Finance and Budget Assistant

Org. Setting and Reporting

The United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON) is the UN headquarters in Africa and the respective office of the Secretary-General. UNON supports programme implementation of the UN Environment programme (UNEP), the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) and the Resident Coordinator System globally, as well as other UN offices in Kenya, by providing administrative, conference and information services (www.unon.org). These positions are located in the office of The Budget and Financial Management Services (BFMS) within the Division of Administrative Services (DAS). Under the supervision of the Chief of Unit, the incumbents are expected to perform the following duties:

Responsibilities

BUDGETING:

• Assist in the collection of data and preparation of cost estimates and budget proposals in terms of staff and on-staff requirements for regular budget and extra-budgetary resources under UNON Administration;
• Support the monitoring of budget implementation and performance and recommendations for reallocation of funds as necessary;
• Ensure that requisitions for goods and services are in line with authorized budgets, the priorities of the organization and the UN financial rules and regulations;
• Assist in reviewing requests for creation and extension of positions as well as requests for recruitment;
• Assist in the execution of cost recovery in line with established agreements and policies and support on the collection of associated receivables;
• Perform certifying functions of financial transactions as per delegation.

ACCOUNTING:

• Process financial documents in line with the financial rules and regulations;
• Review and analysis of various accounting data and assist in the review and analysis of financial statements;
• Scrutinize supporting documents for completeness, accuracy and validity of requests in line with applicable policies, procedure, rules and regulations;
• Verify accuracy of postings and process corrections as appropriate;
• Analyse open item managed accounts (OIM) in the ERP system (Umoja) and initiate corrective action;
• Perform approval functions of financial transactions as per delegation.

PAYROLL AND BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION:

• Perform Payroll comparison and data validation of simulation runs (in HANA Payroll Analysis Tool);
• Prepare Payroll data for monthly mass upload files (direct payroll deductions/payments);
• Audit various accounting transactions, e.g., payroll, education grants, final payments, income tax returns, etc. to ensure correctness of disbursement and adherence to relevant staff rules, financial regulations and rules, ST/AI issuances or practices;
• Provide information to Pension Fund participants and beneficiaries on participation entitlements and benefits and prepares year end pension schedules for financial statement reporting;
• Monitor all insurance transactions including those involving participants on non-Headquarter payroll but covered under Headquarters insurance plans.

GENERAL:

• Prepare and analyse reports with a view to identify anomalies and unusual trends and recommend corrective action as appropriate;
• Perform data extraction and prepare various reports for management review;
• Respond to queries and draft correspondence to clients and other stakeholders in a timely and effective manner;
• Ensure that accurate and complete accounting, reporting and internal control systems are in place and functioning;
• Ensure that all relevant records and audit trails are maintained;
• Act as deputy to team leader and back up for other team members;
• Assists with the collection and analysis of data as well as preparation of data presentations and reports for information sharing, responding to queries, knowledge management, planning and decision making;
• Assists with visualizations and updating information material such as web pages or brochures;
• Perform other related duties, as assigned.

Education

• Completion of high school diploma or secondary school is required. Supplemental courses/ training in finance, administration, project management or related field is required.

Job – Specific Qualification

• A recognized accountancy qualification (e.g. Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Chartered Institute of Public Finance Accountants (CIPFA) is desirable.

Work Experience

• A minimum of seven years (7) of experience in finance, budget or related area is required. The minimum years of relevant experience is reduced to five (5) years for candidates who possess a first level University degree. Experience with the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and finance system such as Oracle or SAP is desirable. Experience with International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) is desirable. Knowledge and experience with processes of Financial Management is desirable. Experience with integrated business processes, analytics and reporting is desirable.

Languages

• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the post advertised, fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official United Nations language is desirable. “NOTE: “fluency equals a rating of “fluent” in all four areas (read, write, speak, understand) and ” Knowledge of” equals a rating of ” confident” in two of the four areas.

Source: https://careers.un.org/jobSearchDescription/238799?language=en