing the CBT financial data and to support the reconciliation process. Establish regular contacts and communications the financial service providers to ease the surveillance on the contracts, the CBT implementation and to timely treat their invoices. Prepare the annual financial service providers' contract evaluation and attending the regular country office's CBT Cash work group meeting attended. Updating the Micro financial assessment of the financial service providers.
- Funds management: Creation of the monthly expense tracking sheet to monitor all the support costs in view to control the implementation of the budget. Prepare the quarterly expenses plan to request push down of funds available for the operations and staff payments. Creation of the monthly field office' expenses plan to ensure the sufficient fund availability for field operations. Performing the budgetary analysis in collaboration the Budget unit and present it to the monthly Resource Management Committee to identify needs for adjustments and to facilitate the Organization annual country report preparation.
- Invoice and payments management: Completing the regular vendor review. Monitoring og the cash availability through the monthly replenishment request and the timely fund movements between the imprest account and the sub-imprest accounts. Sharing the weekly report on the pending invoices to build the awareness of the spending units about the organization engagement to timely payment and the quality of supporting documents. Monitoring the open items to prepare the monthly financial report.
Finance Officer
World Food Programme, United Nations
07.2009 - 12.2018
- Fund Management: The inputs of support costs into the Budget and Planning Tools were completed for the CPB preparation. The recurrent costs allocation template was established to ensure correct utilization of WBS and cost category. The monitoring of the DSC fund and notably under Grant relevant was performed to avoid loss of funds. The financial reporting for specific donors (ECHO, BMZ) was performed in collaboration with BPO and HQ. The preparation of the audit mission for ECHO funds was completed.
- Finance officer, Special Operation Ebola Guinea Conakry in 2015: The weekly fund management report was produced. The participation of the Guinea office in the Ebola coordination meeting was ensured. The availability of physical cash was maintained sufficient. The payment of staff and suppliers was timely performed.
- Risk Management and Compliance on behalf of Regional Bureau for Central Africa Republic, Chad and Cameroon: The consolidated matrix of the recommendations was created from different reports. The meetings and interviews with head of units were organized and documented. The follow up of the recommendations of audit (internal and external), functional oversight and evaluation missions was coordinated. The supporting documents of the evidences of implemented recommendations were collected. The risk assessment was done, and the country risk profile was determined as per ERM framework. The level of the implementation of the Projects (now CSP) was reviewed and the challenges were addressed based on the document of project/concept note (targets, gender and budget). The tracking and reconciliation tools were reviewed (SITREP, PDM, CFM, COMET, LESS, WINGS, etc...) and the gaps were addressed. The review of the matrix of the delegation of authorities was performed. The review of the matrix of the Financial and Procurement credentials about corporate systems (WINGS, COMET, SCOPE….) was performed. The review was performed for the standard committees and the dedicated Terms of Reference of their members. The support was given to escalade the pending issues and gaps to RB and HQ. The suggestions were provided to enhance the resilience of the office to face future audit, oversight and PIR missions. The mission report for each country office was shared with the Regional Bureau Dakar and the respective Country Director.
- Compliance focal point in Mali in 2018: The implementation of the APP recommendations was followed. The preparation of the Assurance Statement was coordinated and performed. The internal control was assessed, and the supporting documents were archived. The quarterly Compliance report was produced.
Trade Manager
Ecobank Transnational
08.2007 - 03.2009
- Compliance review and treatment of documentary credit payment requests, and treatment of foreign check payments.
- Due diligence review and treatment of the guarantee requests including bid bonds, performance bonds and warrantees, and collaboration with the risk department.
- Follow-up on the central bank issued recommendations and share quarterly report of the implementation status.
- Coordinate the bank capitalization campaign in Mali, including the supervision of the dedicated team, the compliance review of the subscriptions documents, the validation of the payments, and the weekly reporting to ECOBANK Headquarter.
Audit Assistant
Supreme Court, Section Of Accounts
03.2004 - 08.2007
- Prepare the annual audit and verification missions plan.
- Request the required documents from the audited entities and conduct the des review (Government entities, politic parties, NGO activities implemented jointly by the Government entities, and other business receiving financial contributions from the Government).
- Prepare the missions and visits to the entities for findings review.
- Prepare the mission reports and organize the validation sessions with the entities.
- Submit the mission reports for clearance of the Court Magistrates.
Education
Certificate of Completion AML, KYC, And Compliance - Compliance
Udemy Online
Online03.2024
Compliance & Risk Management Certification Course - Compliance
UDEMY Online
Online12.2023
International Financial Reporting Standards - Accounting
Ecole Virtuelle De Marrakech
Marrakech, Morocco11.2023
Certificate - Certified Fraud Examiner - Fraud
Association of Certified Fraud Examiners
United States Of America09.2017
Master in Audit And Management Control - Audit And Management Control
Institut Des Hautes Etudes En Management
Bamako, Mali01.2016
Master in Bank And Finance - Finance
Institut Du Genie Applique
Casablanca, Morocco12.2003
Skills
Finance
Cash-Based Transfer
Financial sectorial assessment
Financial service providers selection process, due diligence and micro financial assessment
Audit
Compliance
Risk Management
Fraud examination
Anti-money laundering and Combatting financing of terrorism
Affiliations
- Association of Certified Fraud Examiners - ACFE
Additional Information
Reference Persons
- Lassana Coulibaly, Deputy Regional Director, World Food Programme Johannesburg, SA. lassana.coulibaly@wfp.org
- Miranda Sende, Country Director, World Food Programme Gambia. miranda.sende@wfp.org
Languages
French
Native language
English
Advanced
C1
Timeline
Regional Finance Officer, Cash-Based Transfer CBT
World Food Programme, United Nations
11.2021 - Current
Risk and Compliance Officer
World Food Programme, United Nations
04.2021 - 10.2021
Finance Officer
World Food Programme, United Nations
01.2019 - 03.2021
Finance Officer
World Food Programme, United Nations
07.2009 - 12.2018
Trade Manager
Ecobank Transnational
08.2007 - 03.2009
Audit Assistant
Supreme Court, Section Of Accounts
03.2004 - 08.2007
Certificate of Completion AML, KYC, And Compliance - Compliance
Udemy Online
Compliance & Risk Management Certification Course - Compliance
UDEMY Online
International Financial Reporting Standards - Accounting
Ecole Virtuelle De Marrakech
Certificate - Certified Fraud Examiner - Fraud
Association of Certified Fraud Examiners
Master in Audit And Management Control - Audit And Management Control
Institut Des Hautes Etudes En Management
Master in Bank And Finance - Finance
Institut Du Genie Applique
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