FINANCIAL CONTROLS AND ACCOUNTS
Conservation Alliance is a legally registered organization with the Registrar General’s Department of Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Cameroun and has an approved written constitution or charter and by laws. CA is governed by a seven (7) member Board of Directors who meets regularly and makes decisions that guide the organisation’s activities. CA has not faced any litigation from legal and regulatory authorities since its inception.
Without sufficient financial backing, the implementation of CA’s projects will suffer serious setbacks. CA has established a strong accounting and monitoring system to ensure the efficient use of resources. The organization has written and updated accounting policy, guidelines and procedures. CA uses TALLY ERP 9 with charts of accounts and accounting basis is accrual. The accounting system is in line with the IFRS Accounting Standards. External audits are carried out regularly by PJA Consulting services as well as risk assessment. There is adequate process for management response from external auditors and the necessary action is taken to address external financial audit issues. The organization is currently supporting the account section to upgrade its accounting system to Quickbooks.
All activities that are considered a drain on the CA’s financial resources are either abolished or modified to make them more efficient or profitable. Additionally, CA uses a flexible management approach – every country manager is responsible for raising funds to cover their own core cost. This way, the manager becomes more responsible since any shortage of funds will adversely affect their operations.
As a non-profit organization that depends primarily on the financial support of donors, any crisis within the global financial markets is likely to affect CA’s financial status. As a safeguard measure towards strengthening its fundraising abilities, CA monitors its strategic plan to reflect the changes within its environment. Thus, the capacity of all senior managers is enhanced to enable them not only raise funds but also ensure its efficient use. This is to avoid the centralization of certain key decisions at the top and rather involve all the employees to reduce the level of resistance.
