UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.
The Division of Management and Administration is responsible for the planning, allocation and management of financial, administrative resources including information communications and technology, the effective and efficient delivery of essential operations services in UN Women, continuous development and improvement in operations, policies, and methods to align with UN Women and stakeholders’ evolving business needs and advisory support to the Executive Director in the formulation and implementation of the UN Women overall mission, strategy and plans of actions.
The Finance Specialist position forms part of UN Women’s Virtual Global Service Centre (VGSC) for financial donor reporting and project closure under the responsibility of the Deputy Director of Financial Management.
Under the guidance and direct supervision of the Finance Specialist – Financial Reporting and Virtual Global Service Centre (VGSC) Unit Head, the Finance Specialist, Financial Reporting and VGSC is responsible for the management, oversight, timely and effective control of UN Women financial reporting and financial project closure. The Finance Specialist will always promote a client-oriented approach and abide by UN Women’s financial regulations and rules, ensuring compliance with UN Women Internal Control Framework, financial rules, regulations, policies, procedures and IPSAS.
Duties and Responsibilities:
Prepare and supervise Financial reporting and other management reports:
Prepare monthly and mid-year UN Women’s management accounts, specifically Statement of Financial Performance and Position and segment report for Financial Performance.
Prepare support workings for Statements of annual UN Women Financial Statements.
Prepare support workings for the Annual Certified Financial Donor reports.
Prepare and review of timely and accurate financial donor reports for donors for UN Women offices and sections; continuously review business process.
Provide quality assurance review and clearance of financial donor reports prepared by Finance Associates.
Prepare interim and annual donor reports in accordance with required timelines, donor agreements and any other financial reports required by Trust Funds and other cost sharing arrangements.
Prepare regular reports on the status of outstanding donor reports to the relevant unit and senior management and ensure action is taken to resolve pending reports.
Provide support to relevant offices to ensure that recording appropriate adjustments for errors identified during the donor reporting process are made.
Prepare reports for all over expenditures at a project level for communication by Unit Head; Prepare other adhoc management reports, as requested.
Supervise financial project closure:
Review submissions for financial project closure of projects from UN Women offices/sections within timeframe established in UN Women Financial Regulations and Rules; continuously review business process.
Prepare reports to facilitate monitoring and follow up with Regional Offices and HQ Sections on status of operationally closed projects which have not yet been financially closed across UN Women.
Maintain proper supporting documents for refunds to donors and general ledger journals.
Develop donor reporting and financial project closure capacity:
Provide donor reporting and financial project closure capacity building for each of the six Regional Offices, including conducting detailed training (virtual global service center) on a daily basis.
Assist with building capacity and knowledge throughout UN Women offices and sections by developing tools and resources which demonstrate best practices for the financial management of programmes and accounting and record keeping practices needed to ensure that donor reports can be prepared on a timely basis.
Ensure monitoring, oversight and financial improvements:
Review and provide financial clearance of all donor reports and project closure actions for compliance with donor agreements and UN Women policies and procedures on a timely basis.
Ensure full compliance with International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) and all UN Women Financial Regulations and Rules, Operations manuals, Internal Control policies and procedures, Standard operating procedures, Finance manual, and Delegations of Authority to ensure consistency across UN Women and harmonization with other UN Agencies. Provide recommendations to Deputy Director of Financial Management for proposed amendments.
Follow up adherence to issued guidelines with users to ensure all actions are taken within the established timelines. Report to the Deputy Director of Financial Management any case of non-adherence for timely action.
Provide alternate support for EU funded programmes as required.
Provide advisory support and technical guidance:
Review and reconcile other resources funded project cash balance to General ledger and provide advice to all offices and sections of UN Women on cash balances.
Provide timely advice to all offices and sections of UNW on financial donor reporting and financial project closure.
Collaborate with other stakeholders on project closure and financial donor reporting to ensure that best practices are being followed.
Respond to Audit:
Participate as a member of the UN Women finance team for EU verification missions of UN Women, including full participation in preparation of offices and clearances of verification responses.
Draft responses for HQ and review and draft responses for Field Offices in relation to internal and external audit requests relating to financial donor reporting and project closure.
Follow up and/or take prompt action to respond to audit and other findings on financial management including recommending improvements in policies, procedures and practices, as required.
Provide knowledge building for financial reporting and project closure:
Provide suggestions to improve the financial reporting and project closure sections of UN Women Finance. website to ensure that current dissemination of financial information and policies to all UN Women users.
Provide technical inputs to and/or initiate the development of UNW financial policies, procedures, guidance notes, internal control, business flows, reporting and systems.
Conduct and/or organize training events and activities and conduct inductions of new staff members.
Meet with clients and stakeholders as requested to build capacity and knowledge.
Supervise Financial Reporting and Project Closure finance staff:
Promote teamwork and high level of productivity through efficient staff supervision and mentoring.
Perform the daily distribution of workload amongst staff assigned to donor reporting and financial project closure.
Supervise daily progress and provide guidance and direction to the staff as necessary to ensure goals and objectives are achieved.
Approving and certifying function:
Perform delegated approval function in Atlas on a timely basis.
Review and provide financial clearance of all donor agreements as delegated for compliance with standard agreements on a timely basis.
Perform other duties as assigned by Unit Head – Reporting & VGSC and Deputy Director of Financial Management
Required Skills and Experience:
Education and certification:
Master’s Degree (or equivalent) in Finance/Accounting, or a Professional accounting qualification from an internationally recognized institute of accountancy, (Chartered Accountant or Certified Public Accountant).
Professionally qualified accountants from an internationally recognized institute of accountancy will have a distinct advantage.
Successful completion of UN Women accounting technical test.
Experience:
At least 5 years of extensive and progressively responsible experience in financial management, at least 1 years of which should be at the supervisory level, in a large international and/or corporate organization.
Experience of IPSAS or IFRS environment with experience in producing financial statements and notes;
Experience in financial donor reporting and financial project closure is highly desirable;
Solid knowledge and experience in the application of complex financial ERP systems and modules (preferably PeopleSoft/Atlas);
Experience in the UN system and its organizations is an asset;
Experience with IT development automation of financial systems and reports is highly desirable.
Language Requirements:
Fluency in written and spoken English is required;
Working knowledge of another UN language is desirable.
