Background
UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace, and security.
Under the overall
guidance of the Deputy Director of Financial Management in Headquarters (HQ)
and the daily supervision of the Operations Manager, the Finance Associate is
responsible for the execution of a wide range of financial services and
administrative processes in Kenya Country Office (KCO), ensuring timeliness,
efficiency and transparent use of financial resources and delivery of services
in accordance with organizational financial rules, regulations, policies,
procedures and approved allocations. The Finance Associate promotes a
client-oriented approach consistent with UN Women rules and regulations,
standard practices, and guidelines.
The Finance Associate
works in close collaboration with the Operations Team in the country &
Regional Office as well as with the Operations and Programme teams in UN Women
HQ for solving complex finance-related issues and information delivery.
Duties and Responsibilities
- Implement financial strategies, and adapt
processes and procedures in full compliance of UN Women rules,
regulations, policies, and recording and reporting systems
- Perform duties in full
compliance with UN Women financial regulations and rules, policies and
standard operating procedures, including internal controls;
- Keep abreast of and ensure
full compliance with amendments to International Public Sector Accounting
Standards (IPSAS);
- Review and verify financial
transactions, activities, and documentation; taking corrective actions as
needed and reporting any unusual activities;
- Monitor financial exceptions
reports for unusual activities or transaction, investigate anomalies and
report to the supervisor conclusions and/or present recommendations for
actions/decisions;
- Collect, verify and present
information and data for use in the planning of financial resources and
the formulation of the Country Office (KCO) Programme work plans,
budgets, proposals on implementation arrangements and execution
modalities;
- Provide assistance in the
Annual Work Plan entry in Results Management System (RMS) as required.
- Provide advice and recommend
solutions to a wide range of financial issues;
- Monitor the proper functioning
of the financial resources management system for office and programmatic
budgets and resources;
- Implement and monitor
cost-saving and reduction strategies;
- Review with Budget owners and
Project Managers, in line with Month-end Closure Checklist, the Project
- Delivery Status Reports and
investigate any overspend;
- Respond to instructions from
the Deputy Director of Financial Management or Finance Section in
relation to financial transactions. Undertake timely corrective actions
as requested by the Finance Section to resolve financial data issues or
provide information;
- Participate as a member of the
Country office team in the internal and external audits of the Country
Office or other Country Offices in the region
- Follow-up on audit
recommendations to monitor the implementation of corrective actions;
- Actively promote a
client-oriented finance service to the Country office, regional, and
other Country offices.
- Prepare and administer the Country Office budgets
in full compliance of UN Women rules, regulations, policies, and recording
and reporting systems
- Formulate the budget, control
allotments, monitor expenditures, and prepare revisions according to the
needs of KCO;
- Track the appropriate and
timely use of financial resources;
- Prepare cost recovery
documents or bills for the services provided by UN Women to other
programs or organizations;
- Create projects in Atlas,
prepare budget revisions, revise project awards and status; and determine
unutilized funds
- Ensure the maintenance of the
control mechanism for development projects through monitoring budgets
preparation and modifications and budgetary status;
- Maintain internal expenditure
control system;
- Undertake corrective actions
on un-posted vouchers, including vouchers with budget check errors, match
exceptions, and unapproved vouchers. Frequently review and investigate
payment vouchers which are in error, and respond to KCO requests to
resolve financial data issues;
- Prepare VAT reimbursements
with adequate documentation support, as necessary;
- Input data in Atlas and
monitor status. Keep stakeholders and clients informed for timely action
and/or decisions;
- Manage petty cash fund;
- Assist Project Managers with
budget re-phrasal as required.
- Provide finance support to the Programme and
Operations teams
- Review accounts receivables
for UN Women projects and follow-up with project managers and finance
section at the regional office and/or headquarters on contributions,
deposits creation in Atlas and their application to AR pending items;
- Prepare Purchase Orders (PO)
and non-PO vouchers for development projects;
- Prepare General Ledger journal
entries (GLJEs) from proper supporting documents authorized by the budget
owners and project managers;
- Review transactions in Atlas,
ensure payroll, travel claims, Manual POs, and other entitlements are
processed;
- Monitor the setup of budgets
in ATLAS to ensure they are in accordance with budgets agreed with donors
and are input into ATLAS at the detailed Activity ID level;
- Monitor each month
over-expenditure of budgets and follow up with Budget Owner;
- Monitor regularly transactions
posted to projects ensuring actual expenditure has been recorded against
correct budget category and activity, take timely corrective actions as
required;
- Maintain proper follow up of
advances to implementing partners, review their financial reports
together with project managers;
- Monitor the financial status
and under the guidance of the RO Finance Specialist implement control
mechanisms for management/development projects;
- Monitor and proper follow up
of all the financial items in Month-end and Year-end closure instructions
status and under the guidance of the Operations Manager, take corrective
actions as required;
- Keep stakeholders and clients
informed for timely actions/decisions and review status reports for
quality control;
- Provide information inputs to
financial reports for KCO, Regional Office, HQ Finance and stakeholders;
- Finalize mandated financial
reports to donors and other clients and stakeholders;
- Associate revenue and
expenditure in commitment control for non-core projects.
- Provide inputs and take
necessary actions to facilitate timely financial project closure;
- Support financial donor
reporting by providing timely information and taking necessary actions as
required by UN Women Virtual Global Service Centre for financial donor
reporting.
- Assist with preparation for
Audit of Projects and Partners by a third-party audit firm. Follow-up
and/or take action on audit recommendations to ensure implementation of
corrective actions. Assist in reviewing the audit reports on NGO executed
projects.
- Provide administrative support to Resource
Mobilization
- Compile and process
information from donors, CO, and program team, as inputs to various
databases and documents.
- Prepare drafts for
cost-sharing agreements including conditions of contributions within
resource mobilization efforts, adhering to standard agreements where
possible. Follow up on contributions within the CO resource mobilization
efforts.
- Facilitate knowledge building and knowledge
sharing
- Conduct training and/or
helping organize training events and activities;
- Collect and compile lessons
learned and best practices in financial management and services.
- Disseminate to clients and
stakeholders as appropriate to build capacity and knowledge;
- Contribute to financial
business operational practices and management innovations.
- Supervise and guide staff and
personnel under responsibility, as applicable, provide technical guidance
and monitor performance to ensure delivery of results according to plans
and standards of accountability and performance;
- Undertake all training in
relation to financial management provided, including webinars from
headquarters.
Key performance indicators
- Timely, complete and accurate financial
transactions/activities/documentation
- Timely and accurate advice on UN Women financial
rules and regulations
- Timely and regular monitoring of financial resources
management system and timely expenditure of financial resources
- Timely and accurate support to budget formulation
and controlling allotments
- Timely and accurate monitoring of internal
expenditures control systems
- Timely and quality financial support to programs
and program team
Competencies
Core Values:
Respect for Diversity
Integrity
Professionalism
Core Competencies:
Awareness and
Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
Accountability
Creative Problem Solving
Effective Communication
Inclusive Collaboration
Stakeholder Engagement
Leading by Example
Functional Competencies
- Excellent knowledge of financial rules and
regulations and accounting principles;
- Excellent knowledge and application skills of IT
tools and understanding of management systems;
- Excellent knowledge of spreadsheet and database
packages;
- Ability to provide input to business processes
re-engineering, implementation of new systems;
- Ability to administer and execute financial and
accounting processes and transactions.
Required Skills and Experience
Education and Certification
- Completion of secondary education is required.
- Specialized national or international
certification in accounting and finance is an asset
- Bachelor’s degree in Finance or Accounting is an
asset
- Successful completion of the UN Women Accounting
and Finance Test is required.
Experience
- At least 7 years of progressively responsible
experience in finance;
- Experience in the usage of computers and office
software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc) and spreadsheet and database
packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems.
- Experience in the use of PeopleSoft ATLAS is an
asset.
Language Requirement
- Fluency in English and Kiswahili is required
- Knowledge of the other UN official working
language is an asset.
How To Apply
Apply for the Finance
Associate Job here
UNDP is committed to
achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture.
Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with
disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated
with the strictest confidence.
UNDP does not tolerate
sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual
harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore,
undergo rigorous reference and background checks.