Finance Officer

The Finance Officer of the Operations Unit within Finance & Budget Services leads a team of six staff in providing the Organization's Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Cash & Treasury Management, Implementing Partner and UNDP Service Clearing Account functions. They are responsible for:

• Establishing appropriate service standards for those functions and monitoring delivery against those service standards;
  
• Managing the workload and priorities of the team to ensure effective delivery, including reallocation of duties where necessary to meet temporary work priorities;
  
• Ensuring that all work undertaken by the Unit is consistent with established business processes, internal controls, and the Organization's Financial Regulations and Financial Rules; 
  
• Reviewing and recommending changes in business processes to improve efficiency, address control issues or improve overall performance; 
  
• Addressing exceptional or challenging issues escalated to them by the team; 
  
• Ensuring month end and year end controls and reconciliations are completed on a timely basis, and exceptions reported and addressed;
  
• Using data analysis to report on metrics, trends and to identify issues or risks to be addressed; 
  
• Effectively implementing the Organization's cash and treasury management policies and procedures; and
  
• Reporting to the Head, Finance & Budget Services, on any matters which require escalation, attention or resolution, including matters related to Member States or other external stakeholders
  

The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate their ability to:

• Develop and enhance a service-oriented approach to financial operations with clearly-defined standards and expectations, with the ability to ensure that those standards are met by their team;
  
• Clear understanding of the principles and practice of financial internal control and business processes, with a particular focus on transactional controls and segregation of duties, monitoring controls and month-end procedures, financial risk management and anti-fraud measures, for all areas under their responsibility; 
  
• To communicate clearly and effectively to a varied audience, both written and oral, including the ability to draft reports, comprehensively analyse issues and propose effective solutions, and communicate directly with external stakeholders including Member States, suppliers, vendors, and implementing partners;
  
• Manage a diverse team with complex and varying workloads, deadlines and priorities, in order to deliver a consistently effective service; 
  
• Solve problems and issues in a timely manner, escalating issues where appropriate, using experience of the relevant work areas to find clear, practical solutions which are consistent with the Organization's Financial Regulations and Financial Rules;
  
• To work with integrity, professionalism, discretion, and accuracy under time pressure and with competing demands and priorities to deliver.
  

At least 5 years of progressively responsible experience in the financial sector.  Experience within the UN system or other international system would be an advantage, and experience of managing a team within a finance environment is essential.

University degree in Finance, Economics, Business Studies or similar subjects is essential. 

An accounting or financial qualification from a highly-recognized professional accounting institute or appropriate international equivalent is essential. 

Knowledge of ERP or other similar financial accounting systems is essential, with an understanding of and experience with SAP, (particularly the FI/CO, payroll, travel management and MM modules), an advantage.