Finance Assistant

The Finance Assistant provides financial and budgetary support within the Department of Operational Support at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Responsibilities include budget preparation, financial statement preparation, expenditure monitoring, and providing guidance and training to other general service staff.

Responsibilities

• May act as Certifying Officer on behalf of and in the absence of programme managers at offices outside of headquarters.
• Prepares interim and final financial statements for each trust fund contribution for approval by Account Division, in compliance with the reporting requirements stipulated in contribution agreements.
• Prepares supporting documents (narrative and supporting tables) with respect to finalization of cost estimates and budget proposals, in terms of staff and non-staff requirements.
• 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.
• Monitors expenditures and compares with approved budget; prepares adjustments as necessary.
• Reviews requisitions for goods and services to ensure correct objects of expenditure have been charged and availability of funds.
• Assists in preparation of budget performance submissions and finalization of budget performance reports, analysing variances between approved budgets and actual expenditures.
• Monitors integrity of various financial databases and extra-budgetary resources administered by the Headquarters Client Support Service, including review of agreements and cost plans, ensuring compliance with regulations and rules and established policies and procedures.
• 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.
• Keeps up-to-date on documents/reports/guidelines that have a bearing on matters related to programme, 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.
• Maintain and keep up-to-date files.
• May be responsible for providing guidance, training and daily supervision to other general service staff in the area of responsibility.
• Assists with the collection and analysis of data as well as preparation of data presentations and reports for information sharing, responding to queries, knowledge management, planning and decision making.
• Assists with visualizations and updating information material such as web pages or client portal.
• Performs other related duties, as assigned.

Requirements

• High school diploma or equivalent is required.
• A minimum of seven years (7) of experience in finance, budget, accounting, administrative services or related area is required.
• The minimum years of relevant experience is reduced to five for candidates who possess a first-level university degree or higher.
• Experience in Finance Module, Grants Management Module in Umoja or similar ERP system is required.
• At least one (1) year experience in data analytics or related area is desirable.
• Experience in the administration and management of extra-budgetary resources is desirable.
• English is required at UN Level II for reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

Skills

• Finance Module
• Grants Management Module
• Umoja ERP
• Budget Preparation
• Financial Statement Preparation
• Expenditure Monitoring
• Data Analytics
• Extrabudgetary Resource Management
• Financial Reporting
• Training Delivery

Languages

English