Background

Organizational Context

Under the day-to-day supervision of the Director of Operations, the CFO is responsible for the execution of a wide range of financial services and administrative processes within the Mali office, ensuring speed, efficiency and effectiveness. and the transparent use of financial resources and the provision of services in accordance with the organization's financial rules, regulations, policies and procedures, and approved assignments. The Financial Associate advocates a client-centered approach, consistent with UN Women's rules and regulations, standard practices and guidelines.

The Finance Associate works closely with the regional office operations team and the operations and program teams at UN Women Headquarters to resolve complex financial issues and disseminate informations.

Duties and Responsibilities

Functions

Implement financial strategies and adapt processes and procedures in full compliance with UN Women rules, regulations, policies and registration and reporting systems

• Perform duties in accordance with UN Women's Financial Regulations, Rules, Policies and Standard Operating Procedures, including internal controls;
• Keep abreast of changes in International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) and ensure that they are fully respected;
• Review and verify financial transactions, activities and documentation; take corrective action if necessary and report any unusual activity;
• Monitors financial exception reports for unusual activities or transactions, investigates discrepancies and reports findings to the supervisor and / or makes recommendations for actions / decisions;
• Collect, verify and present the information and data to be used for the planning of financial resources and the formulation of work plans, budgets, development proposals and implementation arrangements of the Mali Office;
• Provide assistance in the development / implementation of the annual work plan in the Results Management System (RMS) as required.
• Provide advice and recommend solutions to a wide range of financial issues;
• Ensure the proper functioning of the office's financial resources management system as well as the various projects and programs
• Implement and monitor cost saving and cost reduction strategies;
• Review with budget officials and project leaders, in accordance with the end-of-month closure checklist, project progress reports and investigate any exceedances;
• Respond to instructions from the Deputy Director of Financial Management or Headquarters Finance Section regarding financial transactions. Take the necessary corrective action in a timely manner, as requested by the Finance Section, to resolve financial data issues or provide information;
• Participate as a member of the Mali office team in the internal and external audits of the office
• Support the follow-up of the audit recommendations in collaboration with the flagship coordinators and the Program Financial Management Officer (PMSU) to monitor the implementation of the corrective actions;
• Actively promote a focused customer relationship financial service to colleagues in other departments, agencies in Mali, other country offices and the regional office.

Prepare and administer regional office budgets in full compliance with UN Women rules, regulations, policies and registration and reporting systems

• Develop the budget, control budget allocations, control expenses and prepare revisions according to the needs of the office;
• Monitor the appropriate and timely use of financial resources;
• Prepare cost recovery documents or invoices for services provided by UN Women to other programs or organizations;
• Create projects in Atlas, prepare budget revisions, revise assignments and status of projects; and determine the unused funds
• Ensure the maintenance of the control mechanism for development projects through the development and changes of budgets and their status;
• Ensure the maintenance of the internal expenditure control system;
• Undertake corrective actions on Un-Post Vouchers , including payment vouchers with budget errors , unapproved vourers in the system ( unapproved vouchers )
• Check and frequently analyze erroneous payments and respond to requests from the regional office and headquarters to resolve financial data issues;
• Prepare VAT refunds with proper documentation, if necessary.
• Proceed to the recording of the data in Atlas and make a rigorous follow-up. Keep stakeholders and clients informed of actions and / or decisions made in a timely manner;
• Manage petty cash funds
• Help project managers rephrase, "rephasing" as needed, the budget.

Provide financial support to program and operations teams

• Monitor contributions to be received under agreements signed with donors and monitor project managers and the finance section of the regional office and / or headquarters for timely registration in the system (Atlas)
• Prepare payments based on purchase orders (PO Vouchers) or direct payments (No PO Vouchers) for development projects;
• Prepare General Ledger Ledger (GLJE) journal entries from appropriate supporting documents authorized by budget officials and project managers;
• Review transactions in Atlas, ensure that financial information permitting payment of staff salaries, travel claims, and other entitlements are processed;
• Monitor the configuration of budgets in ATLAS to ensure that they comply with the budgets agreed with donors and entered into ATLAS and detailed by activity code.
• Monthly follow up on budget overruns and coordinate with the budget manager for corrections;
• Monitor project transactions on a regular basis by ensuring that actual expenditures have been recorded against budget category and activity, take appropriate corrective action in a timely manner
• Assist the Program Financial Management Officer (PMSU) with adequate monitoring of advances to implementing partners, review their financial reports with project managers;
• Monitor the financial situation and, under the direction of the regional office finance specialist, put in place control mechanisms for management / development projects;
• Monitor and correctly track all financial elements in the month-end and year-end closure instructions and, under the direction of the operations manager, take the necessary corrective action;
• Keep stakeholders and clients informed of actions / decisions in a timely manner and review budget execution reports to ensure quality control;
• Provide necessary information for the financial reporting of the Mali Office, Regional Office, Headquarters Finance and Stakeholders;
• Finalize, in collaboration with colleagues at headquarters and the regional office, the financial reports to donors, to other clients, within the deadlines indicated in the partnership agreement;
• Ensure consistency between revenue and expenditure in the control of commitments for development projects.
• Make contributions and take the necessary steps to facilitate the rapid closure of the financial project;
• Support the process of financial reporting to donors by providing timely information and taking the necessary actions, as required by the UN Women's Virtual Global Service Center for Donor Reporting.
• Participate in the preparation of the audit of projects and partners by a third-party audit firm. Monitor and / or take action, in support of the Program Financial Management Officer (PMSU) on the recommendations of the audit to ensure the implementation of corrective actions. Participate in the review of audit reports on projects implemented by NGOs.

Provide administrative support for resource mobilization

• Compile and process information from donors, country office and program team as inputs to various databases and documents.
• Prepare draft cost-sharing agreements, including contribution conditions as part of resource mobilization efforts, respecting standard agreements where possible. Monitoring of contributions in support of the resource mobilization lead as part of the country office's resource mobilization efforts.

Facilitate the construction and sharing of knowledge

• Organize training and / or help organize events and training activities;
• Collect and compile lessons learned and best practices in financial management. Disseminate to clients and stakeholders to build capacity and knowledge;
• Contribute to operational practices in terms of financial management and management innovations.
• Supervise and guide staff under their responsibility, as applicable, to provide technical advice and monitor performance to ensure results are achieved in accordance with accountability and performance plans and standards;
• Undertake all financial management training provided, including Headquarters webinars.

Indicators of Performances

• Timely, complete and accurate financial transactions / activities / documentation
• Accurate and timely advice on UN Women's financial rules and regulations
• Regular and timely monitoring of the financial resource management system and use of financial resources in a timely manner.
• Timely and accurate assistance in budget formulation and assignment control
• Spot and accurate monitoring of internal expenditure control systems
• Timely and quality financial support to programs and the program team.

Competencies

Competencies:

Core Values:

• Respect for diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Sensitization and sensitivity regarding gender issues
• Responsibility
• Creative problem solving
• Effective communication
• Inclusive collaboration
• Stakeholder engagement
• Give the example

Functional Competencies

• Excellent knowledge of financial rules and regulations and accounting principles;
• Excellent knowledge and skills in applying IT tools and understanding of management systems;
• Excellent knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages;
• Ability to contribute to the reengineering of business processes and the implementation of new systems
• Ability to administer and execute financial and accounting processes and transactions.

Required Skills and Experience

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or any other equivalent degree in the field
• National or international certification specialized in accounting and finance, an asset
• The successful completion of the UN Women Accounting and Finance Test is required.

Experience:

• At least seven years of experience with increasing responsibilities in the financial field;
• Experience in the use of computers and office automation packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and computation and database packages, experience in handling Web management systems.
• Experience in using PeopleSoft ATLAS an asset.
• Experience in an agency of the United Nations system would be an asset

Language Requirements: Proficiency in French and English is required

Source:https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=86885