Budget Officer (P3)

Background:   

The OSCE has a comprehensive approach to security that encompasses politico-military, economic and environmental, and human aspects. It therefore addresses a wide range of security-related concerns, including arms control, confidence- and security-building measures, human rights, combating human trafficking, national minorities, democratization, policing strategies, counter-terrorism and economic and environmental activities. All 57 participating States enjoy equal status, and decisions are taken by consensus on a politically, but not legally binding basis.

The OSCE Secretariat in Vienna assists the Chairmanship in its activities, and provides operational and administrative support to the field operations, and, as appropriate, to other institutions. 

The Department of Management and Finance (DMF) is responsible for managing the material and financial resources of the Organization. The objective of DMF is to provide efficient and effective management of non-staff resources in support of OSCE programmatic activities. It provides policy guidance on the management of OSCE financial and material resources and develops and maintains OSCE Financial Regulations and Rules and Financial Administrative Instructions. DMF consists of Budget and Finance Services, Mission Support Section, Information and Communication Technology Section and the Information Security and Co-ordination Unit.  

The Budget and Finance Services Section is responsible for co-ordinating and supporting the programme planning and budgeting process in general, including providing policy guidance and support to the Secretariat, OSCE Institutions and Field Operations. The Budget and Finance Services Section consists of the Accounts Unit, Budget Unit and Treasury and Extra-budgetary Unit.

Tasks and Responsibilities:  

Under the direct supervision of the Chief, Budget Unit, as Budget Officer you will perform the following functions:

1. Participating in formulating, analyzing, verifying and consolidating budget proposals, as well as in drafting and revising budget texts. This includes Programme Outline, Unified Budget, Programme Budget Performance Report, Supplementary Budgets, Mid-Year and Year-End Revisions;
2. Ensuring that the budget proposals received from Directors of Departments and Head of Institutions and Missions adhere to Permanent Council Decisions, Financial regulations, Financial Instructions, Budget Guidelines and other formal documents;
3. Analysing budget proposals to ensure that standard costs are consistently applied and verifying that over-budgeting is avoided; liaising with the Mission/Institutions and the respective sections in the Secretariat in the process of finalizing the budgetary submission; 
4. Monitoring the approved Unified Budget on a continuous basis to ensure that expenditure is in-line with approved activities and to ensure that expenditure does not exceed budgeted amounts;
5. Undertaking continuous and thorough review on the implementation of the Unified budget to ensure that expenditures are in line with approved activities and that no over-expenditures are likely to occur; periodically reviewing the status of allotments and initiating revisions as required; informing supervisor on a timely basis;
6. Preparing relevant financial reports to Senior Management and Delegations and providing the necessary analysis to support the reports; 
7. Acting as the focal point for technical issues, and maintaining and updating the Hyperion system (Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service) to enable proper budgeting and on-going planning;
8. Making required changes in the programmatic structure of Funds in the Budget Module to enable proper budgeting; 
9. Serving as main focal point for technical issues related to the Budget Module and working closely with ICT to ensure technical requirements are met;
10. Certifying expenditures against the approved budgets, including the availability of funds for non-post table staff costs; advising on the availability of funds in-line with the Financial Regulations and Instructions;
11. Making proposals for streamlining the budget process, operational procedures and workflows;
12. Performing other related work as assigned.

For more detailed information on the structure and work of the OSCE Secretariat, please see https://www.osce.org/secretariat 

Necessary Qualifications:   

• First-level university degree in financial management, accounting, business administration or other related field; certification from a recognized international professional accountancy body would be an asset;
• At least six years of professional experience in budgeting, accounting or finance in an international governmental or commercial organization;
• Ability to identify and analyze problems and to take corrective action;
• Computer literate with extensive experience of computer applications, particularly Excel spreadsheets; 
• Extensive experience with the budget module of ERP systems such as Oracle or SAP;
• Professional fluency in the English language with excellent oral and written communication skills; knowledge of another OSCE official language is desirable; 
• Demonstrated gender awareness and sensitivity, and an ability to integrate a gender perspective into tasks and activities;
• Ability to establish and maintain effective and constructive working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.

Remuneration Package:   

Monthly remuneration is around EUR 6,470, with the actual monthly salary depending on post adjustment and family status. OSCE salaries are exempt from taxation in Austria. Social benefits will include possibility of participation in the Cigna medical insurance scheme and the OSCE Provident Fund. Other allowances and benefits are similar to those offered under the United Nations Common System.

Please note that appointments are normally made at step 1 of the applicable OSCE salary scale.

If you wish to apply for this position, please use the OSCE's online application link found under https://jobs.osce.org/vacancies. 

The OSCE retains the discretion to re-advertise/re-post the vacancy, to cancel the recruitment, to offer an appointment at a lower grade or to offer an appointment with a modified job description or for a different duration. 

Only those candidates who are selected to participate in the subsequent stages of recruitment will be contacted.

Please note that vacancies in the OSCE are open for competition only amongst nationals of participating States, please see https://www.osce.org/participating-states.

The OSCE is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all religious, ethnic and social backgrounds to apply to become a part of the Organization. 

Candidates should be aware that OSCE officials shall conduct themselves at all times in a manner befitting the status of an international civil servant. This includes avoiding any action which may adversely reflect on the integrity, independence and impartiality of their position and function as officials of the OSCE. The OSCE is committed to applying the highest ethical standards in carrying out its mandate. For more information on the values set out in OSCE Competency Model, please see https://jobs.osce.org/resources/document/our-competency-model.

The OSCE is a non-career organization committed to the principle of staff rotation, therefore the maximum period of service in this post is 7 years. 

Please be aware that the OSCE does not request payment at any stage of the application and review process.