Antecedentes

NOTE: The duration of the assignment is for 364 days. Whereas an external candidate will be offered a temporary appointment, subject to release agreements, staff members in UN Women may be administered as a temporary assignment and staff members in the UN Common system may be administered under a loan arrangement.

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 uses PeopleSoft ERP system, referred to internally as “Atlas” which was implemented in 2004 and comprises various modules including, Accounts Payable, Contracts Module, General Ledger, Treasury Module, Grants and Project Management, Bank-to-Book (B2B) and Asset Management modules. UN Women has embarked on the process of migrating from the current PeopleSoft ERP to Oracle Cloud ERP in order to improve internal processes and keep up with evolving industry standards. The implementation of the Oracle Cloud ERP will be staggered with target dates for the roll-out of different modules spread from 2022.

The Financial Management Section (FMS) is the part of Division of Management and Administration (DMA) and comprises five teams – Finance Section: Revenue & Asset management, Virtual Global Service Centre - Financial donor reporting and project closure (includes regional office VGSC Finance Associate staff), Financial operations, Finance Field support; and Regional Office Finance Specialists.  FMS is responsible for the strategic planning and management of all activities related to financial services and accounting, revenue management and reporting, treasury operations and financial services, implementation of internal controls and audit co-ordination, financial processing and preparing statutory financial statements for the entity and financial statements for the donors, as well as other ad-hoc financial and management reports on UN Women financial resources.

Due to their central role FMS plays in the accounting function at UN Women, FMS will be heavily involved in the implementation of the Oracle Cloud ERP including the review and configuration of the Chart of Accounts in the new ERP and play a key role in the configuration of all modules in the new ERP that result in recording of financial transactions, which is a cross-cutting function across all business owners of the ERP.

FMS is looking to hire a Finance Specialist to support the section in the roll-out of the Oracle Cloud ERP. The Finance Specialist will perform the functions described in the section below.

A Finance Specialist is sought to support FMS during the roll-out of the Oracle Cloud ERP including back-filing roles of staff within FMS, where assigned, to free up capacity to perform other key functions related to the ERP implementation and FMS high-priority tasks as identified in its workplan.

The Finance Specialist position forms part of Financial Management Section (FMS) Global Network’s response to the new Oracle Cloud ERP. This position will be under the daily supervision of the Deputy Director of Financial Management.

The Finance Specialist is responsible for providing technical support to FMS for:  i) back-fill support at Professional level, in particular Year-end closure, Financial Statements, and during Audit period (Feb-May); ii) surge capacity for data cleansing; GL reconciliations and User testing; iii) support new ERP financial management training; iv) draft amendments to assigned financial management procedures; and v) Helpdesk support where continued funding is provided. 

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.

Deberes y responsabilidades

Support the Financial Management Section in the Oracle ERP Project providing surge capacity as assigned for:

Provide ERP Financial implementation support:

• Review of General Ledger (GL) accounts assigned for data cleansing;
• Perform GL reconciliations on accounts;
• Participate in User testing;
• Provide technical support in new ERP financial management training;
• Draft amendments to financial management procedures;
• Perform Helpdesk support where duties permit, noting this position is not a dedicated Helpdesk function;
• Collaborate with Financial Management - ERP Project Coordinator.

Provide Accounting services:

• Perform data cleansing with FMS Global Network;
• Perform General Ledger reconciliations and investigations and accounting services as needed;
• Provide accounting support during year-end closure, financial statements and audit preparations as required.

Approve and certify requests in ERP system:

• Perform delegated approval function in Atlas;
• Review and provide financial clearance of all donor agreements as delegated for compliance with standard agreements on a timely basis.

Provide Financial Management Section surge capacity in the following areas as assigned by Unit Heads:

• Perform accurate recording and appropriate classification of revenue and accounts receivable in accordance with IPSAS Standards;
• Support assurance transactions in revenue, un-applied deposits, accounts receivable and clearing account are completed on monthly basis; and resolution of reconciling items;
• Perform analysis for fixed assets on a regular basis and oversee the proper maintenance of financial records in accordance with International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) Policy Framework and related UN IPSAS policies;
• Supervise outstanding advances to partners in accordance with UN Women policies and procedures;
• Monitor financial systems and reports for unusual activities, transactions, and investigate anomalies;
• Prepare and supervise Financial reporting and other management reports;
• Prepare and supervise Financial Project closure;
• Provide analysis services.

Perform other duties as specified by Deputy Director.

Key Performance Indicators: 

• Active participation in the Project Formulation and Implementation sessions and other working groups on the new Oracle Cloud ERP;
• Timely and accurate advice related to project given;
• Regular coordination with FMS Global Network;
• Deputy Director and all Finance Technical leads are kept up to date with design and implementation;
• potential conflicts and/or issues in the ERP development against UN Women’s financial regulations and/or policies, escalated in a timely manner;
• Data cleansing, migration and training plan implemented in a timely manner.

Competencias

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.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework: https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637

Functional Competencies:

• Very strong knowledge in accounting and financial management;
• Strong knowledge of complex financial rules and regulations, preferably UN/UN Women Financial Rules and regulations;
• Strong knowledge in the application of complex financial systems and modules (such as Atlas);
• Demonstrated business acumen and judgment;
• Strong conceptual/strategic skills and success in implementing financial re-engineering, management systems development, policy design, innovation, and knowledge product development;
• Advance knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages;
• Ability to provide advice and support;
• Strong communication skills and personable approach is required;
• Strong analytical skills.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education: 

• Advanced (Masters) University Degree in Finance/Accounting or Professionally qualified accountants from an internationally recognized institute of Accountancy is required.

Experience: 

• Minimum 5 years of extensive and progressively responsible experience in accounting, financial management.
• At least 2 years of team management experience in a large international and/or corporate organization preferably in the UN system and its organizations.
• Experience of IPSAS or IFRS is required.
• Experience in the usage of office software packages (MS Word, Excel, Cloud, etc).
• Experience in web-based management systems and ERP financial systems such as PeopleSoft (Atlas).
• Previous experience in Peoplesoft and Oracle Cloud ERP environment would be an advantage, including implementation of new systems.
• Completion of UN Women Accounting Test required.

Languages: 

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required.
• Knowledge of another UN official language an asset.

Application:

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-p11-personal-history-form.doc?la=en&vs=558. Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

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.