Finance Associate (Oversight and Compliance)

Contract

This is a LICA-6 contract. This kind of contract is known as Local Individual Contractor Agreements. It is normally only for nationals. It's an external contract. It usually requires 6 years of experience, depending on education. More about LICA-6 contracts.

Background Information - UNOPS

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.

Working with us

UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity

With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.

Background Information - Job-specific

THOH

Thailand Operations Hub (THOH) is a UNOPS business unit under the UNOPS Asia Regional Office and it was established to better support, develop and oversee the UNOPS portfolio of projects in South East Asia and the Pacific.

The Hub comprises three main portfolios –THOH Thailand, THOH Indonesia and THOH Pacific and provides a wide range of services including Project Management, Transactional HR, Financial, and Procurement to clients that include other UN entities, INGOs and governments/government agencies donors.

UNOPS THOH is hiring for the position of Finance Associate. Under the direct supervision of the Head of Support Services, the Finance Associate will provide financial and administrative support to the timely processing, recording, monitoring, and maintaining if financial transactions and accounts relating to payments and receipts in accordance with UNOPS’ financial rules, regulations, policies, and processes.

Functional Responsibilities

Functional Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:

1. Implementation of operational strategies
2. Budgetary and project costing support
3. Accounting, billing and administrative support
4. Oversight, compliance and reporting
5. Management support
6. Knowledge building and Knowledge sharing

Duties and responsibilities

Reporting to the Head of Support Services, who provides general guidance and remote supervision from THOH head office in Bangkok, the Finance Associate is responsible for the following:

1. Ensures implementation of operational strategies, adapts processes and proceduresfocusing on achievement of the following results:

- Full compliance with UNOPS rules and regulations of financial processes, financial records and reports and audit follow up; implementation of the effective internal control framework. - Elaboration of the content of internal Standard Operating Procedures in Finance in consultation with the direct supervisor and office management.

2. Ensures efficient budgetary and project costing support, focusing on achievement of the following results:

- Extraction of required financial information from UNOPS project agreements and set up of necessary accounts in line with existing UNOPS financial policies and procedures. - Information gathering for admin budgets preparation - Information gathering for annual business planning (annual target and budget setting) and entry of budget details in ERP - Preparation and processing of budget revisions for management projects - Review of budget revisions for client projects - Maintenance of budget implementation databases and support the development and maintenance of admin budgets monitoring and reporting tools - Review and adjustment of project expenditures/obligations against approved budgets. - Coordinating project financial closures - Presentation of researched information for planning and status of office’s financial resources - Provision of inputs for implementation of cost-saving and reduction strategies in consultation with the office management. - Preparation of cost sharing agreements, follow up on contributions within the office’s resource mobilization efforts - Periodically track and report on the projections and performance of the recoveries of Locally Managed Direct Costs (LMDC)

3. Provides support to treasury and cash management, focusing on achievement of the following results:

- Review and confirmation of appropriateness of operational transactions processed through the interpretation and determination of applicable policies, regulations, rules - As alternate to the Finance DoA holder, review of payment requests for completeness prior to processing, ensuring that documentation needed is complete and that all required procedures are fulfilled to enable the payment. - Review and confirmation of validity of charges by verifying authorized amounts, ensuring certification of availability of budget and funds.

4. Ensures effective oversight, compliance and reporting, focusing on achievement of the following results:

- Support to the preparation of monthly admin projects expenditure schedules and quarterly and year-end reports. - Frequent contact with other finance staff in the organization in the preparation of payments, data reconciliation, client reporting, or audit activities. - Assist in preparation of the annual work plan of compliance and capacity building activities (desk review, field verification, audit follow up, risk assessment, action plan follow up, etc). - Support in monitoring and reporting on compliance with local SOPs and UNOPS rules, regulations, policies, procedures, etc - Support in conducting capacity assessments as required per the donor, such as assessment of financial management capacities of newly selected SRs/IPs. - Liaise with Programme/Project Managers and conduct necessary project visits to obtain all certified documents evidencing the completion of an activity, incurring of expenditure and identity of the party/vendor. - Support the review of financial documents to monitor the SR/IP’s financial risk and updating in the risk tracking sheet. - Run review procedures to detect unusual activity; review processes templates and procedures, including those associated with monitoring and evaluation. - Conduct through spot checks and appropriate systems that relevant procedures and supporting documents are exhaustive and consistent; - Track and periodically report on the status of implementation of recommendations resulting from SR/IP verification missions and internal/external audits. - Prepare and submit periodic reports on issues and any material weaknesses identified during the review period. - Liaise with hub Project Management Office colleagues on tracking and reporting on annual targets, cash flows and other KPIs - Monitor client project budgets and cash statuses, and escalate issues to supervisor to proactively manage over-expenditures - Assist the Compliance Officer to verify that all SR/IP audit findings are resolved in a timely and appropriate manner. - Provide support to Compliance Officer to respond to Local Fund Agent (LFA) queries during SR expenditure verification by LFA;

5. Provides effective management support to the SSU leadership and supports the HoSS in providing management support to the Hub leadership:

- Participates in SSU heads of business stream meetings and provides secretariat services to the grouping - Contribute to the effectiveness of THOH Senior Management Team (SMT) meetings, SSU heads of business stream meetings, SSU all staff meetings, and other ad-hoc meetings as assigned by following up on completion of actions assigned to various participants during those meetings and reporting statuses to the supervisor

6. Ensures facilitation of knowledge building and knowledge sharing, focusing on achievement of the following results focusing on the following:

- Training of colleagues upon requests from portfolio managers, the supervisor and other finance officers in setting projects, budget revisions, troubleshooting and understanding of the processes on day to day financial transactions, reporting and other related tasks - Synthesis of lessons learnt and best practices in Finance. - Sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice

Competencies

Develops and implements sustainable business strategies, thinks long term and externally in order to positively shape the organization. Anticipates and perceives the impact and implications of future decisions and activities on other parts of the organization.(for levels IICA-2, IICA-3, LICA Specialist- 10, LICA Specialist-11, NOC, NOD, P3, P4 and above) Treats all individuals with respect; responds sensitively to differences and encourages others to do the same. Upholds organizational and ethical norms. Maintains high standards of trustworthiness. Role model for diversity and inclusion.

Acts as a positive role model contributing to the team spirit. Collaborates and supports the development of others. For people managers only: Acts as positive leadership role model, motivates, directs and inspires others to succeed, utilizing appropriate leadership styles. Demonstrates understanding of the impact of own role on all partners and always puts the end beneficiary first. Builds and maintains strong external relationships and is a competent partner for others (if relevant to the role). Efficiently establishes an appropriate course of action for self and/or others to accomplish a goal. Actions lead to total task accomplishment through concern for quality in all areas. Sees opportunities and takes the initiative to act on them. Understands that responsible use of resources maximizes our impact on our beneficiaries. Open to change and flexible in a fast paced environment. Effectively adapts own approach to suit changing circumstances or requirements. Reflects on experiences and modifies own behavior. Performance is consistent, even under pressure. Always pursues continuous improvements. Evaluates data and courses of action to reach logical, pragmatic decisions. Takes an unbiased, rational approach with calculated risks. Applies innovation and creativity to problem-solving. Expresses ideas or facts in a clear, concise and open manner. Communication indicates a consideration for the feelings and needs of others. Actively listens and proactively shares knowledge. Handles conflict effectively, by overcoming differences of opinion and finding common ground.

Education/Experience/Language requirements

Education:

• Completion of secondary school is required.
• A relevant first university degree in Accounting, Commerce, Business Administration/Management or related specialization is preferred.
• Relevant certification in financial management or accounting a distinct advantage.

Experience:

• Minimum of six (6) years of relevant working experience within the areas of finance, accounting, auditing or related field is required.
• Experience in financial analysis and/or reporting is an asset.
• Experience in budget preparation and/or budget validation is an asset.
• Prior experience with ATLAS and/or oneUNOPS a distinctive advantage.
• Prior relevant experience in the UN system is an asset.
• Proficiency in data processing using MS Excel/Google sheets is a critical success factor.

Language:

• Fluency in English is required.

Contract type, level and duration

Contract type: ICA

Contract level: LICA-6 Contract duration: Open-ended, subject to organizational requirements, availability of funds and satisfactory performance.

For more details about the ICA contractual modality, please follow this link: https://www.unops.org/english/Opportunities/job-opportunities/what-we-offer/Pages/Individual-Contractor-Agreements.aspx

Additional Considerations

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few Mandatory Courses (around 4 hours) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS.
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.

*It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns. Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.

This is a family duty station.*