Organization: UNDP – United Nations Development Programme
Location: Addis Ababa
Grade: Administrative support – NPSA-6, National Personnel Services Agreement
Occupational Groups:
Operations and Administrations
Administrative support
Banking and Finance
Closing Date: 2024-12-20
Office/Unit/Project Description
Under the guidance and supervision of the Finance specialist, the Finance officer ensures effective execution of financial services and processes in the Country Office and transparent utilization of financial resources. The Finance Associate promotes a collaborative, client-oriented approach consistent with UNDP rules and regulations.
The Finance Associate works in close collaboration with the Operations, Programme, and projects’ staff in the CO and with UNDP HQ and GSSC staff to exchange information and resolve finance-related issues. The Finance Associate is expected to closely work with the progarmme units to ensure the provision of high-quality support for the overall financial management activities on project implementation.
UNDP adopts a portfolio approach to accommodate changing business needs and leverage linkages across interventions to achieve its strategic goals. Therefore, UNDP personnel are expected to work across units, functions, teams, and projects in multidisciplinary teams in order to enhance and enable horizontal collaboration.
Responsibilities
Scope of Work
The Finance Officer is expected to closely work with the team finance unit within UNDP as well as with relevant operation units. He/she is expected to ensure the provision of high-quality support for the overall financial management activities.
Specific Roles and Responsibilities
Support administration and implementation of operational strategies and adapt processes and procedures
- Ensure CO financial processes, financial records and reports, and audit follow-up comply with UNDP Programme and Operations Policies and Procedures (POPP). Implement effective internal control framework.
- Maintain financing and trust fund agreements, follow up on contributions with the respective project teams (the project team should be contacting the donor) within the CO resource mobilization efforts.
- Routinely monitor financial exception reports for unusual activities and/or transactions; and investigate anomalies or unusual transactions. Inform senior CO management and other UNDP staff at Headquarters of the results of the investigation when satisfactory answers are not obtained.
Support administration of budgets of CO projects, clearance of budgets for development projects, and functioning of an optimal cost-recovery system.
- Provide researched information for planning and status of financial resources of the CO.
- Assist in the preparation of required budget revisions (ensuring multiyear budget revision) within the unit at required period and timely securing of ASLs; and ensure detailed record keeping of funds released for projects as well as monthly ASL reporting for non-core/ GEF projects.
Provide accounting and administrative support to the Finance unit
- Support proper control of the supporting documents for payments invoices and proper document management including systematic archiving.
- Prepare financial reports for projects funds/budget balance; and prepare all types of invoices.
- Maintain the internal expenditures control system which ensures that invoices processed are matched and completed, transactions are correctly recorded and posted in ERP, and travel claims and other entitlements are duly processed.
- Coordinate and review allocated General Ledger and sub-ledger accounts and support timely project closure.
- Take timely corrective actions on erroneous data in ERP and on unposted invoices, including the invoices with validation errors, match exceptions, and/or unapproved invoices. Prepare financial reports as required. Provide timely response to HQ requests to resolve financial data issues.
- Maintain the Accounts Receivables for UNDP projects and follow-up with partners on contributions.
- Ensure timely recording, reconciliation, and submission of VAT claims with relevant TAX authority and following up on VAT reimbursements.
- Ensure timely recording, reconciliation, and submission of PPE to GSSC and working with GSSC assets team.
Ensure proper CO cash and Treasury management functioning.
- Identify and record contributions.
- Prepare timely and accurate bank reconciliations and provide documentation to GSSC according to service level agreement. Initiate bank transfers and deals in ERP.
Ensure facilitation of knowledge building and knowledge sharing in the CO.
- Assist in organizing training for the operations/ projects staff on finance, audit and compliance matters, and implementation of Internal Control Framework (ICF).
- Synthesize lessons learned and best practices in financial management.
- Provide sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice.
Institutional Arrangement
Under the overall guidance and the direct supervision of the finance specials support or his/her designate, the Finance officer will works in close collaboration with the Programme, Operations, and project teams in the CO.
- Achieve Results: LEVEL 1: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline
- Think Innovatively: LEVEL 1: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is a pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements
- Learn Continuously: LEVEL 1: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback
- Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 1: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible
- Act with Determination: LEVEL 1: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident
- Engage and Partner: LEVEL 1: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships
- Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 1: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination
Cross-Functional & Technical competencies
- Business Management: Customer Satisfaction/Client Management – Ability to respond timely and appropriately with a sense of urgency, provide consistent solutions, and deliver timely and quality results and/or solutions to fulfil and understand the real customers’ needs. Provide inputs to the development of customer service strategy. Look for ways to add value beyond clients’ immediate requests. Ability to anticipate client’s upcoming needs and concerns
- Business Development: Knowledge Generation – Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need.
- Business Management: Working with Evidence and Data – Ability to inspect, cleanse, transform and model data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions and supporting decision-making
- Finance: Accounting (General) – Knowledge of accounting concepts, principles, regulations, policies and ability to apply this to strategic and/or practical situations.
- Finance: Financial Reporting and Analysis – Ability to extract, evaluate financial data, derive relevant findings and present them in a meaningful and coherent manner to facilitate effective decision making and performance monitoring.
- Finance: Finance, Financial reporting, and analysis – Ability to extract, evaluate financial data, derive relevant findings and present them in a meaningful and coherent manner to facilitate effective decision making and performance monitoring.
- Finance: Audit – Ability to examine and verify accounts and records
Education:
- Secondary education is required, or
- Fully Qualified Accountant, from an internationally accredited institute of accountancy or Full Completion of the UNDP Finance Training and Certification Programme (FTCP). No UNDP Accountancy and Finance Test (AFT) required.
- Candidates with no professional accountancy qualifications, but with degrees that major in accountancy and/or finance must complete UNDP Finance Training and Certification Programme (FTCP), if recruited. However, no UNDP Accountancy and Finance Test (AFT) is required.
- Candidates with no professional accountancy qualifications but with relevant experience must successfully undertake UNDP Accountancy and Finance Test (AFT) before shortlisting, and must complete the UNDP Finance Training and Certification Programme (FTCP), if recruited.
Experience:
- Minimum 6 years (with high school diploma) or 3 years (with bachelor’s degree) of progressively responsible finance and accounting experience at the national or international level is required.
- Knowledge of IPSAS and/or IFRS is required.
Required skills
- Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.).
- Advanced knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages,
Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section
- Experience in travel management .
- Proven knowledge of Quantum /or IFRS.
- Prior experience on VAT and asset management
- Experience in handling web-based management systems and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), and financials.
Required Language(s)
- Fluency in the UN language of the duty station is required (English).
- Fluency in the national language of the duty station (Amharic) is required for local staff.
- Knowledge of another UN language is desirable.
How to apply
Simply click on the apply button, fill out of the form, and upload your documents