Finance Manager (General Accounting), P-4, UNICEF Global Shared Services Centre, Budapest, Hungary (Not for Hungarian nationals)

Overview

Manage and lead the General Accounting team at UNICEF GSSC.

You have:

• Membership in an internationally recognized professional finance body such as ACCA, ICAEW, CIMA, CIPFA, CPA.
• Advanced university degree (Master’s Degree) in accounting, business administration, economics, financial management or related field.
• A first University Degree (Bachelor’s Degree) in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.
• A minimum of 8 years of relevant Finance work experience, including accounting, audit, reporting and analysis at the national and international level.
• Proven experience of at least 3 years of successfully leading large teams and successful achievements in Project Management and Change Management.
• Experience in a Shared Service Center or Big 4 consulting firm.
• Fluency in English (verbal and written).
• Detailed understanding and experience with SAP or other ERP systems.
• Knowledge and experience in the implementation of financial policies and procedures such as IFRS or IPSAS.
• Knowledge of an additional UN Language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish) is desirable.

Contract

This is a P-4 contract. This kind of contract is known as Professional and Director staff. It is normally internationally recruited only. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 7 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 90,970 USD and 117,287 USD.

Please keep in mind that the salary displayed here is an estimation by UN Talent based on the location and the type of contract. It may vary depending on the organization. The recruiter should be able to inform you about the exact salary range. In case the job description contains another salary information, please refer to this one.

Do you want to...

• be part of an award-winning, world class business service firm and one of the finest cutting-edge share service centers in the industry.
• play a key role in optimizing efficiencies, driving business innovation, and contributing to continuous improvement so that UNICEF in the Field focuses on saving children’s lives, defending their rights, and helping them fulfil their potential.
• Manage and lead a high performing team

If the answer is yes, you could be the next Finance Manager for General Accounting at the UNICEF Global Shared Service Center (GSSC).

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.

We are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do. Promoting the rights of every child is not a job, it’s a calling.

UNICEF’s Global Shared Services Centre (GSSC) provides services to UNICEF offices around the world in the areas of Finance, Master Data Management, Human Resources Administration, Payroll, and IT Customer Care.

Our mission is to be a Centre of Excellence for the global delivery of efficient services within a culture of customer service, continuous business improvement, knowledge-sharing and innovation to support the effective achievement of UNICEF's programme results worldwide. ​

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.

Please visit our UNICEF GSSC page.

How can you make a difference?

The Finance Section in the GSSC oversees processing of finance and master data management transactions to ensure cost effective and secure end-to-end payments and accounting solutions consistent with the organization’s goals, strategy and objectives.

The General Accounting (GA) Finance Manager is a critical member of the GSSC Finance Management team, interacts closely with senior external stakeholders and requires proactive, positive, and engaged working style. Under the guidance of the Chief (Finance and MDM), the GA Finance Manager will oversee transactions processing in General Accounting functional area (team size: 30 staff members) which includes the following workstreams:

• Grants management and revenue accounting
• Bank reconciliation
• Expenditure reclassification (Change of Funding Source)
• Clearing of staff receivables and other receivables from external parties
• Collection of receivables from other agencies (Reimbursable Loans)
• Accounting for US Taxes

The GA Finance Manager will also be responsible for supervising staff, identifying training requirements, scheduling training interventions, enacting policy requirements, developing client-oriented culture, managing high-level escalation and ensuring efficient service delivery.

This will involve:

Innovation and Change Management

• Lead and champion process standardization and change initiatives and support cross-functional and cross-divisional process transformation initiatives adopting best practices and new technologies
• Create and promote a culture and environment that drives creativity, innovation, and collective learning
• Identify innovative opportunities in pursuit of world class performance

Leadership and Team Management

• Lead the team, ensuring continuous process excellence, productivity, effective use of resources, quality, achievement of Service Level Agreement (SLA) and compliance with Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and UNICEF internal controls
• Role model effective people management behaviors, e.g., fairness, transparency, inclusion, accountability and ensure team managers promote the same
• Dedicate full attention to detail, hands on and supportive of Team leads whilst maintaining a strategic mindset and outlook

Service Delivery

• Ensure compliance with internal controls, tools, communication channels to ensure high quality outputs
• Monitor high risk workstreams and ensure escalation procedures are in place

Stakeholder Management

• Promote a collaborative working environment culture based on participatory approaches to eliminate silos
• Actively engage with policy holders on development and implementation of finance policies in support of GSSC processes
• Drive effective coordination with customers and stakeholders to ensure GSSC processes are meeting their needs and identify areas where support can be enhanced

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

Requirements

• Membership in an internationally recognized professional finance body, such as ACCA/ ICAEW/ CIMA/ CIPFA/ CPA.
• Advanced university degree (Master’s Degree) in accounting, business administration, economics, financial management or related field.
• A first University Degree (Bachelor’s Degree) in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.
• A minimum of 8 years of relevant Finance work experience including the areas of accounting, audit, reporting and analysis at the national and international level
• Proven experience of at least 3 years of successfully leading large teams and successful achievements in the following areas:
• • Project Management and Change Management
  • Shared Service Center or Big 4 consulting firm experience
  • Accounting policy interpretation and implementation
  • Providing effective transactional support to stakeholders
• Fluency in English (verbal and written)

Desirable

• Detailed understanding and experience SAP or other ERP
• Knowledge and experience in the implementation of financial policies and procedures such as IFRS/IPSAS
• Demonstrated examples of proactivity, delivering innovative solutions of a significant nature, driving change, and implementation.
• Knowledge of an additional UN Language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish) is desirable.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

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

• Nurtures, Leads and Manages People (2)
• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (2)
• Works Collaboratively with others (2)
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (2)
• Innovates and Embraces Change (2)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (2)
• Drive to achieve impactful results (2)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (2)

To view our competency framework, please visit: https://uni.cf/Competencies

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: UNICEF's Competency Framework here.

Remarks****:

The hiring manager may apply other criteria within the context of the job requirement, beyond the minimum requisites for shortlisting. Priority consideration for candidates who meet minimum requirement as well as “desired” requirement.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to A diverse and inclusive workforce to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

We offer a wide range of Compensation and benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

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

All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates will be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments will also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF.

UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

Conditions of International Professional Posts:

International Professional (IP) staff are recruited internationally and serve in duty stations outside their country of nationality. Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service. This position is classified as “rotational” which means the incumbent is expected to rotate to another duty station upon completion of their tour of duty.

This VA is open to all (internal and external candidates).

Potential interview questions