Finance Assistant

Background

The UN Women (UNW), grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

UN Women Zimbabwe is seeking the services of a Finance Assistant for a period of 4 months. The Finance Assistant will support the CO in the execution of a wide range of financial services and administrative processes to ensure timeliness, efficiency and transparent use of financial resources and delivery of services in accordance with organizational financial rules, regulations, policies, procedures and approved allocations.

The Finance Assistant will report directly to the Finance Associate, under the overall guidance of the Operations Manager.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of work:

1. Implement financial strategies, in full compliance of UN Women rules, regulations, policies, and recording and reporting systems

• Review and verify financial transactions, activities, and documentation; taking corrective actions as needed and reporting any unusual activities;
• Monitor financial exceptions reports for unusual activities or transaction, investigate anomalies and report to the supervisor conclusions and/or present recommendations for actions/decisions;
• Draft reports on financial status, procedures, exchange rates, costs and expenditures;
• Follow-up on audit recommendations to monitor implementation of corrective actions;
• Collect, verify and present information and data for use in the planning of financial resources and the formulation of the Country Office (CO) programme work plans, budgets, proposals on implementation arrangements and execution modalities;
• Provide advice and recommend solutions to a wide range of financial issues. 

2. Prepare and administer CO budgets in full compliance of UN Women rules, regulations, policies, and recording and reporting systems

• Track the appropriate and timely use of financial resources;
• Prepare cost recovery documents or bills for the services provided by UN Women to other programmes or organizations;
• Implement and maintain control mechanism for development projects through monitoring budgets preparation and modifications and budgetary status;
• Prepare VAT reimbursements with adequate documentation support;
• Manage petty cash fund, cash impress level. 

3. Provide finance support to the Programme and Operations team

• Prepare PO and non-PO vouchers for development projects;
• Review travel claims, MPOs, and other entitlements;
• Monitor the setup of budgets in ATLAS to ensure they are in accordance with budgets agreed with donors and are input into ATLAS at the detailed Activity ID level;
• Monitor each month over-expenditure of budgets and follow up with Budget Owner;
• Monitor regularly transactions posted to projects ensuring actual expenditure has been recorded against correct budget category and activity, take timely corrective actions as required;
• Monitor proper follow up of advances to implementing partners, review their financial reports together with project managers;
• Monitor the financial status and under the guidance of the Operations Manager implement control mechanisms for management/development projects;
• Provide inputs and take necessary actions to facilitate timely donor reporting and financial project closure.

4. Facilitate knowledge building and knowledge sharing

• Conduct training and/or helping organize training events and activities; as well as participate in trainings;
• Collect and compile lessons learned and best practices in financial management and services. Disseminate to clients and stakeholders as appropriate to build capacity and knowledge;
• Contribute to financial business operational practices and management innovations.

Expected Outputs/deliverables:

• Updated CO Asset register and Assets movements tracked;
• Year-end Asset Physical verification completed, and reports uploaded to SharePoint;
• Travel Expense Claims and Voucher for Reimbursement of Expenses processed; 
• VAT submitted monthly;
• Monthly petty cash reconciliation report submitted;
• Budget revisions for all CO projects completed;
• Partner verification reports shared and emerging issues followed up;
• Implementing Partners’ supported with audit preparations;
• PBF financial report prepared;
• Monthly review of DAMS;
• All CO Project Cooperation Agreements are uploaded on SharePoint.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Functional Competencies

• Strong knowledge of financial rules and regulations and accounting principles;
• Strong knowledge and application skills of IT tools and understanding of management systems; 
• Strong knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages;
• Ability to provide input to business processes re-engineering, implementation of new systems;
• Ability to administer and execute financial and accounting processes and transactions.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting is required;
• Specialised national or international certification in accounting and finance would be an asset
• Successful completion of UN Women Accounting and Finance Test is required.

Experience:

• At least 6 years of progressively responsible experience in finance;
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc) and spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems.
• Experience in the use of ATLAS is required.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required
• Working knowledge of another UN official language is an asset

Duration of assignment

• The Finance Assistant is expected to start work on 1 October 2019 and end on 31 January 2020.
• Tasks will be based on a weekly work plan approved by the supervisor.
• The Finance Assistant will be based at the UN Women Office in Zimbabwe with missions to the field as and when required