Senior Finance and Budget Assistant

Org. Setting and Reporting

This position is located in the Payroll and Accounts Payable Section in the Division of Administration (DA), Department of Operational Support (DOS). The Department of Operational Support was established to provide operational advisory services to operating entities across the Secretariat, including other departments, offices away from headquarters, field missions, and regional commissions. The Payroll and Accounts Payable Section processes global payroll and payments, provides policy advise and operational guidance, testing and implementation of enhancements. The incumbent will report to the Chief of the Payroll Section.

Responsibilities

Within delegated authority, the Senior Finance and Budget Assistant will be responsible for the following duties:

Budget:

• Acts as Certifying Officer on behalf of and in the absence of programme managers at offices outside headquarters.
• Undertakes reviews, analyses and preparation of the medium-term plan and its revisions.
• Reviews, analyses and assists in the finalization of cost estimates and budget proposals, in terms of staff and non-staff requirements, including programmatic aspects; ensures compliance with the medium-term plan and other legislative mandates.
• Assists managers in the elaboration of resource requirements for budget submissions.
• Undertakes research and provides support to higher level Finance & Budget Officers with respect to budget reviews of relevant intergovernmental and expert bodies.
• Provides input into the preparation of allotments, including redeployment of funds when necessary, ensuring appropriate expenditures.
• Monitors budget implementation/expenditures and recommends reallocation of funds as necessary.
• Reviews requisitions for goods and services to ensure (a) correct objects of expenditure have been charged, and (b) availability of funds.
• Monitors extra-budgetary resources, including review of agreements and cost plans, ensuring compliance with regulations and rules and established policies and procedures.
• Assists in the preparation of budget performance submissions.
• Assists in finalization of budget performance reports, analysing variances between approved budgets and actual expenditures.
• Monitors integrity of various financial databases.
• Verifies accuracy of input data, ensuring consistency of data in previous allotments to new allotments issued.
• Co-ordinates with other finance and budget staff on related issues during preparation of budget reports.

Finance:

• Analyses complex and/or unusual accounting transactions and difficult claims for travel, tax, invoices, entitlements etc. Makes recommendations to the Chief of the Unit/Section on appropriate follow-up procedures.
• Reviews and reconciles various clearing accounts to ensure appropriate balances. Investigates erroneous/invalid entries and takes appropriate corrective accounting action.
• Audits various accounting transactions, e.g., payroll, education grants, final payments, income tax returns, travel claims, etc., to ensure correctness of disbursement computations and adherence to relevant staff rules, financial regulations, ST/AI issuances or practices.
• Reviews completeness of reports and consolidates the accounts of overseas offices on a periodic basis.
• Prepares worksheets and analyze accounts. Assists in the preparation of financial statements for various funds, e.g., general, peacekeeping, technical co-operation, trust fund, revenue and other special accounts.
• Approves payment and journal vouchers for various claims/payments, e.g., travel reimbursement, education grants, salary advances, etc., ensuring compliance with relevant rules and control procedures.
• Provides guidance and training (including the preparation of training materials) to staff at Headquarters and in the field with respect to transaction processing and the use of various systems such UN ERP System (UMOJA.
• Supervises other general service staff when required.

General:

• Keeps up-to-date on documents/reports/guidelines that have a bearing on matters related to programme and/or peacekeeping budgets, ensuring compliance with intergovernmental recommendations and decisions as well as with United Nations policies and procedures.
• Drafts or prepares correspondence to respond to enquiries in respect to relevant financial and budget matters.
• Provides guidance, training and daily supervision to other general service staff in the area of responsibility.
• Performs other related duties, as assigned.

Education

• High school diploma or equivalent is required.

Work Experience

• A minimum of ten years of experience in accounting, finance or related area is required. The minimum years of relevant experience is reduced to eight years for candidates who possess a first-level university degree or higher. At least five of the years of experience focused on transactional-based accounting activities such as payroll, payments or travel/vendor claims processing is required.
• Experience in the use of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, such as Umoja, SAP or equivalent is required. Experience working with the United Nations or a large global organization’s systems and procedures is required.
• Experience in processing payroll, vendor/travel claims settlement in an international organization is required. Experience with disbursements and adherence to relevant Staff Rules and Regulations including entitlements and Financial Regulations, Rules, and procedures of the United Nations or similar international organization is desirable. Experience with auditing historical payroll data is desirable.

Languages

• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the position advertised, fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official United Nations language is desirable.

Source: https://careers.un.org/jobSearchDescription/244210?language=en