Job Title: Senior Finance Assistant
Hiring Organization: World
Bank Group
Location – Locality: Nairobi
Location – Region: Kenya
Industry: Banking
Job Type: Full
Time
Salary: KES
Date Posted: 04/26/2024
Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at the World Bank provides a unique opportunity for you to join us to help our clients solve their greatest development challenges. The World Bank (WB) is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries; a unique global partnership of five institutions (IBRD, IDA, IFC, MIGA, and ICSID) dedicated to ending extreme poverty, increasing shared prosperity, and promoting sustainable development on a livable planet. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, we work with public and private sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data, research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent global challenges.
The WB Finance & Accounting (WFA) Vice Presidency is
responsible for all aspects of the financial reporting and internal control
framework for IBRD and IDA, and the extensive Trust Fund/Partnership portfolio
of the WB entities. It supports an appropriate fiduciary control framework and
administering disbursements for Bank lending and leads the client service
function for the WB’s corporate expenses.
Organizationally, WFA is comprised of three departments: (1)
Corporate Accounting and Reporting, (2) Trust Funds and Loans, and (3)
Financial Controls. In WFA, our mandate supports both internal and external
clients while we focus on delivery, optimization, impact, and people &
culture.
WFACS:
Within WFA, WFACS – Client Services unit of the Trust Funds and
Loan Operations Department is devoted to providing “front-end” client services
and related operations to business and external clients and is organized along
business lines serving the regions and global practices. The Services within
the area of WFACS responsibilities fall under three categories: regional
coordination, country focal point assistance, and project-level fiduciary and
portfolio management.
WFACS is currently seeking a highly motivated Senior Finance
Assistant (SFA) for its team in Nairobi, Kenya.
How your contributions will
help us achieve our goals
The Senior Finance Assistant plays an important role in
disbursement related activities during implementation of a project. You will
collaborate with Finance Analyst (s) in Nairobi and other locations to support
Operations staff and external Borrowers. You will also perform a variety of
broad responsibilities of the division, including working on diverse range of
disbursement related issues and providing solutions and working on system
design.
As a Senior Finance Assistant, you will report to the Regional
Center Team Leader.
What you will do
Transaction support services: Assist Finance Analysts with
disbursement transactions, including logging withdrawal applications and
setting up loans’ master data in the Bank’s system. This includes updating data
for various changes such as category overdraws, Designated Account ceilings,
Loan Effectiveness Conditions, loan Closing Date extensions, and reallocations
of category amounts.
Electronic banking support services: Guiding and providing
technical support to borrowers for setting up e-Disbursement and Client
Connection user accounts, as well as offering training on the Bank’s electronic
banking platform.
Client relationship maintenance: Serve as a solution provider for
both internal and external clients, offering advice on loan portfolios and
transactions matters.
Central Services: Handle transaction processing and review work,
such as Refunds and Adjustments, Special Commitment, and Trust Funds, and
supports the Central WFACS-Trust Funds team on Grants implementation.
Helpdesk support services: Act as the first point of contact for
routine queries, operating the Helpdesk, and collaborating with Department’s
Country Teams (comprising of Finance Officers and Finance Analysts) to guide
clients.
Data analysis and knowledge management services: Provide
analytical reports to assist in decision-making and maintaining a knowledge
repository for FAQs.
Systems and applications: Work with the system teams in planning
and testing application enhancements and upgrades, preparing Business
Requirement Documents, and conducting user acceptance testing.
Experience & Education
- Minimum of 1
year of relevant work experience.
- Bachelor’s or
Master’s degree in a relevant discipline (Ex. Finance, Accounting)
- Professional
accounting qualification (CA, CPA, ACCA or an equivalent professional
accounting qualification) is a plus.
Language:
The ideal candidate should have advanced fluency in both English
and Portuguese, with the ability to clearly communicate in both written and
spoken forms and to conduct meetings in these two languages. Proficiency level
in these two languages will be tested during the recruitment process.
Knowledge and Skills
- Relevant
knowledge of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), internal
controls and financial management.
- Ability to
exercise professional judgment and appropriately interpret and apply
operational policies, as they relate to disbursements and loan portfolio
management.
- Strong
quantitative skills with superior attention to detail and numerical
accuracy.
- Strong
analytical and conceptual skills with demonstrated ability to interpret
data, assess issues, develop sound conclusions and formulate remedial
measures.
- Ability to
manage routine tasks, deal with rapidly shifting priorities, provide
professional support to senior staff and deliver against ambitious
deadlines.
- Capacity to work
simultaneously, effectively and efficiently on a variety of diverse issues
and tasks, independently adjusting priorities and achieving results with
agreed objectives and deadlines.
- Strong client
focus including good interpersonal, diplomatic and team building skills
required for building and maintaining collaborative relationships and
engaging courteously with clients and team members.
- Willingness to
travel on mission and short-term assignments.
Abilities
- Strong
communication skills, including the ability to explain and express
views/opinions clearly and confidently.
- Ability to deal
sensitively in a multi-cultural environment and build effective working
relations with clients and colleagues.
- Willingness to
work in different time zones – Given that the division is co-located in
multiple cities in different time zones and borrowers are in different
countries, candidates must be willing to work in different time zones
especially the US EST time zone on an ‘as-needed’ basis.