Principal Finance Officer

LIKELY QUESTIONS

- How would you develop and implement finance policies, procedures and internal controls for a national quality control laboratory?
- What controls would you apply before approving a payment voucher or commitment document?
- Describe your approach to preparing annual budgets, cash flow forecasts and financial plans for a public-sector or regulated institution.
- How would you monitor expenditure against approved budgets and address emerging variances?
- What is your process for preparing accurate monthly bank reconciliations and resolving unreconciled items?
- How do you reconcile debtor and creditor ledgers, and how would you manage long-outstanding balances?
- Which financial reports would you present to management each month, and what insights would you highlight?
- How would you ensure compliance with applicable Kenyan public finance, tax, procurement and professional accounting requirements?

BEHAVIOURAL QUESTIONS

- Tell us about a time you identified a significant financial control weakness and corrected it.
Model approach: Situation: Briefly explain the control gap, such as weak payment documentation or delayed reconciliations. Task: State your responsibility for safeguarding funds and restoring compliance. Action: Explain how you investigated the issue, strengthened approval workflows, introduced reconciliations or checklists, trained staff and monitored compliance. Result: Quantify improvements such as reduced errors, faster reconciliations, successful audit outcomes or prevented losses.

- Describe a time you had to manage a budget shortfall or significant overspend.
Model approach: Situation: Set out the budget pressure and its operational impact. Task: Explain your responsibility to protect essential services while maintaining budget discipline. Action: Describe your variance analysis, engagement with budget holders, prioritisation of spending, revised forecasts and management recommendations. Result: Show how you contained expenditure, protected critical activities and improved future budget planning.

- Give an example of when you had to resolve a disagreement with a colleague or department over a payment, budget or financial procedure.
Model approach: Situation: Describe the disagreement, such as pressure to process an unsupported payment or exceed a budget line. Task: State your obligation to uphold policy while maintaining a professional working relationship. Action: Explain how you listened, referred to regulations and evidence, proposed compliant alternatives and escalated appropriately if necessary. Result: Demonstrate a compliant outcome, preserved relationships and clearer understanding of procedures.

- Tell us about a time you improved the quality or timeliness of financial reporting.
Model approach: Situation: Explain the reporting challenge, such as late submissions, inaccurate data or manual processes. Task: Describe your responsibility for delivering reliable management information. Action: Outline how you redesigned templates, set reporting deadlines, reconciled source records, used accounting systems or spreadsheets effectively and reviewed outputs. Result: Include measurable improvements in report turnaround time, accuracy, decision-making or audit readiness.

SMART QUESTIONS TO ASK

- What are the laboratory's main financial priorities and risks for the next two years, particularly in relation to revenue collection, cost control and compliance?
- What accounting system, reporting tools and financial procedures are currently in use, and are there planned system improvements?
- What are the most common audit findings or control challenges the finance function has faced in recent years?
- How is revenue generated and collected by the laboratory, and what role would the Principal Finance Officer play in strengthening revenue assurance?
- What would success look like for the person in this role after the first six months and by the end of the two-year contract?

RED FLAGS TO WATCH FOR

- Unclear answers about delegated authority, payment approvals, procurement controls or who has final responsibility for financial decisions.
- A history of persistent audit queries, unreconciled bank accounts, delayed financial reports or weak revenue collection without a clear remediation plan.
- Expectations to approve payments, bypass procedures or manage cash outside documented policies and proper segregation of duties.