Senior Finance Assistant

Under the overall authority of the Liaison Officer of the UNESCO Antenna in Kyiv, the guidance and direct supervision of the Finance and Administrative Project Officer (AO), the Senior Finance Assistant shall undertake administrative & financial tasks ensuring adherence to UNESCO financial rules, policies and controls. S/he shall work closely with other team members to ensure to ensure effective and efficient service delivery.

The incumbent shall perform the following duties and responsibilities:

FINANCIAL:

• • Responsible for the processing of financial transactions in line with established financial rules and regulations. Co-ordinates with others on related issues during transactional processing.
• • Reviews incoming payment requests, scrutinizes supporting documents for relevancy, completeness & accuracy in line with applicable policies, procedures, rules and regulations.
• • Conduct pre-qualification of payment request posting eligibility reviews within delegated authority in accordance with established financial rules and policies ensuring due diligence, adherence and compliance to controls.
• • Verifies accuracy of payment/wire postings. Audits transactional activity to ensure accuracy of disbursement postings and adherence to relevant financial regulations and internal practices.
• • Conduct pre-periodic reviews and analysis of accounting data. Identifies anomalies and initiates corrective action as appropriate. Flags complex matters and issues that may impact financial risks/liability to the supervisor for guidance.
• • Analyzes and monitors open Outstanding items (ULOs) in travel, FRN, Contracts, SES, & unposted payments. Initiates corrective action.

BUDGETING:

• • Assists Administrative Officer (AO) in budget preparations. Undertakes research and consolidates cost estimates for Budget proposals development.
• • Assists AO in budget execution and expenditure monitoring/reporting.
• • Ensures procurement requisitions are in line with authorized budgets and agency financial rules and regulations.
• • May certify financial commitments and payments (where applicable) within delegated authority ensuring adherence to established Controls & budget availability.
• • Assists in cash flow computations to guide periodic replenishment.
• • Liaises with BFM/AP and other units on outstanding payment items and rejected payment instructions.

GENERAL:

• • Extracts financial data from SAP. Runs various reports for management review as requested.
• • Responds to queries. Drafts correspondence in relation to budgetary and financial matters for management review and/or internal clients/stakeholders.
• • Supports AO office in enforcing quality assurance standards particularly with regard to IPSAS financial accounting transacting, ensuring adherence to established checks & controls.
• • Ensures all relevant supporting records are maintained online in SAP and DUO backend for audit trail.
• • Drafts or prepares correspondence to respond to inquiries in respect to relevant financial and budgetary matters. Maintains up to date e-files.
• • Assists with data collection and analysis, preparation of data presentations and reports for information sharing. Responds to queries and contributes to knowledge building and management.
• • Supports review of travel & procurement requests in accordance with ADMIN manuals and agency financial rules.
• • May provide logistical and administrative backstopping support as necessary.
• • Performs other related duties as required by Unit Chief.

Education:

• Bachelors degree in the field of Finance or Accounting. Business Administration degree may be considered with course work in finance and/or accounting.

Work Experience:

• • 5 – 8 years progressive experience in finance, budget or accounting or business administration.
• • Demonstrated knowledge of accounting principles with experience in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) financial systems.
• • Progressive experience in payment and payroll posting, accounts reconciliations and financial reporting.
• • Ability to interpret financial and administrative policies to guide accurate application.
• • Ability to extract, interpret, analyze, and format data across all finance & budget functions.

Skills:

• • Good negotiating skills to resolve conflict. Ability to shape and influence agreements with requisitioning units.
• • Ability to work independently and manage multiple tasks simultaneously. Ability to work under stress and manage competing priorities.
• • Ability to listen effectively, correctly interpret messages/queries from others and respond appropriately providing accurate guidance.
• • Ability to work collaboratively with others in a team environment to achieve organizational goals ensuring confidentiality and discerning sensitive data.

Languages:

• Excellent knowledge (written and spoken) of English and Ukrainian.

Source: https://careers.unesco.org/job/Ukraine-Senior-Finance-Assistant-(SC-6),-Kyiv/812476802/