Finance And Budget Officer

Org. Setting and Reporting

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment. The Corporate Services Division (CSD) is the guardian of UNEP’s corporate interest, mitigating the organization’s exposure to risk and supporting it with up-to-date management tools, guidelines and capacity building. CSD oversees UNEP’s efficient and effective management as well as adherence to the core values of the UN in line with relevant accountability requirements, rules and regulations. This position is located in UNEP’s Corporate Services Division (CSD) at the Nairobi duty station. Under the overall supervision of the CSD Deputy Director and immediate supervision of the Head of the Financial Management Services Section, the incumbent will be responsible for the following duties:

Responsibilities

Budget preparation and administration

• Issues allotments, authorizes sub-allotments, including redeployment of funds when necessary, ensuring appropriate expenditures.
• Monitors expenditures to ensure that they remain within authorized levels.
• Administers and monitors extra-budgetary resources, including review of agreements and cost plans, ensuring compliance with regulations and rules and established policies and procedures.
• Oversees the review and finalization of budget performance reports, monitors variances between approved budgets and actual expenditures.
• Prepares/finalizes reports for intergovernmental bodies and for management on budgetary issues, and correspondence, including guidelines, instructions.
• Acts as Certifying Officer under Financial Rules to ensure that proposed obligations and expenditures are in accordance with budgets and established regulations and rules.
• Manages and monitors budget implementation and recommends reallocation of funds as necessary. • Prepares budget performance submissions.
• Reviews and finalizes budget performance reports, analyzing variances between approved budgets and actual expenditures.
• Provides substantive support to relevant intergovernmental and expert bodies.

Finance & Accounting

• Monitors the financial function of the Organization which includes a number of different and diverse operations and interrelated accounts of the financial system. The incumbent is expected to review the operational objectives and related financial policies and procedures affecting the Organization’s accounting and financial systems. S/he also takes the lead in implementing required changes.
• Reviews and ensures that UNEP’s financial statements are International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) compliant.
• Supports the agile implementation of upgrades to the various modules the system.
• Keeps up to date with new IPSAS policies and implements in conjunction with UNON.
• Liaises with UNON, Administrative/Fund Management Officers (A/FMOs), and auditors as required to identify and resolve finance issues. Provide support and guidance on financial aspects of legal agreements.

Project closure

• Provides operational guidance for closing expired projects in the UNEP Divisions/Offices, particularly in support of the newly established Climate Change Division.
• Liaises with UNEP Finance Staff and Project Managers, Implementing Partners and government representatives to gather historical information on project implementation.
• Performs in-dept analysis in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to determine final balances of grants.
• Monitors progress of the project closure exercise, hold regular progress meetings, report to CSD Senior Management on the project closure exercise and take proactive measures to mitigate against potential risks.
• Collects and analyzes data to identify trends or patterns and provide insights through graphs, charts, tables and reports using data visualization methods to enable data-driven planning, decision-making, presentation and reporting.

Education

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in business administration, finance, accounting or related field is required. A first-level university degree in combination with two (2) additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. Successful completion of both degree and non-degree programs in data analytics, business analytics or data science programs is desirable.

Job – Specific Qualification

• Certification as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Chartered Accountant (CA), Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA) or equivalent is desirable.

Work Experience

• A minimum of seven (7) years of progressively responsible experience in finance, administration, programme management, business administration or related area is required. A minimum of five (5) years relevant experience in implementing, applying, and contributing to development of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) is required. A minimum of five (5) years of hands-on, practical experience with preparing annual financial statements for large international organizations involving multiple sources of funds is required. A minimum five (5) years of supervising and managing a team of accounting professionals involved in each of the following areas: resource mobilization, implementing partners management, grant management, certifying officer responsibilities is required.
• A minimum of three (3) years relevant experience in conceptualizing, preparing, and defending policy and administrative decisions/guidance to diverse inter-governmental bodies in support of negotiations and international environmental agreements is required. A minimum of five (5) years of experience in reviewing and advising on financial implications of terms and conditions of legal agreements with host countries, donors and UN Agencies is desirable.
• Experience with use of finance modules in an ERP system, , including analysis of accounting data and creation of management reports using Business Intelligence tools, is desirable. A minimum of two (2) years experience in developing, building capacity and delivery of training on financial and legal arrangements with project implementing partners is desirable. Experience in performing analysis, reviewing, and designing tailored donor reports is desirable. A minimum of two (2) years or more of experience in data analytics or related area is desirable

Languages

• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the post advertised, fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official United Nations language is desirable. NOTE: ”Fluency” equals a rating of ”fluent” in all four areas (read, write, speak, understand) and ”Knowledge of” equals a rating of ”confident” in two of the four areas.

Source: https://careers.un.org/jobSearchDescription/241145?language=en