Budget Assistant

ECA’s mission is to deliver ideas and actions for an empowered and transformed Africa; informed by the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063. The mission is guided by ECA’s five strategic directions which are: advancing ECA’s position as a premier knowledge institution that builds on its unique position and privilege to bring global solutions to the continent’s problems and take local solutions to the continent; developing macroeconomic and structural policy options to accelerate economic diversification and job creation; designing and implementing innovative financing models for infrastructure, and for human, physical and social assets for a transforming Africa; contributing solutions to regional and transboundary challenges, with a focus on peace security and social inclusion as an important development nexus; advocating Africa’s position at the global level and developing regional responses as a contribution to global governance issues. This position is located in the Division of Administration, Finance and Budget Section, at the UN Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The incumbent will report to the Head of the Unit/Finance & Budget Officer.

Responsibilities

Within delegated authority, the Finance & Budget Assistant will be responsible for the following duties: (These duties are generic and may not be carried out by all Finance & Budget Assistants.) Budget:

• Provides support with respect to the review, analyses and preparation of the medium-term plan and its revisions.
• Prepares supporting documents (narrative and supporting tables) with respect to finalization of cost estimates and budget proposals, in terms of staff and non-staff requirements.
• Assists the Unit Chief in the elaboration of resource requirements for budget submissions.
• Assists in the preparation of the annual programme budget for all sources of funds
• Undertakes monitoring and periodic reporting of the regular budget for the assigned portfolio
• Provides quality and innovative services to clients by providing technical support on Umoja funds management issues and other budgetary matters
• Undertakes research and provides support to higher level Finance & Budget Officers with respect to budget reviews of relevant intergovernmental and expert bodies.
• Monitors expenditures and compares with approved budget; prepares adjustments as necessary.
• Reviews requisitions for goods and services to ensure (a) correct objects of expenditure have been charged, and (b) availability of funds.
• Assists in preparation of budget performance submissions and finalization of budget performance reports, analysing variances between approved budgets and actual expenditures.
• Monitors integrity of various financial databases.
• Verifies accuracy of input data, ensuring consistency of data in previous allotments to new allotments issued.
• Co-ordinates with other finance and budget staff on related issues during preparation of budget reports.
• Periodic reconciliation of General Ledgers accounts and other budget accounts
• Prepares request to Controller’s Office on redeployment of funds and to Finance section on movement of funds
• Records in Umoja system inputs on direct disbursement and miscellaneous document.
• Reviews data on monthly staffing table
• Process fund distribution received from HQ and input allotment advice in Umoja System
• Produces budget reports on a regular basis and on ad-hoc basis using Business Intelligence
• Drafts report and memos to clients and to the Committees
• Analyses data to identify budget trends
• Assists with the collection and analysis of data as well as preparation of data presentations and reports for information sharing, responding to queries, knowledge management, planning and decision making.
• Assists with visualizations and updating information material such as web pages or brochures.
• Any other duty as and when required

Education

• High school diploma or equivalent is required. Accounting qualification is desirable.

Work Experience

• A minimum of seven (7) years experience in finance, budgeting, accounting, or related area is required. The minimum years of relevant experience is reduced to five (5) year for candidates who possess a first-level university degree or higher. Experience in SAP-Umoja, BI reporting and Umoja Analytics is desirable. Experience in budgeting and analysing financial reports is desirable. Experience in using and applying the UN Financial Rules and Regulations is desirable. Experience in project / grant management, budgeting, accounting and financial management, which is preferably within the UN, or a similar organization, experience working with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems such as Systems Applications and Products (SAP) is desirable. Experience with IPSAS and the financial management programs /systems used by the UN or similar organizations is desirable.

Languages

• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the post advertised, fluency in oral and written English is required. Knowledge of another official United Nations language is an advantage.

Source: https://careers.un.org/jobSearchDescription/235695?language=en