Finance and Budget Assistant

United Nations•New York, NY

59d

About The Position

This position is located in the Payroll and Accounts Payable Section of the Division of Administration (DA) in the Department of Operational Support (DOS). The Department of Operational Support was established to provide operational advisory services to operating entities across the Secretariat, including other departments, offices away from headquarters, field missions, and regional commissions. The Payroll and Accounts Payable Section processes global payroll and payments, provides policy advice and operational guidance, testing and implementation of enhancements. The Finance and Budget Assistants will report to the Chief of the Section.

Requirements

High school diploma or equivalent is required.
A minimum of five years of experience in accounting, finance, budget, administrative services or related area is required.
The minimum years of relevant experience is reduced to three years for candidates who possess a first-level university degree or higher.
Experience in the use of Enterprise Resource (ERP) systems, such as Umoja, SAP, or equivalent is required.
English is required.
Knowledge of, and ability to apply financial rules, regulations and procedures in the UN environment.
Knowledge, skills and ability to extract, interpret, analyse and format data across the full range of finance and budget functions, including programme development and database management, claims and treasury operations.
Ability to identify and resolve data discrepancies and operational problems.
Shows pride in work and in achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations.
Develops clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies; identifies priority activities and assignments; adjusts priorities as required; allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for completing work; foresees risks and allows for contingencies when planning; monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary; uses time efficiently.
Considers all those to whom services are provided to be "clients" and seeks to see things from clients' point of view; establishes and maintains productive partnerships with clients by gaining their trust and respect; identifies clients' needs and matches them to appropriate solutions; monitors ongoing developments inside and outside the clients' environment to keep informed and anticipate problems; keeps clients informed of progress or setbacks in projects; meets timeline for delivery of products or services to client.

Nice To Haves

Experience in processing payroll, vendor/travel claims settlement in an international organization is desirable.
Experience using a Customer Relationship Management tool such as iNeed is desirable.
Experience with Staff Rules and Regulations including entitlements and Financial Regulations, Rules and procedures of the United Nations or similar international organization is desirable.

Responsibilities

Assists in the preparation of supporting documents (narrative and supporting tables) with respect to finalization of cost estimates and budget proposals, in terms of staff and non-staff requirements.
Supports the Finance/Budget Officer(s) in extracting information and generating expenditure reports from computerized information system databases; assists in preliminary analyses of the extracted information and the reports generated, and highlights areas of concern for the attention of the Finance/Budget Officer(s).
Assists in the development of resource requirements for budget submissions and in the preparation of budget performance submissions.
Researches/compiles data and other information required by the Finance Budget Officer(s) in the review and analysis of relevant proposals.
Consolidates data and provides support to Finance/Budget Officer(s) with respect to budget reviews of relevant intergovernmental and expert bodies.
Assists the Finance/Budget Officer(s) in the preparation/finalization of budget performance reports, performing preliminary analysis of variances between approved budgets and actual expenditures.
Prepares pre-encumbrances and obligations in IMIS and reviews them to ensure that funds are available and the correct account has been used.
Assists in drafting the initial versions of the Financial Aspects section of the Secretary-General's reports to the Security Council, draft resolutions and Reports of the Fifth Committee for peacekeeping operations and the Annotated Agenda for peacekeeping items.
Assists the Finance/Budget Officer(s) with data input in the budget instructions for peacekeeping operations.
Assists in the financial backstopping of trust funds, including monitoring the status of voluntary contributions, generating expenditure reports from UMOJA and monitoring reporting requirements by donors.
Assists the Finance/Budget Officer(s) in the issuance of allotments and related staffing table authorizations.
Verifies accuracy of input data, ensuring consistency of data in previous allotments to new allotments issued.
Reviews draft reports, verifying overall accuracy, consistency and uniformity in the presentation, and ensuring comprehensiveness and compliance with the format prescribed by the Editorial and Documents control of GACM; cross-checks consistency of figures in tables with the text of the reports, and verifies references to other reports and documents, bringing errors to the attention of the Finance/Budget Officer(s) concerned; ensures that all necessary corrections are incorporated in the reports; co-ordinates with other finance and budget staff on related issued during preparation of budget reports.
Verifies and prepares less complex payments to third parties, commercial entities, and individuals, with respect to settlement of certified death and disability, contingent-owned equipment, stores, pay and allowances, and letters of assist claims.
Process travel claims/expense reports and performs data entry and extraction functions.
Generates travel claims reports, budgetary or peacekeeping financing reports, including statistical/financial data for tables, charts and spreadsheets using office software and templates.
Monitors processes and schedules related unit outputs, products, tasks, etc.; where applicable, assists in the verification of receipt and accuracy of requisite documents, approvals, signatures, etc., to ensure compliance with relevant legal, financial, and other requirements.
Assists with the monitoring and review of the open items in the travel claims.
Investigates erroneous charges and takes appropriate corrective accounting actions as part of the review of rejected GL.
Investigates and processes the relevant journal voucher to clear the open items in the travel accounts.
Assists in reviewing various accounting transactions, e.g., travel claims, travel payments, to ensure correctness of the disbursements and adherence to relevant staff rules, financial regulations and rules, ST/AI issuances or practices.
Records and reconciles more complex accounting transactions.
Examines and records financial transactions of Offices-away-from-Headquarters/Peacekeeping Missions/other UN organisations and prepares remittances for disbursement.
Reconciles more complex bank accounts in various currencies.
Assists in the processing of payments to governments, and vendors for goods and services. This includes, amongst other things, calculating, inputting, and checking payments for correctness and communicating discrepancies to supervisors.
Assists in processing payments to staff members for their entitlements including salaries, claims, education grants and income tax.
Drafts/prepares memoranda and/or faxes to various offices, departments and overseas offices.
Responds to queries from staff members and third parties.
Performs other duties as may be required.
Keeps up-to-date on documents/reports/guidelines that have a bearing on matters related to programme and/or peacekeeping budgets, ensuring compliance with intergovernmental recommendations and decisions as well as with United Nations policies and procedures.
Drafts or prepares correspondence to respond to enquiries in respect to relevant financial and budget matters.
Maintains and keeps up-to-date files.
Provides administrative support to the Head of the organizational unit and/or Finance/Budget Officer(s), as required.
Performs other related duties, as assigned.