Antecedentes

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 Financial Operations & Field Support Unit under the responsibility of the Deputy Director of Financial Management.?

Under the guidance and direct supervision of the Finance Specialist – Financial Operations & Field Support Unit Head, the Finance Specialist, Field Support is responsible for the management, oversight, advice and support to Regional and Country Offices on timely basis.? Assistance with leading development projects for the finance users for better business practices and controls, as well as automation; ensuring all finance users are compliant with and trained in the accounting standards, financial regulations and rules, policies and procedures; assisting the Unit Head to lead the Section in dedicated support, training, advice for Regional Offices and Country Offices (ROs and COs) and Headquarters (HQ).? Further, will cover the duties of the Finance Specialist P3 – Financial Operations in their absence. 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

Manage the monitoring and oversight of financial systems in accordance with UN Women rules, regulations, policies and procedures

• Supervise and report on the RO oversight of their Region’s Month-end Closure Instructions Checklist and Year-end Closure Instruction Checklists;
• Oversee the HQ Month-end Closure Instructions Checklist and Year-end Closure Instruction Checklists;
• Prepare monthly analytics by Region and HQ to support management of delivery and key audit areas;
• Monitor the RO and COs for compliance with IPSAS accounting standards by reviewing business processes and systems modules resulting in IPSAS compliant general ledger and financial statements, adherence with Finance Manual, Internal Control policy and Delegation of Authority;
• Monitor financial systems and reports for unusual activities, transactions, investigate anomalies;
• Identify areas of risk and providing recommendations and action plans for addressing issues raised as part of the financial risk assessment reviews;
• Assist and respond in a timely manner to questions and provide analysis as requested from ROs, COs and HQ;
• Report to Unit Head and Deputy Director of Financial Management any case of non-adherence for timely action and recommendations for actions/decisions;
• Prepare regularly GL reconciliations as assigned;
• Prepare adhoc data analysis and reports as assigned.

Manage outstanding advances to partners in accordance with UN Women policies and procedures:

• Review Implementing/Responsible Partner advance procedures and test against UN Women policies to ensure compliance.? Investigate and follow up on any anomalies for timely action and resolution;?
• Oversee that advance payments and direct payments for programme implementation are properly reviewed and made on a timely basis and recorded into Atlas;
• Review all submissions for write-off or unilateral liquidation of partner advances, ensuring all documents are provided ahead of submitting to Deputy Director of Financial Management;
• Review generation of bi-monthly aged outstanding partner advance reports, ensuring monthly reconciliation with general ledger;
• Prepare annual Impairment calculation on Aged Outstanding partner advance balances;
• Review and propose automation and or simplification of liquidation of partner advances process.

Engagement with Programme Division Units:

• Consolidate Project Appraisal Committee (PAC) review and meeting attendance in conjunction with Unit Head to ensure Finance areas are covered and conveyed during HQ PAC sessions;
• Seek regular meetings with Programme colleagues in areas of mutual workplans to improve policies, procedures and systems in conjunction with Unit Head;
• Update Programme colleagues on key areas of financial management that require improvement by ROs and COs and plan strategy for risk mitigation in conjunction with Unit Head.

Preparation and Support of the audit processes (External, Internal, NGO/NIM, EU Verifications) in accordance with UN Women rules, regulations, policies and procedures:

• Follow up and/or take prompt action to respond to audits and other findings on financial management;
• Support the pre-audit preparations for financial management of the RO, COs to be audit ready.?
• Conduct training to the RO, CO and HQ as part of preparation for audit/verification as required;
• Prepare financial data to be used for planning of Internal Audit and NGO/NIM audit processes;
• Provide technical support and guidance to ROs, COs during the External, Internal, and NGO/NIM audits and EU Verification processes;
• Travel to the COs as necessary to assist in the CO audits, when required;
• Prepare responses to Internal and External audit inquiries and other findings related to financial management for review/approval
• Participate on behalf of Finance team on HQ Audit Support Groups as required;
• 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.

Manage financial training and communication for Clients:

• Assist with the regular meetings and communication plan to ensure close relationship between Finance Section and Finance staff in ROs, COs and HQ;
• Promote pro-actively and support Finance staff in ROs and COs with cost effective tools such as Skype, webinars, SharePoint, and online forums;
• Lead development projects for ensuring such effective tools are in place and regularly monitored for improvements with feedback from Finance staff at HQ, ROs, and COs;
• Lead the Implementation of the approved Training plans on a recurrent basis to ensure competency across all Finance staff of UN Women.? Meet with clients and stakeholders as requested to build capacity and knowledge;
• Implement the Induction Training plan in a methodology that new Finance staff can access on day one of taking up post;
• Provide dedicated remote focal point support for Finance staff at ROs, COs HQ on a timely basis.?Support the Finance Helpdesk function to ensure accurate and timely response to issues and advice requested in conjunction with other staff of the Finance Section or Department of Management and Administration (DMA).

Participate in knowledge management and capacity building:

• Identify, participate in the development and/or recommend enhancement/updates/improvement in accounting system (Atlas financial modules) and other financial systems for better business practices and controls;
• Provide recommendations to Unit Head and Deputy Director of Financial Management for improvements to existing reports and development of new reports. Identify and assist to develop projects for the Finance staff for improvement in processes and procedures;
• Design and/or introduce, learning tools, best practices and innovations in financial business operational practices and management, promote transparency, ease of communications, hosting of financial documents, and all policies and procedures between all UNW users;
• Capture, synthesize and/or codify lessons learned and best practices in the region support and financial management and services. Disseminate to Finance Section HQ and other Offices to share knowledge and build capacity;
• Manage the Finance Section Sharepoint site.

Supervise Field Support finance staff:

• Promote teamwork and high level of productivity through efficient staff supervision and mentoring;
• Perform the daily distribution of workload amongst staff;
• Establish performance plans for staff based on workplan and ensure preparation and review meets established timelines;
• 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 assigned GL accounts as delegated for compliance with standard agreements on a timely basis.

Perform other duties as assigned by Deputy Director of Financial Management.

Key Performance Indicators:

• Timely and accurate monitoring of performance of the financial team, including providing recommendations to improve business processes;
• Financial activities/transactions and documentations are implemented/processed according to UN Women rules and regulations, policies and procedures;
• Programme units receive timely support in relation to financial management, budgeting and planning;
• Timely and accurate professional advice on financial issues provided to the RO management and Region’s Country Offices;
• Timely reporting on financial issues.

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 Core Values and Competencies:?http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf.

Functional Competencies:

• Very strong knowledge and expertise in accounting and financial management;
• Very strong knowledge of complex financial rules and a regulations, preferably UN/UN Women Financial Rules and regulations;
• 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;
• Very strong knowledge and experience in the application of complex financial systems and modules (such as Atlas);
• 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:

• 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.

Experience:

• Minimum 5 years of extensive and progressively responsible experience in accounting, financial management and at least (2) years of which should be at the supervisory level, 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);
• Completion of UN Women Accountancy & Finance Test required.

Languages:

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required;
• Working knowledge of another UN language is desirable.

Application:

• All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from?http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment?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.