Administrative Assistant (Finance)

Organizational Setting

FAO's Subregional Office for Mesoamerica is responsible for developing, promoting, overseeing and implementing agreed strategies for addressing subregional food, agriculture and rural development priorities. It develops and maintains relations with subregion-wide institutions including Regional Economic Integration Organizations (REIOs). It assists the FAO Representations in the subregion with addressing subregional food security, agriculture and rural development issues at country level. The Subregional Office is a subsidiary of FAO's Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean.

The position is located in the Subregional Office for Mesoamerica (SLM), Panama City, Panama.

Main Purpose

The Administrative Assistant (Finance) coordinates and performs the full range of office support, management support and administrative tasks, providing for the smooth and efficient running of the Office. He/she ensures quality and consistency of the flow of office work and information in the work unit.

Supervision Received/Exercised

The Administrative Assistant (Finance) reports to the Administrative Officer in SLM. The incumbent operates independently and takes decisions on work priorities and exercises initiative for dealing with cases without precedents. Supervision received is focused on the quality of work outputs. He/she provides guidance and advice to other office support staff.

Working Relationships

The Administrative Assistant (Finance) works closely with a wide range of colleagues in the division/region, with central units and external clients, performing and coordinating office- and management support services, and providing procedural guidance and information.

Key Functions/Results

• Maintain financial records and monitoring systems for the office; maintain imprest accounts; reconcile expenditures, balances, payments, statements and other data for day-to-day transactions and reports; manage the Country Office petty cash; monitor project and programme accounts for which responsibility is assigned. • Retrieve, enter, select and analyse data from a wide variety of sources, including FAO's corporate systems and data bases; verify accuracy of data documents; make necessary calculations. • Verify availability of funds under all programmes; ensure that operational expenditures are in accordance with approved budgets and that all committing documents are complete and consistent. • Prepare correspondence of administrative and financial nature; draft correspondence to verify data, answer queries, and obtain additional information on transactions and financial matters, as required. • Maintain detailed records of budget estimates, obligations and available balances; participate in the consolidation of budget proposals; prepare financial data for budget estimates and financial planning. • Provide reports on budgetary performance of office accounts, and, if required, of project accounts; report variations from budgets. • Maintain local inventory records with responsibility for proper recording of assets, their maintenance and safeguard. • Maintain a filing system of administrative and financial documents. • Monitor the receipt of Government contributions and the transfer of ownership of the Organization's equipment. • Maintain liaison with local banks and financial institutions to keep up-to-date with financial and regulatory information (exchange and interest rates, procedures and rules, maintenance of bank accounts, etc.). • Support the streamlining of procedures and practices and the introduction of new information technologies to the office. • Support the administration of personnel and equipment as well as protocol-related issues. • Perform other related duties as required.

Impact Of Work

The incumbent's work impacts on the timely and efficient delivery of office support services and on the overall output of the work unit.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

Education: Secondary school education. Experience: Four years of administrative, accounting and office management experience. Languages: Working knowledge (proficient - level C) of Spanish and limited knowledge (Intermediate - level B) of English. IT Skills: Very good knowledge of the MS Office applications, Internet and office technology equipment.

Residency: General Service Staff are recruited locally. To be eligible for this position, candidates must be nationals of the country of the duty station or possess an existing visa/work permit, and reside within commuting distance of the duty station at the time of the application. "Commuting distance" means the distance within which staff members can travel daily between their place of work and their residence.

Competencies

• Results Focus • Team Work • Communication • Building effective relationships • Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical Skills

• Good knowledge of financial rules and regulations, accounting policies and practices • Good knowledge of corporate financial systems • Good knowledge of the communication and documentation standards

Desirable Qualifications and Skills

• Working knowledge (proficient - level C) of English