Background

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.

Under the overall guidance of the Operations Manager and the daily supervision of the Finance Associate, the Finance Assistant is responsible for the execution of a wide range of financial services and administrative processes in the Country Office (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 Finance Assistant promotes a client-oriented approach consistent with UN Women rules and regulations, standard practices and guidelines.

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

Duties and Responsibilities

Implement financial strategies, 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;
• 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;
• Draft reports on financial status, procedures, exchange rates, costs and expenditures;
• Follow-up on audit recommendations to monitor implementation of corrective actions;
• Collect, verify and present information and data for use in the planning of financial resources and the formulation of the Country Office Ethiopia programme work plans, budgets, proposals on implementation arrangements and execution modalities;
• Provide assistance in Annual Work Plan entry in Results Management System (RMS) as required.
• 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;
• Implement cost saving and reduction strategies;

Prepare and administer budgets in full compliance of UN Women rules, regulations, policies, and recording and reporting systems

• Formulate the budget, control allotments, monitor expenditures, and prepare revisions according to the needs of the CO;
• 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;
• Create projects in Atlas, prepare budget revisions, revise project awards and status; and determine unutilized funds;
• Implement and maintain control mechanism for development projects through monitoring budgets preparation and modifications and budgetary status;
• Maintain internal expenditure control system;
• Undertake corrective actions on un-posted vouchers, including vouchers with budget check errors, match exceptions and unapproved vouchers. Respond to RO /HQ requests to resolve financial data issues;
• Input data in Atlas and monitor status. Keep stakeholders and clients informed for timely action and/or decisions;

Provide finance support to the Programme and Operations team

• 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;
• Prepare PO and non-PO vouchers for management/development projects;
• Record and post transactions in Atlas, process SSA payments, travel claims, MPOs, and other entitlements;
• Support monitoring of budgets in ATLAS to ensure they are in accordance with budgets agreed with donors and are input into ATLAS at the detailed Activity ID level;
• 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 advances to implementing partners, review their financial reports together with project managers;
• Support monitoring of the financial status and under the guidance of the Operations Manager implement control mechanisms for management/development projects;
• Support  monitoring 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 Regional Office, HQ Finance and stakeholders as required.
• Provide inputs and take necessary actions to facilitate timely financial project closure;
• Support financial donor reporting by providing timely information and taking necessary actions as required by UN Women Virtual Global Service Centre for financial donor reporting;

Provide administrative support to Resource Mobilization

• Compile and process information from donors, CO, and programme team, as inputs to various databases and documents.
• Prepare drafts for cost sharing agreements including conditions of contributions within resource mobilization efforts, adhering to standard agreements where possible. Follow up on contributions within the CO resource mobilization efforts.

Facilitate knowledge building and knowledge sharing

• Conduct training and/or helping organize training events and activities; as well as participate in trainings;
• Support collection and compilation of  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

Key performance indicator

• Timely, complete and accurate financial transactions/activities/documentation
• Timely and accurate advice on UN Women financial rules and regulations
• Timely and regular monitoring of financial resources management system and timely expenditure of financial resources
• Timely and accurate support to budget formulation and controlling allotments
• Timely and accurate monitoring of internal expenditures control systems
• Timely and accurate drafting of management financial reports

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Functional Competencies

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

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting.
• Specialized national or international certification in accounting and finance is an asset

Expereince

• At least 2 years of progressively responsible 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.
• Experience in the use of ATLAS is an asset.

Language 

• Fluency in English is required;
• Knowledge of other UN language is an asset;

UNWOMEN is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.