Assistant (Accounts)

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME

The Department of Finance ensures that the financial management framework provides the required financial controls, reporting systems and procedures to meet the Organization's needs. It is therefore responsible for WHO's accounting policy and systems, corporate accounting, financial reporting, income and expenditure, donor accounting and reporting and treasury management policies. The Department of Finance has also the responsibility for insurance and pension services including administration of operations and risk management relating to staff and other financial risks.

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES

• Verifies and approves separation files prepared by team members ensuring correctness of benefit estimates, reconciliation of contributions and pension accounts, and accurate reporting of participant and dependent's data with relevant supporting documents in a timely fashion as per the Service Level Agreement.
• Enters during the process the necessary details and comments in the dedicated fields of WHO systems (separation page, tracking tool and remarks in pension dedicated tool - Pensys or in the future systems).
• Acts as focal point for the analysis and resolution of issues found in separation files, especially queries received from UNJSPF, as well as Pension Exception Reports (PREs) not handled by WHO Global Service Center colleagues, Audit Notes assigned.
• Handles the reconciliation of IARC participants' contributions on a regular basis.
• Contributes to presenting or answering questions at pension group briefings for new, active or separated participants of WHO HQ, regional offices and managed entities.
• Answers to queries assigned, especially in MyService.
• Enters details or summaries of replies in MyService.
• Opens, answers, and closes tickets within Service Level Agreement timelines.
• Contributes to closure activities and participates in related preparatory meetings.
• Prepares year-end schedules and documents assigned.
• Contributes to testing and suggesting design changes in the IT systems used to perform the above tasks.
• Participates in Team meetings, discussions and trainings and proposes improvements.
• Others: within the scope of the delegated authority, performs other ad hoc tasks assigned (e.g. support for processing separations) and acts on behalf of Deputy Team, Pension/Deputy Secretary, WHO Staff Pension Committee as required.
• Any other task assigned.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education

Essential: Completion of secondary level education.
Desirable: Higher education with focus on accounting an advantage.

Experience

Essential: A minimum of 8 years experience in an administrative function, including at least 3 years in a pension benefit administration context and experience with UNJSPF.
Desirable: Proven ability to work with sensitive figures.

Skills

• The incumbent controls a high volume of work by auditing most of the pension team's separations from service, and taking into consideration seasonal activities.
• The incumbent uses mature judgement when responding to unusual requests, courtesy when dealing with participants, UNJSPF and other stakeholders and diplomacy when dealing with sensitive requests.
• The incumbent ensures that all tasks are carried out with due regard to the UNJSPF regulations, rules, administrative manual and guidelines.
• The incumbent escalates non-routine cases to supervisor and/or UNJSPF as required and handles all matters under strict confidentiality and within the delegated authority.
• Ability to supervise and motivate team members.

WHO Competencies

Teamwork
Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences
Communication
Producing results
Moving forward in a changing environment

Use of Language Skills

Essential:

• Expert knowledge of English.
• Intermediate knowledge of French.
  
  

REMUNERATION

WHO offers staff in the General Services category an attractive remuneration package, which for the above position includes an annual net base salary starting at CHF 86,236 (subject to mandatory deductions for pension contributions and health insurance, as applicable) and 30 days of annual leave.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• This vacancy notice may be used to fill other similar positions at the same grade level.

• Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.

• A written test and/or an asynchronous video assessment may be used as a form of screening.

• In the event that your candidature is retained for an interview, you will be required to provide, in advance, a scanned copy of the degree(s)/diploma(s)/certificate(s) required for this position. WHO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed through the link: http://www.whed.net/. Some professional certificates may not appear in the WHED and will require individual review.

• According to article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity. Due regard will be paid to the importance of recruiting the staff on as wide a geographical basis as possible.

• Any appointment/extension of appointment is subject to WHO Staff Regulations, Staff Rules and E-Manual.

• The WHO is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. The WHO recruits and employs staff regardless of disability status, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, language, race, marital status, religious, cultural, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, or any other personal characteristics.

• The WHO is committed to achieving gender parity and geographical diversity in its workforce. Women, persons with disabilities, and nationals of unrepresented and underrepresented Member States (https://www.who.int/careers/diversity-equity-and-inclusion) are strongly encouraged to apply.

• Persons with disabilities can request reasonable accommodations to enable participation in the recruitment process. Requests for reasonable accommodation should be sent through an email to reasonableaccommodation@who.int

• An impeccable record for integrity and professional ethical standards is essential. WHO prides itself on a workforce that adheres to the highest ethical and professional standards and that is committed to put the WHO Values Charter into practice.

• WHO has zero tolerance towards sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct (i.e., discrimination, abuse of authority and harassment). All members of the WHO workforce have a role to play in promoting a safe and respectful workplace and should report to WHO any actual or suspected cases of SEA, sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct. To ensure that individuals with a substantiated history of SEA, sexual harassment or other types of abusive conduct are not hired by the Organization, WHO will conduct a background verification of short-listed candidates.

• WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.

• For information on WHO's operations please visit: http://www.who.int.

• WHO also offers wide range of benefits to staff, including parental leave and attractive flexible work arrangements to help promote a healthy work-life balance and to allow all staff members to express and develop their talents fully.

• The statutory retirement age for staff appointments is 65 years. For external applicants, only those who are expected to complete the term of appointment will normally be considered.

• Please note that WHO's contracts are conditional on members of the workforce confirming that they are vaccinated as required by WHO before undertaking a WHO assignment, except where a medical condition does not allow such vaccination, as certified by the WHO Staff Health and Wellbeing Services (SHW). The successful candidate will be asked to provide relevant evidence related to this condition. A copy of the updated vaccination card must be shared with WHO medical service in the medical clearance process. Please note that certain countries require proof of specific vaccinations for entry or exit. For example, official proof /certification of yellow fever vaccination is required to enter many countries. Country-specific vaccine recommendations can be found on the WHO international travel and Staff Health and Wellbeing website. For vaccination-related queries please directly contact SHW directly at shws@who.int.

• This post is subject to local recruitment and will be filled by persons recruited in the local commuting area of the duty station.

• In case the recruitment website does not display properly, please retry by: (i) checking that you have the latest version of the browser installed (Chrome, Edge or Firefox); (ii) clearing your browser history and opening the site in a new browser (not a new tab within the same browser); or (iii) retry accessing the website using Mozilla Firefox browser or using another device. Click this link for detailed guidance on completing job applications: Instructions for candidates