Finance Associate – G6

Background

I. Organizational Context

UN Women, 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.

In Türkiye, in line with its global and , and the overall , UN Women works towards the overarching goal of “Women and girls including those at greatest risk of being left behind fully exercise their human rights, enjoy a life free from violence and discrimination, and lead, influence and benefit from sustainable and inclusive socioeconomic development towards the advancement of gender equality in Turkey”. UN Women works in four thematic areas: (i) governance and participation in public life; (ii) women’s economic empowerment; (iii) ending violence against women and girls; and (iv) women, peace and security, humanitarian action and disaster risk reduction. In line with its coordination mandate, UN Women promotes coordination and coherence across the UN system to enhance accountability and results for gender equality and women’s empowerment, including through joint programmatic and advocacy actions and initiatives, standardized tools and guidance and services to strengthen the relevant capacities of the UN system. Towards these goals, UN Women implements programmes and projects that aim to advance gender equality, improve women’s access to opportunities, rights, and services in political, social, and economic life, and combat gender stereotypes, discrimination, and violence, as required by international and national legal and policy commitments. UN Women collaborates with numerous partners – central and local level government authorities, civil society organizations, including women’s organizations and platforms, academia, private sector companies, and other UN agencies. It commits itself to the Leaving No One Behind principle, by supporting targeted actions to remove the obstacles that marginalized and vulnerable groups of women face in accessing their rights and to promote them as agents of change.

Under the overall guidance of the Deputy Director of Financial Management in Headquarters (HQ) and the daily supervision of the Operations Manager, the Finance Associate is responsible for the execution of a wide range of financial services and administrative processes in the Country Office (CO), ensuring timeliness, efficiency and transparent use offinancial resources and delivery of services in accordance with organizational financial rules, regulations, policies, procedures and approved allocations. The Finance Associate promotes a client-oriented approach consistent with UNWomen rules and regulations, standard practices and guidelines.

The Finance Associate works in close collaboration with the Programme and Operations Team as well as with the Operations and Programme teams in UN Women HQ for solving complex finance-related issues and information delivery.

Duties and Responsibilities

II. Functions

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

• Perform duties in full compliance with UN Women financial regulations and rules, policies and standard operating procedures, including internal controls;
• 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 assistance in Annual Work Plan entry in Results Management System (RMS) as required.
• Provide advice and recommend solutions to a wide range of financial issues;
• Monitor the proper functioning of the financial resources management system for office and programmatic budgets and resources;
• Implement cost saving and reduction strategies;

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

• Formulate the budget, control allotments, monitor expenditures, and prepare revisions according to the needs of the CO;
• 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;
• Create projects in Quantum, prepare budget revisions, revise project awards and status; and determine unutilized funds;
• Implement and maintain control mechanism for development projects through monitoring budgets preparation and modifications and budgetary status;
• Maintain internal expenditure control system;
• Undertake corrective actions on un-posted vouchers, including vouchers with budget check errors, match exceptions and unapproved vouchers. Respond to RO /HQ requests to resolve financial data issues;
• Act as vendor approver;
• Input data in Quantum and monitor status. Keep stakeholders and clients informed for timely action and/or decisions;
• Verify accuracy of Combined/Programme Delivery Reports and One UN Financial Reports as applicable. Take appropriate action to ensure accuracy of information;
• Manage petty cash fund, cash impress level  and other temporary General Ledger accounts.
• Prepare and check weekly payment list from Quantum and shared with Operations Manager on a weekly basis

?3. Provide finance support to the Programme and Operations team

• Review accounts receivables for UN Women projects and follow-up with project managers and finance section at regional office and/or headquarters on contributions, deposits creation in Quantum and their application to AR pending items;
• Verify and assist with PO and non-PO vouchers for development projects;
• Monitor the setup of budgets in Quantum to ensure they are in accordance with budgets agreed with donors and are input into Quantum 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;
• Monitor and proper follow up of all the financial items in Month-end and Year-end closure instructions status and under the guidance of the Operations Manager, take correction actions as required
• Keep stakeholders and clients informed for timely actions/decisions and review status reports for quality control;
• Provide information inputs to financial reports for Regional Office, HQ Finance and stakeholders
• Follow up with HQ for the accurate and timely mandated financial reports to donors and other clients and stakeholders;
• Associate revenue and expenditure in commitment control for non-core projects.
• Provide inputs and take necessary actions to facilitate timely financial project closure;
• Support financial donor reporting by providing timely information and taking necessary actions as required by UN Women Virtual Global Service Centre for financial donor reporting;

4. Provide administrative support to Resource Mobilization

• Compile and process information from donors, CO, and programme team, as inputs to various databases and documents.
• Prepare drafts for cost sharing agreements including conditions of contributions within resource mobilization efforts, adhering to standard agreements where possible. Follow up on contributions within the CO resource mobilization efforts.

5. 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.

III. Key Performance Indicators

• Timely, complete and accurate financial transactions/activities/documentation
• Timely and accurate advice on UN Women financial rules and regulations
• Timely and regular monitoring of financial resources management system and timely expenditure of financial resources
• Timely and accurate support to budget formulation and controlling allotments
• Timely and accurate monitoring of internal expenditures control systems
• Timely and accurate drafting of financial reports

Competencies

V. 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

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies:  

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

V. Recruitment Qualifications

The application package for the position should consist of:

• Duly filled in Personal History Form (P11) that can be downloaded from 
• CV
• Motivation Letter.

How to Submit the Application:

• Download and complete the UN Women Personal History Form (P11)-  
• Merge your UN Women Personal History Form (P11), CV and Motivation Letter into a single file. The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded.
• Click on the Job Title (job vacancy announcement).
• Click ‘Apply Now’ button, fill in necessary information on the first page, and then click ‘Submit Application;’
• Upload your application/single file as indicated above with the merged documents (underlined above).
• You will receive an automatic response to your email confirming receipt of your application by the system.

Notes:

• UN Women retains the right to contact references directly. Due to the large numbers of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.
• Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and may not be considered for further assessment.  

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment.