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.

UN Women’s Office, based in New Delhi, India, works to accelerate the advancement of gender equality and the empowerment of women through the strengthening of strategic partnerships, technical and policy advisory services and advocacy with governmental, inter-governmental and civil society partners. In addition, UN Women CO is charged with leading and coordinating the UN system’s work on gender equality, including through ensuring accountability for results.

Under the overall guidance & daily supervision of the Operations Manager, the Consultant (Finance Assistant) is responsible for the execution of a wide range of financial services and administrative processes in the India CO, ensuring timeliness, efficiency and transparent use of financial resources and delivery of services in accordance with organizational financial rules, regulations, policies, procedures and approved allocations. The Consultant - Finance Assistant promotes a client-oriented approach consistent with UN Women rules and regulations, standard practice and guidelines.

The Consultant - Finance Assistant works in close collaboration with the Operations Team in the Regional Office as well as with the Operations and Programme Teams in UN Women HQ for solving complex finance-related issues and information delivery.

Implement financial strategies, and adapt processes and procedures in full compliance of UN Women rules, regulations, policies, and recording and reporting systems:

• Perform duties in full compliance with UN Women financial regulations and rules, policies and standard operating procedures, including internal controls;
• Keep abreast of and ensure full compliance with amendments to International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS);
• Review and verify financial transactions, activities, and documentation; taking corrective actions as needed and reporting any unusual activities;
• Monitor financial exceptions reports for unusual activities or transaction, investigate anomalies and report to the supervisor conclusions and/or present recommendations for actions/decisions;
• Provide advice and recommend solutions to a wide range of financial issues;
• Monitor the proper functioning of the financial resources management system for office and programmatic budgets and resources;
• Review with Budget owners and Project Managers, in line with Month-end Closure Checklist, the Project Delivery Status Reports and investigate any overspend;
• Respond to instructions from the Operations Manager in relation to financial transactions.  Undertake timely corrective actions as requested by Finance Section to resolve financial data issues or provide information;
• Follow-up on audit recommendations to monitor implementation of corrective actions;
• Actively promote a client-oriented finance service to Country office.

Provide accounting and administrative support in full compliance of UN Women rules, regulations, policies, and recording and reporting systems, focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Assistance in proper control of the supporting documents for payments and financial reports for UNWOMEN projects; payment execution
• Track the appropriate and timely use of financial resources; 
• Prepare cost recovery documents or bills for the services provided by UN Women to other programmes or organizations;
• Ensure the maintenance of the control mechanism for development projects through monitoring budgets preparation and modifications and budgetary status;
• Maintain internal expenditure control system;
• Support in undertaking corrective actions on un-posted vouchers, including vouchers with budget check errors, match exceptions and unapproved vouchers. Frequently review and investigate payment vouchers which are in error; and respond to CO requests to resolve financial data issues;
• Prepare GST reimbursements with adequate documentation support, as necessary;
• Assist Project Managers with budget re-phrasal as required.
• Preparation of routine correspondence, faxes, memoranda and reports in accordance with UNWOMEN SOP.
• Provision of information for reports on financial status, procedures, exchange rates, costs and expenditures
• Preparation of routine correspondence, faxes, memoranda and reports in accordance with UNWOMEN SOP.
• Extracting, inputting, copying and filing data from various sources.
• Maintenance of the proper filing system for financial records and documents.
• Follow-up with other United Nations agencies for information relating to payments.

Provide finance support to the Programme and Operations teams:

• Review accounts receivables for UN Women projects and follow-up with project managers and finance section at regional office and/or headquarters on contributions, deposits creation in Atlas and their application to AR pending items;
• Support in preparing General Ledger journal entries (GLJEs) from proper supporting documents authorized by the budget owners and project managers;
• Review transactions to ensure payroll, travel claims, MPOs, and other entitlements are processed;
• Monitor each month over-expenditure of budgets and follow up with Budget Owner;
• Monitor regularly transactions posted to projects ensuring actual expenditure has been recorded against correct budget category and activity, take timely corrective actions as required;
• Monitor and proper follow up of all the financial items in Month-end and Year-end closure instructions status and under the guidance of the Operations Manager, take correction actions as required;
• Keep stakeholders and clients informed for timely actions/decisions and review status reports for quality control;
• Provide information inputs to financial reports for Office, HQ Finance and stakeholders;
• Assist with preparation for Audit of Projects and Partners by third party audit firm.  Follow-up and/or take action on audit recommendations to ensure implementation of corrective actions. Assist in reviewing the audit reports on NGO executed projects.

Facilitate knowledge building and knowledge sharing:

• Conduct training and/or helping organize training events and activities;
• Collect and compile lessons learned and best practices in financial management and services. Disseminate to clients and stakeholders as appropriate to build capacity and knowledge;
• Contribute to financial business operational practices and management innovations.
• Supervise and guide staff and personnel under responsibility, as applicable, provide technical guidance and monitor performance to ensure delivery of results according to plans and standards of accountability and performance;
• Undertake all trainings in relation to financial management provided, including webinars from headquarters.

Any other functions assigned by the Operations Manager.

Deliverables:

• Timely, complete and accurate financial transactions/activities/documentation.
• Timely and accurate monitoring of internal expenditures control systems.
• Timely and quality financial support to programmes and programme team.
• Timely Monthly/weekly Financial Reporting.

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration

Functional Competencies:

• Excellent knowledge of financial rules and regulations and accounting principles;
• Excellent knowledge and application skills of IT tools and understanding of management systems;
• Excellent knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages;
• Ability to provide input to business processes re-engineering, implementation of new systems.

Education and certification:

• Completion of secondary education is required.
• Bachelor's degree in Finance or Accounting is an asset

Experience:

• At least 5 years of experience in finance;
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English and Hindi is required
• Knowledge of the other UN official working language is an asset.

Application:

Interested applicants should apply to this announcement through UNDP jobs site: jobs.undp.org

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document:

• All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs;
• Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment, please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment;
• Applications should be submitted along with latest CV and statement of purpose/cover letter stating your interest in this role;
• Applications received after the close date will not be accepted;
• Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Evaluation and Selection Criteria:

Criteria for shortlisting of CVs will be based on the following assessment:

• Required Qualification (5 points);
• Minimum Experience relevant to the assignment (5 points);
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems. (5 points).

 The evaluation process for selection of the candidate will be based on the following assessment:

• Written Test (30 points)
• Interview (70 points)

Please Note:

• For an assignment requiring travel, consultants of 65 years or more require full medical examination and statement of fitness to work prior to engagement in the consultancy.
• Due to large number of potential applicants only competitively selected candidates will be contacted for remaining steps of the selection process.
• This is a full time assignment. The consultant is expected to disclose any outside activity, shall not be permitted to take up any outside business during the course of this assignment.

Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment.