Finance Assistant (UNHAS) - G5 at World Food Programme (WFP)

Requisition #: 123535

Organizational Context

• This job is found in Country Offices (COs), Regional Bureaux (RBs), and Headquarters (HQ), and report to the Head of Unit, Chief, Finance Officer, or the designate.
• At this level job holders are expected to take responsibility for completion of a range of finance/budget related processes and activities requiring some interpretation of standard guidelines/practices.
• Job holders are able to recommend a course of action to staff at various levels and may allocate tasks to other support staff.

Job Purpose

• To support effective delivery of UNHAS finance, budget and administration support services in order to facilitate transparent and efficient utilization of financial resources.

Key Accountabilities (Not All-Inclusive):

• Assist in providing the procedural and technical support to staff within the areas of finance and budget, to ensure compliance with WFP financial policies, rules and regulations.
• Monitor monthly expenditure forecasts and provide expenditure reports in order to facilitate informed decision-making.
• Monitor the sub-imprest bank and petty cash accounts regularly, to ensure that adequate funds are available and appropriately disbursed.
• Verify vendor claims, advances and other receivables and observe appropriate procurement procedures, to ensure that suppliers are paid in a timely manner and in conformance with WFP finance rules and regulations.
• Assist in compiling information from various sources in order to prepare reports relating to budgets, accounting, finance and statistics.
• Retrieve, format and validate information obtained from various financial information systems and bring any discrepancy or inaccuracy to the attention of the supervisor and follow up corrective actions.
• Maintain the web-based register for all invoices and payment transfers and record paperwork, to ensure that all documents are maintained and filed in compliance with WFP standards and guidelines.
• Monitor and record all expenses in line with the approved budget in order to ensure that correct expenditure costs are charged and payments to external suppliers, cash grants and other supplier invoices are processed in a timely manner.
• Provide guidance and on-the-job training to other support staff, to ensure services are delivered consistently and to the required standards.
• Perform reconciliation of UNHAS Customers account on a monthly basis.

4Ps Core Organisational Capabilities
Purpose:

• Understand and communicate the Strategic Objectives: Helps teammates articulate WFP’s Strategic Objectives.
• Be a force for positive change: Suggests potential improvements to team’s work processes to supervisor.
• Make the mission inspiring to our team: Explains the impact of WFP activities in beneficiary communities to teammates.
• Make our mission visible in everyday actions: Articulates how own unit’s responsibilities will serve WFP’s mission.

People:

• Look for ways to strengthen people's skills: Trains junior teammates on new skills and capabilities.
• Create an inclusive culture: Seeks opportunities to work with people from different backgrounds.
• Be a coach & provide constructive feedback: Serves as a peer coach for colleagues in the same area of work.
• Create an “I will”/”We will” spirit: Tracks progress toward goals and shares this information on a regular basis with supervisor.

Performance:

• Encourage innovation & creative solutions: Explores ways to consistently be more efficient and accurate in own areas of work and shares new methods of work with colleagues.
• Focus on getting results: Focuses on getting results and tracks trends in completion rates for own tasks to identify opportunities for efficiency.
• Make commitments and make good on commitments: Takes responsibility for own tasks and notifies supervisor as soon as possible of potential delays in meeting deadlines or commitments.
• Be Decisive: Independently decides what action to take when faced with critical choices in the workplace or in dangerous situations in the field.

Partnership:

• Connect and share across WFP units: Suggests opportunities for partnering with other units to supervisor.
• Build strong external partnerships: Identifies opportunities to work with colleagues and partners in the field towards common goals.
• Be politically agile & adaptable: Develops an understanding of the value of WFP’s teams and external partners in fulfilling team’s goals and objectives.
• Be clear about the value WFP brings to partnerships: Aligns own activities with supervisor’s priorities to fulfill internal and external partner needs.

Functional Capabilities:

• Capability Name: Description of the behaviour expected for the proficiency level
• Internal Controls & Compliance: Demonstrates basic knowledge of internal controls, risk management, and monitoring mechanisms and their applicability to WFP's critical activities.
• Performance Budgeting, Analysis & Reporting: Demonstrates participation in business planning efforts by developing basic project-level budgets and forecasts, incorporating information from various sources as appropriate to monitor KPIs.
• Resource Management: Demonstrates ability to track and compile reports on HQ and Field staffing and resource usage on a project-level basis.
• Financial Mgmt. & Accounting Principles: Applies knowledge of financial and accounting principles and practices to ensure compliance with WFP policies, applicable procedures and accounting standards.
• Supply Chain and Operations Knowledge: Demonstrates basic understanding of WFP programme, implementation, and supply chain principles (including project modalities & structures).

Standard Minimum Qualifications

• Education: Completion of secondary school education. A post-secondary certificate in the related functional area is desirable.
• Experience: 4 or more years of progressively responsible work experience in Finance, Accounting, or relative business stream with experience in general administrative work (GS5 Grade)
• Language: General Service (Headquarters): Fluency (level C) in the English language. Fluency (level C) or intermediate knowledge (level B) of another official language may be required depending on the location of the post or area of responsibility.
• General Service (Field): Fluency in both oral and written communication in the UN language in use at the duty station and in the duty station’s language, if different.

Other Specific Job Requirements:

• This section is optional to describe additional responsibilities & knowledge required for the specific job

Desired Experiences For Entry Into The Role:

• Four or more years experience in collecting and monitoring financial data on projects and programmes, assessing financial health and status, and reporting findings to senior leaders.

Remuneration

• Selected candidate will be employed on a fixed-term contract with a probationary period of one year. WFP offers an attractive compensation package. For more details please visit International Civil Service Commision website: http://icsc.un.org  (link: http://www.un.org/Depts/OHRM/salaries_allowances/salaries/nigeria.htm).