Finance Assistant

This position is located in the Service Provision Platform (SPP) Unit, Division of Administration. The Finance Assistant reports to the Head of the SPP Unit. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean is one of the five regional Commissions of the United Nations. It was founded in 1948 with the purpose of contributing to the region’s economic and social development. Its mission includes the design, monitoring and evaluation of public policies and the provision of advisory services, expertise and training to Governments, as well as support for regional and international cooperation and coordination activities. Please visit our website at www.eclac.org for further information.

Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the SPP Officer, the Finance Assistant will be responsible for the following duties:

• Supports the administrative unit of ECLAC as a dedicated financial assistant for cost recovery processes within ECLAC, the service provider for the Latin America and the Caribbean region.

BUDGET

• Assists in the preparation of supporting documents (narrative and supporting tables) with respect to finalization of cost estimates and budget proposals, in terms of staff and non-staff requirements.
• Supports the SPP Officer in extracting information and generating expenditure reports from computerized information system databases; assists in preliminary analyses of the extracted information and the reports generated, and highlights areas of concern for the attention of the Chief of Administration.
• Assists in the development of resource requirements for budget submissions and in the preparation of budget performance submissions.
• Researches/compiles data and other information required by the SPP Officer in the review and analysis of relevant proposals.
• Consolidates data and provides support to SPP Officer with respect to budget reviews of relevant intergovernmental and expert bodies.
• Assists the SPP Officer in the preparation/finalization of budget performance reports, performing preliminary analysis of variances between approved budgets and actual expenditures.
• Prepares pre-encumbrances and obligations in Umoja and review them to ensure that funds are available and the correct account has been used.
• Assists the SPP Officer with data input in the budget instructions for cost recovery processes.
• Assists in the financial backstopping of trust funds, including monitoring the status of voluntary contributions, generating expenditure reports from Umoja and monitoring reporting.
• Assists the SPP Officer in the issuance of allotments and related staffing table authorizations.
• Verifies accuracy of input data, ensuring consistency of data in previous allotments to new allotments issued.
• Reviews draft reports, verifying overall accuracy, consistency and uniformity in the presentation, and ensuring comprehensiveness and compliance with the format prescribed by the Editorial and Documents control of GACM; cross-checks consistency of figures in tables with the text of the reports, and verifies references to other reports and documents, bringing errors to the attention of the SPP Officer concerned; ensures that all necessary corrections are incorporated in the reports; co-ordinates with other finance and budget staff on related issues during preparation of budget reports.

TREASURY

• Reviews incoming payment instructions with regard to banking details and sources of funds.
• Prepares and reviews outgoing billing documents.Dispatches payment instructions and cheques to banks.
• Creates receipts and deposits for all incoming funds.
• Notifies payees of status of payments.
• Assists staff members andFund Management Officers regarding queries on payment and deposit-related issues.
• Identifies and annotates bank account movements.
• Files and archives documentation as required.

GENERAL

• Keeps up-to-date on documents/reports/guidelines that have a bearing on matters related to cost recovery policies, programme budgets, ensuring compliance with intergovernmental recommendations and decisions as well as with United Nations policies and procedures.
• Drafts routine correspondence with respect to enquiries related to relevant financial and budget, and SPP matters.Maintains and keep up-to-date files.
• Provides administrative support to the Chief of Administration and/or SPP Officer, as required.
• 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.
• Performs other related duties, as assigned.

Education

• High school diploma or equivalent is required. For positions in the General Service category, candidates are required to clearly indicate in their Applicant Profile (AP) relevant information confirming completion of High School.

Work Experience

• Five years of experience in finance, budget, accounting, administrative services or related area is required. The minimum years of relevant experience is reduced to five (3) for candidates who possess a first-level university degree or higher. Experience working with Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) systems is required. Experience working with applications for reporting and Microsoft 365 applications including Excel, Power BI, SharePoint, etc, is desirable. One year 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 and Spanish is a working language of ECLAC. For the position advertised, fluency in both English and Spanish is required. Knowledge of another official United Nations language is desirable.

Source: https://careers.un.org/jobSearchDescription/233880?language=en