Back Finance Associate

The Office of Financial Management (OFM), Bureau of Management, supports the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the promotion of its sustainable human development agenda. It achieves this by developing and making fully operational a dynamic and harmonized integrated resource management framework based on comprehensive analysis that enhances UNDP’s financial and administrative performance, as well as facilitates UN reform and coherence. To these ends, the framework addresses strategically critical financial resource planning and management issues, including results based budgeting;  the integration of the Programming Arrangements and the Institutional Budget within the context of the integrated budget from 2014 onwards; enhanced cost classification and cost recovery; capital budgeting; adherence to IPSAS; foreign exchange and investment activities; corporate reporting of organizational assets;  performance management tools and initiatives;  and support to UN harmonization.

Effective and efficient integrated resources management is enabled through a continuous and robust process comprising:

• Formulation and implementation of corporate financial and administrative strategies, policies and procedures;
• Formulation, alignment, documentation and implementation of UNDP’s funding frameworks, assuring their integrity, viability and alignment with the Strategic Plan;
• Provision of policy guidance, advisory services and operational support to strengthen client capacities and help them achieve results, seeking to build consensus within UNDP and with key stakeholders on critical budgetary related matters requiring Executive Board legislation;
• Administration of the organization’s internal control framework, overseeing and monitoring financial management of all global UNDP offices, including through formulation/implementation of resource planning, management and oversight tools and reports;
• Promoting clear accountability for financial transactions and producing financial statements, including financial reporting to donors and the UNDP Executive Board.
• Providing corporate reporting guidance to ensure that fixed assets are adequately recorded in all locations.

The Financial Performance Management and Reporting Division provides accounting, resource management and financial services. The Corporate Financial Reporting and Agency Services (CFRA) responsible for producing monthly, quarterly, and annual consolidated financial statements for UNDP, UNCDF and the UNDP GEF Trust Fund, Agency Services to 68 UN Agency clients, Treasury and Corporate accounting including monthly financial closures and data integrity. The Financial Performance Management (FPM) is responsible for establishing and managing a risk and performance methodology which includes developing and applying KPIs and performance benchmarks to assess financial performance and monitor risk, and developing and managing tools to measure financial performance including financial dashboards.

In order to enhance efficiency and transparency of business processes to ensure more relevant and frequent delivery of financial statements for an earlier statutory audit, UNDP has implemented the Oracle Hyperion software with advanced Web technology to automate preparation of financial statements, allow rapid consolidation and reporting of financial results, delivery confidence in numbers, and provide an automated audit trail for external audit. Under the overall supervision and guidance of the Account Analyst, Corporate Financial Reporting and Agency Services (CFRA), Account Analyst ensures data integrity across UNDP particularly interface control of submodules to the GL and accurate accounting per IPSAS in order to confirm data integrity for preparation of the complete and accurate financial statements. UNDP financial statements are highly complex, and it is important to ensure strong knowledge of and compliance with meeting International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) and international standards in auditing.

1. Ensures data integrity and proper functioning of interface controls as follows:

• Assist the account analyst to ensure all finance submodules to general ledger reconciliations are completed regularly, differences are addressed (in collaboration with ITM and business owners as needed) and sign-off is obtained from business owners on a regular basis; 
• Assist the finance analyst to ensure Global B2B validation (plus global submodule to GL reconciliation beyond cash and inclusive of non-cash elements) is completed providing assurance that all submodule and GL transactions are interfaced properly; 
• Ensuring adherence to protocols for communication relating to data integrity issues, their investigation, resolution, and sign off; 
• Assist with automation of business processes to reduce manual work; 
• Supports GL account reconciliations 
• Performs monthly/quarterly analysis of balance sheet accounts, ensuring significant issues are identified, resolved and escalated when necessary.
• Timely approval of Implementing Agent (IA) code creation
• Closely monitor unposted payment vouchers, pending GLJEs, postings to unauthorized accounts and any other data issues in the GL and/or submodules;
• Assist with trial balance analysis; 
• Assist with monthly receipt accrual process, including year-end process;
• Assist with quarterly/yearly account balance certifications and others as needed

Core:

Education:

• Secondary Education with specialized certification in Accounting and/or Finance.  Bachelor Degree in Finance or Accounting desirable, but it is not a requirement. 
• Part-qualified accountants from an internationally recognized institute of accountancy will have a distinct advantage. 
• Long-listed candidates will be required to undergo the UNDP Accountancy & Finance Test. 

Experience:

• Minimum 6 years with Secondary Education or 3 years with Bachelor Degree, of relevant experience with accounting and finance environments.
• Experience in accounting tasks, accounts reconciliations and books closing. 
• Experience of IPSAS or public accounting principles
• Advanced knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages.
• Experience in handling of web-based management systems and ERP financials, preferably PeopleSoft. 

Language:

Fluency in English. Knowledge of any other UN languages (French/Spanish/Arabic) is a plus.

Important applicant information

All posts in the GS categories are subject to local recruitment.

Internal mobility at GSSU is strongly encouraged and we reserve the right to reassign the newly appointed staff members with similar skillset and educational qualifications for similar functions and job categories at the same level in GSSU.  The internal lateral movements will be determined based on the needs of the organization while allowing the newly recruits to broaden their skills, build networks and gain fresh experience and to better align their profiles with the jobs.  

Applicant information about UNDP rosters

Note: UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

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Contract Duration: 2 Year with possibility for extension