Finance Associate (General Accounting), GS-6, Global Shared Services Centre, Budapest, Hungary

Contract

This is a G-6 contract. This kind of contract is known as General Service and related categories. It is normally only for nationals. It usually requires 6 years of experience, depending on education. More about G-6 contracts.

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, results.

UNICEF's Global Shared Services Centre (GSSC) in Budapest, Hungary provides services to UNICEF offices globally in the areas of Finance, Human Resources, Payroll and Information Technology.

GSSC has won the 2019 Business Services Firm of the Year in Hungary, 26 regional awards announced at the Central and Eastern European Business Services Summit & Awards held in Warsaw, Poland.

This position is located in the Finance Section, General Accounting, at the GSSC in Budapest, Hungary. The General Accounting team is responsible for monthly bank reconciliations, asset maintenance, change of founding source, clearing of advances, VAT and staff PAR balances.

How can you make a difference?

Under the supervision and guidance of the Finance Officer, the Finance Associate (General Accounting) will provide support in the areas of General Accounting. The incumbent will review and support the monthly reconciliation of various bank accounts of UNICEF and provide client offices with practical guidance on how to close these items. The Finance Associate will review, and post journal entries parked by the Finance Assistant for change of funding source, non-PO advances, staff member PAR balances and returned payments. The incumbent will perform quality review of transactional processing on a timely manner and run ad hoc reports. The Finance Associate will follow up on long outstanding items and need to be able to resolve and/or escalate issues or queries raised by client offices. The Finance Associate will take corrective action where required, ensuring adherence to standard operating procedures and related policies, and be responsible for maintaining up to date standard operating procedures.

Key functions, accountabilities, and related tasks:

• Review and support the monthly reconciliation of various bank accounts of UNICEF and provide client offices with practical guidance on reviewing and resolving open items
• Review and approve transactional cases drafted by processors
• Lead analysis and follow up of open outstanding items
• Support implementation of various stream projects
• Act as reporting focal point for the stream
• Support line manager in ad hoc tasks, reports as required
• Ensure adherence to standard operating procedures and related policies and is responsible for maintaining up to date standard operating procedures

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

Requirements:

• Completion of Secondary education is required, professional/university level courses in Accounting and Finance/Business administration are considered as an asset.
• A minimum of six years of clerical experience in finance and accounting is required. A completed university degree from an accredited institution will be counted toward the minimum work experience requirements.
• Working knowledge of accounting standards and technical prerequisites relevant for bank reconciliations, journal voucher processing, asset maintenance, clearing of VAT, Advances and staff PAR balance processing.
• Good command of ERP systems such as SAP and MS Office package, especially Excel.
• Proven ability to communicate clearly with stakeholders of various levels, both internal and external.
• Ability to work in a team environment to achieve common goals and to provide technical guidance to Finance Assistants.
• Ability to work effectively with people of different national and cultural background.
• High sense of confidentiality and initiative, with good judgment.
• Ability to deal patiently and tactfully with customers.
• Ability to plan and prioritize tasks.
• Fluency in English (verbal and written) is required.

Desirables:

• Experience in finance and accounting in an SSC environment
• Knowledge of UNICEF organizational structure, finance and administrative policies are desired.
• Knowledge of an additional UN Language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish) is an asset.
• Knowledge of VBA programming, Power BI and SQL is an asset.

Remarks:

• The hiring manager may apply other criteria within the context of the job requirement, beyond the minimum requisites for shortlisting.
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Applicants must be nationals of EU countries or in possession of a valid work permit. Please attach a copy of your work permit to your application submission.

General Service (GS) staff are locally recruited staff and therefore, candidates are personally responsible for any travel and accommodation arrangements. UNICEF does not facilitate Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) accreditation for locally recruited staff.

Remarks: Requirement for internal applicants

Internal applicants from GSSC have to complete the courses of Learning Paths that are identified as required when applying to the level of this post. Please visit the L&D Portal Learning and Development (sharepoint.com) for more information.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and the following core competencies:

• Builds and maintains partnerships
• Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness
• Drive to achieve results for impact
• Innovates and embraces change
• Manages ambiguity and complexity
• Thinks and acts strategically
• Works collaboratively with others

View our competency framework at:

https://www.unicef.org/careers/media/1041/file/UNICEF%27s_Competency_Framework.pdf

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children.