Assistant (Accounts)

Contract

This is a G-5 contract. This kind of contract is known as General Service and related categories. It is normally only for nationals. It usually requires 5 years of experience, depending on education. More about G-5 contracts.

.PURPOSE OF POSITION

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), is the cancer agency of the World Health Organization (WHO) and is based in Lyon, France.

The Finance Office is a unit within the Budget and Finance Office (BFO), Section of Support to Research (SSR), responsible for providing supports to various programmes and activities of IARC in respect of financial services such as payments, payroll, travel advance/reimbursements, etc. and managing IARC accounts in accordance with the International Public Sector Accounting Standard (IPSAS).

Under the supervision of the Finance Officer and overall guidance of Admin and Finance Officer the incumbent will efficiently and effectively process transactions and provides supports related to staff payroll, payment of all statutory entitlements, disbursing functions, leave card audit, vendor maintenance, and monitoring and reconciling a range of accounts.

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES

1. Process staff payroll and payment of all statutory entitlements:
   • Administer and process payroll of fixed-term (FTA) and temporary appointment (TA) staff. These include inputting deductions, analyzing problems encountered, coordinating with IT and HRO to resolve issues, ensuring that salaries are paid on time..
   • Act as focal point for processing the remittance and payment to WHO/HQ in respect of staff and the Agency’s contributions collected from the payroll. Extract contributions from HR database (e.g. pension fund, staff health insurance, accident and illness insurance, group life insurance, etc.), prepare vouchers, and submits report to WHO/HQ.
   • Generates monthly pension data for submission to UNJSPF.
   • Settle statutory entitlements (such as recruitment/appointment, home leave, family visit, education grant travel, etc.) of staff in accordance with the rules and regulations and established procedures on statutory entitlements, ensuring the completeness of supporting documents prior to settlement of the claim.
   • Settle education grant claims and advances of entitled staff as per regulations and rules. Provide assistance to staff on their education grant entitlements.
   • Provide financial data related to statutory payments to be incorporated in the statement of earning for the year.
   • Verify and processes terminal emoluments (e.g. unused annual leave, repatriation grant, end of service grant, etc.) of departing staff, in accordance with the rules and regulations and established procedures.
   • Act as a focal point for receiving documents from staff upon retirement and submitting those to the Pension and ASHI units at WHO/HQ.
2. Perform disbursing functions:
   • Act as focal point for sending electronic and manual payment instructions to the banks upon approval by two authorized signatories of the agency.
   • Act as focal point for preparation of payments by cheque andpayment of payroll, stipends, all vendor and of customer refund .
   • Send payment instructions to UNDP offices for all payments through UNDP.
3. Process transactions related to revenue recognition in accordance to IPSAS
   • Reconcile and record revenue from donors (undesignated voluntary contributions through legacy, and cash/cheque donations) in coordination with DAF Office.
   • Reconcile revenue received via Stripe account; classify receipts to different categories, such as revenue from publications and subscriptions, designated and undesignated donations; and record revenue to appropriate accounts.
   • Prepare a list of donors of undesignated voluntary contributions and forward to DAF Office for periodic reconciliation and the preparation of the annual Governing Council report.
4. Act as focal point for vendor maintenance:
   • Create and update all vendor records; ensure accuracy of information maintained in SAP system to avoid delay payments.
   • Maintain central filing for support documents used for vendor creation or change of key information.
5. Audit leave records:
   • Perform annual audit of leave records of all staff at year end and liaise with HRO, attendance clerks, and staff concerned to resolved any issue.
   • Audit leave records of departing staff to confirms unused annual leave balance.
6. Other duties:
   • Generate and distribute payment advices.
   • Prepare reports as requested by supervisor such as but not limited to the following: TQ/TQ fund balances (inflow & outflow), pension fund monthly contribution, Agency and staff related pension fund/SHI/AII/GLI monthly contributions for remittance to WHO and etc.
   • Monitor, reconcile, liquidate and clear vendor/customer/GL accounts under area of responsibility i.e. staff statutory advances on home leave, education grant, staff salary & miscellaneous advances, salary payable, staff association account; staff contribution on pension fund, SHI, AII, GLI & etc.; TP & TQ account.
   • Back stop for colleagues within Finance as necessary to ensure smooth performance of activities; answer queries relating to assigned tasks and perform other related duties as assigned by supervisor.

COVID-19 MEASURES

Due to the evolving situation resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, and depending on work requirements, this position may be partly occupied remotely, from the home of the candidate selected in the region Lyon, according to the teleworking clause for force majeure currently in force as part of the IARC teleworking policy during this pandemic period.

WHO COMPETENCIES

• Producing results
• Communication
• Fostering integration and teamwork
• Moving forward in a changing environment
• Technical expertise

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

EDUCATION

Essential: Graduation from secondary school or equivalent complemented by subsequent training in accounting and finance at BTS level plus training in the use of office software and other office modern technologies.

Desirable: Bachelor degree in accounting or equivalent of DCG. Knowledge in IPSAS or IFRS. A professional designation in Accounting such as Chartered Accountant (CA), Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), Certified Public Accountant (CPA), or "Expert-Compatible" qualification.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Essential: At least five years’ experience in similar positions, including experience or knowledge of practices and procedures related to payroll functions, calculation of benefits and entitlements relating to pension and insurance.

Desirable: Some experience in a governmental and/or an international institution would be an asset

USE OF LANGUAGE SKILLS

Excellent knowledge of French or English with very good knowledge of the other language.

SKILLS

• Familiarity with relevant Office software (Word, Excel).
• Knowledge in SAP or other ERP system is an advantage.
• Good interpersonal skills and ability to work in multicultural environment.
• Excellent organizational skills and ability to work as a member of a team.
• Ability to learn and apply IARC/WHO rules and established procedures.
• Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines while keeping attention to accuracy.

Desirable: -

REMUNERATION

The fixed remuneration for the above position currently amounts to EUR 3,544.25 per month, and is expressed net of income tax but before deduction of the employee share contributions for mandatory participation in the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF) and in the Organization’s private insurance plans covering health, accident, illness and disability.

Other benefits include different types of leave and allowances for dependent family members.

Employment status is that of an international civil servant.

Note: due to the legal status of WHO/IARC as an international organization, its staff do not contribute to and do not generate benefits in French mandatory schemes for health insurance (“assurance maladie”), pension (“assurance vieillesse/retraite or unemployment (“Pôle-Emploi”) throughout their period of employment with the Agency.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• This post is subject to local recruitment and will be filled by persons residing in the local commuting area of Lyon.
• We only accept applications submitted via our online recruitment tool (applications for this position should be filled out in English and include a cover letter in English). Application profiles should include the details of all work experiences to date (including paid internships).
• This vacancy notice may be used to fill other similar positions at the same grade level.
• Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.
• A written test and/or presentation may be used as a form of screening.
• In the event that your candidature is retained for an interview, you will be required to provide, in advance, a scanned copy of the degree(s)/diploma(s)/certificate(s) required for this position. IARC/WHO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed through the link: http://www.whed.net/. Some professional certificates may not appear in the WHED and will require individual review.
• Any appointment/extension of appointment is subject to IARC/WHO Staff Regulations, Staff Rules and Manual.
• For information on IARC’S operations please visit: www.iarc.fr
• IARC/WHO is committed to workforce diversity.
• IARC/WHO's workforce adheres to the WHO Values Charter and is committed to put the WHO Values into practice.
• IARC/WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.
• Applications from women are encouraged.