Finance Officer

Background Information – Asia Regional Health Cluster

The Asia Regional Health Cluster (ARHC) was established in 2018 for efficient delivery of grants and funds management, and the provision of quality pharmaceuticals and medical equipment.  The ARHC aims to significantly impact the targets of UN Sustainable Development Goal #3 on good health and well being by expanding the population benefitting from UNOPS-managed health-related engagements across the Asia Region. The ARHC portfolio manages the Principal Recipient (PR) Programme of the Global Fund in Asia. The Global Fund, which has been providing financial support to the Greater Mekong Sub-Region for malaria programs since 2003, has selected UNOPS as a PR, responsible for delivering the targets set out in the grant agreements, in collaboration with selected Sub-Recipients (SRs) from the National Programmes, international and local non-governmental organizations and United Nations agencies

UNOPS is the Principal Recipient managing the RAI2E grant (2018-2020), established by Global Fund in 2018, providing USD244million for malaria elmination activities in the Greater Mekong Subregion and USD154million for TB and HIV activities in Myanmar (2018-2020). Under the overall supervision of the Programme Director and the direct supervision of the Programme Finance Specialist, this position will support one or more grants and is an integral part of the Programme Support Unit.

1. Implementation of operational strategies and procedures
2. Budget Preparation,Management and Reporting
3. Control of Project Cash Management
4. Assurance of data quality
5. Knowledge Building and Sharing
6. Team Management

• Ensure changes in UNOPS operational strategies and systems are implemented at fund level.
• Adapt processes and procedures for budget and financial reporting in line with UNOPS Financial Rules and Regulations and best practice in Fund Management.
• Collaborate in the improvement of the UNOPS budget formulation system, by updating and proposing change to facilitate efficient financial management and enhance financial reporting through the system.

Budget preparation, management & reporting:

• Participate in the preparation of financial planning and budgeting exercises related to the annual work plan and new programmes and projects in collaboration with Public Health officer.
• Keep up to date with guidelines and procedures for the purpose of complying, streamlining and/or strengthening of existing financial and budgetary procedures.Prepare timely financial statements and financial reports as per the fund’s requriements.
• Communicate regularly with colleagues to ensure full control over the budget and sharing of information relevant for budget management across the team.
• Ensure cash and expenditure report reconciliation between UNOPS book and donor reports on a bi-annual basis.
• Monitoring of financial exception reports for unusual activities, transactions and investigation of any anomalies and prepare necessary adjustments.
• Ensures proper financial closure of completed projects.
• Ensure that budgets are prepared in the right format with clearly written assumptions, within the required timeframe and with a high level of accuracy.
• Review and provide appropriate recommendations with respect to the finalization of budget performance reports, analysing variances between approved budgets and actual expenditures.
• Monitor any changes to the PR and partner budgets, maintain tracking modalities for all modifications to the budget.

Control of project cash management:

• Monitor the cash report and budget for all projects in ERP system and take remedial action
• Timely review of cash position in the system and coordinate with Treasury unit to ensure sufficient funds on hand for disbursements;
• Organization and oversight of cash management processes, timely accounting and reconciliation of all transactions.

Assurance of data quality:

• Ensure quality control of the account by performing ongoing review, analysis and reconciliation of accounts.
• Provide responses to internal and external audit queries and observations.and support the implementation of audit recommendation
• Ensure All supporting documents are provided to donor and fund agent in accordance of the UNOPS regulation
• Suggest improvements to existing assurance mechanisms to mitigate financial, reputational and other risks to the organisations
• Ensure that documents and relevant correspondences are well organised and maintained in the share-drive.

Knowledge building and knowledge sharing:

• Organize, facilitate and/or deliver training and learning initiatives to partner on Finance related topics.
• Contribute to Financial management knowledge networks and communities of practice by providing collaborative synthesis of lessons learnt and dissemination of best practices in financial management.
• Collect feedback, ideas, and internal knowledge about processes and best practices and utilize productively.

Team Management:

• Facilitate high quality results and services of the team through effective recruitment, supervision, performance management, coaching, and promotion of learning and development.
• Provide oversight, ensuring compliance by team members with existing policies and best

practices.

Impact of Results

The effective and successful achievement of results by the Finance Officer directly impact on the availability of UNOPS’ financial resources to effectively develop and implement the organization’s programmes and projects.  It enhances the organizations financial and programme performance, demonstrating UNOPS’ effective stewardship of donor and partner funds. These promote the credibility of the organization as an effective service provider in project services and management.

Education

• A Master’s degree in a finance related field is required.
• A Bachelor’s degree in a finance related field in combination with two additional years of relevant experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced degree.
• Certification as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is an advantage.

Experience

• A minimum 2 years of professional-level experience in accounting with responsibility for project accounting and preparation of financial statements in an international organization in providing financial management services.
• Knowledge of UNOPS financial rules and regulations; working knowledge of ERP (particularly Agresso), experience with MS Office 2010/or newer versions, and financial management, using electronic systems are desired.

Language Requirements

• Full knowledge in Myanmar and English language is required.

Contract type: ICA Contract level: LICA- 9 Contract duration: Ongoing ICA – Open-ended, subject to organizational requirements, availability of funds and satisfactory performance.

• 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.
• 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
• 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.

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.