The NGO Accountant

At the beginning of this month I found myself in Nakuru Merica Hotel, a modern styled Hotel in the heart of Nakuru Town, the town in the rift valley that prides itself as one of Kenya’s cleanest towns. In the name of Financial Management training under the Non State Actors support programme funded by the European Union. It is one of those rare occasions where an accountant is working outside the office. It’s rare. Unfortunately, many of us accountants are always glued to our office desks, surrounded by heaps of documents like payment vouchers, LPOs, Petty cash vouchers to mention but a few. We are always answering money related queries or putting documents in order else find ourselves in trouble at the hour of reckoning.

Accounting is arguably one of the most risky careers. That’s why even us accountants have a self imposed prison and we think taking time at our desks is the only way we are sure we will minimize the many queries, the uncalled for suspicions and the unwarranted doubts from the management. I mean, It is like management have an eternal attitude that accountants are career liers, and have over time perfected the art of manipulation, misrepresentation and outright self enrichment. Last year a former schoolmate told me that his boss, the finance manager had been fired and he was the acting finance manager. And of course in the eyes of everyone, it was his turn to eat.

I work in the NGO world and here unlike in the corporate world, money exists to be spent. A friend of mine jokingly told me that the biggest stress of an NGO is when funds remain unspent because they have to figure out explanations to the donor. You work very hard to convince them how on earth you could not spend all the money they gave you. So in the name of spending and of course project implementation, we accountants are facilitators and all we do is release funds to those raring to spend. And we watch them make trips, book state of the art hotels, book flights here and there and wish them all the best in their activity.
We give them the money and we sometimes feel jealous but we won’t say; that is not our portion. And then we wait for them to return and we require they account for the money. Of course this is when no one wants to see or hear of an accountant. They love us as go out and hate us as they return. In fact some have insinuated that we always feel bad that they have opportunities to adventure and make some extra money. That is not necessarily true. They should know that at the end of the day, we are the guys that the auditor will be looking for and however badly or hastily they may have put together the accounting documents, the buck stops at our desk.

They say you cannot collide with a train and remain the same again, you cannot dip in fat and still have a rough skin. And by extension, they think you cannot stay around money and be poor again. They are wrong on this. I must state here categorically that those accountants you see, those bank cashiers that issue and receive millions. These people walk home many times because they lacked fare. They skip meals and pretend to be busy but even if you were to set them free, they still won’t eat because the pocket forbids.

So the aforementioned training was also to us an opportunity to feel how others feel when they go out. It was our time to bask in the joy of reaping from the funds we safeguard with so much zeal. It was some way of letting us know that we are not a forgotten lot. Even when our job places many demands on us, we still matter. I always look at my colleagues in programmes and hear them narrate their experiences in the field. The fact that they have that time for such stories when I have deadlines to meet is not always pleasing. In fact sometimes deadlines become so much stress when they have not submitted their reports in time. As I write this article, I am reminded it is end month and actually the end of quarter one therefore several reports are due. PAYE, NHIF, NSSF returns are needed. The board wants a financial report from me. A number of donors also need some reports. I have to look into the budget and cashflow. Not to mention that 2011 audit is under completion.

I do not regret being an accountant. I love my job and I will give it my best. I do not have anything against those working in programmes and projects. I am just thinking loud and I know walls have ears. So no one should be offended or overexcited by this article. Let us all do our best where we can and where we chose.