Finance Associate

The UNDP has been a partner of the Kingdom of Bahrain and its people since 1971. Since the opening of its offices and the signing of the Basic Agreement Document between the government and UNDP in 1978, UNDP has promoted and implemented sustainable human development strategies and programmes based on national priorities in line with the Kingdom’s reform agenda, the Economic Vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy.

Through comprehensive consultations and dialogue with government institutions, development needs are identified, and strong partnerships are built to address those needs and meet SDG targets.  Whether through developing human capacities at these institutions, or partnering to resolve a challenge, national ownership and leadership in all efforts is a key principle. UNDP also provides individual and institutional capacity development where needed, positioning national institutions to be in the leadership role.

The Finance team supports the Country Office (CO) in the promotion of its sustainable development agenda by continuously enhancing CO financial performance, delivering sound management of financial resources, and ensuring strong accountability through informed decision making, effective financial management processes, and transparent financial reporting that complies with international standards and regulatory guidelines.

Under the guidance and supervision of the Resident Representative, the Finance Associate ensures effective execution of financial services and processes in the Country Office and transparent utilization of financial resources. The Finance Associate promotes a collaborative, client-oriented approach consistent with UNDP rules and regulations.

The Finance Associate may supervise clerical and support staff of the Finance Unit. The Finance Associate works in close collaboration with the Operations, Programme, and projects’ staff in the CO and with UNDP HQ and GSSC staff to exchange information and resolve finance-related issues.

UNDP adopts a portfolio approach to accommodate changing business needs and leverage linkages across interventions to achieve its strategic goals. Therefore, UNDP personnel are expected to work across units, functions, teams, and projects in multidisciplinary teams in order to enhance and enable horizontal collaboration.
 

• Ensure CO financial processes, financial records and reports, and audit follow-up comply with UNDP Programme and Operations Policies and Procedures (POPP). Implement effective internal control framework.
• Support office management in preparing and reviewing CO finance business processes mapping and elaboration of the content of internal standard operating procedures in finance in consultation with the direct supervisor and office management.
• Provide input for implementation of cost-saving and reduction strategies in consultation with the office management.
• Maintain financing and trust fund agreements, follow up on contributions with the respective project teams (the project team should be contacting the donor) within the CO resource mobilization efforts.
• Routinely monitor financial exception reports for unusual activities and/or transactions; and investigate anomalies or unusual transactions. Inform senior CO management and other UNDP staff at Headquarters of the results of the investigation when satisfactory answers are not obtained.
• Act as access rights initiator for ERP system and as mail/shipments handling officer (POUCH) for incoming/outgoing items to/from HQ and other UN agencies.

2) Support administration of budgets of CO management projects, clearance of budgets for development projects, and functioning of an optimal cost-recovery system.

•  Provide researched information for planning and status of financial resources of the CO.
• Prepare and modify budgets for UNDP management projects, follow-up with HQ on authorized spending limits (ASL) for management projects.
• Assist in the preparation of required budget revisions (ensuring multiyear budget revision) within the unit at required period and timely securing of ASLs; and ensure detailed record keeping of funds released for projects as well as monthly ASL reporting for non-core/ GEF projects.
• Prepare timely cost-recovery/DPC bills in ERP for the services provided by UNDP, implement the revenue tracking system, and follow up on cost recovery.

3) Provide accounting and administrative support to the Finance unit.

• Support proper control of the supporting documents for payments invoices and proper document management including systematic archiving. 
• Prepare financial reports for projects and management funds/budget balance; and prepare all types of invoices.
• Maintain the internal expenditures control system which ensures that invoices processed are matched and completed, transactions are correctly recorded and posted in ERP, travel claims and other entitlements are duly processed.
• Prepare cheques for settlement.
• Coordinate and review allocated General Ledger and sub-ledger accounts and support timely project closure.
• Take timely corrective actions on erroneous data in ERP and on unposted invoices, including the invoices with validation errors, match exceptions, and/or unapproved invoices.  Prepare financial reports as required. Provide timely response to HQ requests to resolve financial data issues. 
• Maintain the Accounts Receivables for UNDP projects, including application of deposits against pending items and follow-up with partners on contributions.
• Ensure timely recording, reconciliation, and submission of VAT claims with relevant TAX authority and following up on VAT reimbursements.
• Monitor Finance dashboards and report on any variances.

4)  Ensure proper CO cash and Treasury management functioning.

• Timely review of cash position for local accounts to ensure sufficient funds for disbursements and maintain liquidity level approved by Treasury. Identify and record receipts and create deposits for revenue application on a timely basis. 
• Identify and record contributions by relevant parties.
• Full control over internet banking system and acting as a primary point of contact with local bank management on routine operational matters.
• Prepare timely and accurate bank reconciliations and provide documentation to GSSC according to service level agreement. Initiate bank transfers and deals in ERP.
• Timely preparation of monthly cashflow forecast to ensure sufficient cash balance in local bank account. Liaise with participating UN Agencies to obtain disbursement estimate of their cash requirement.
• Act as cashier for cash disbursements made on site.

5) Ensure facilitation of knowledge building and knowledge sharing in the CO.

• Assist in organizing training for the operations/ projects staff on finance, audit and compliance matters, and implementation of Internal Control Framework (ICF).
• Synthesize lessons learned and best practices in financial management.
• Provide sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice.
• The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization

Achieve Results:
LEVEL 2:  Scale up solutions and simplifies processes, balances speed and accuracy in doing work

Think Innovatively:
LEVEL 2: Offer new ideas/open to new approaches, demonstrate systemic/integrated thinking

Learn Continuously:
LEVEL 2: Go outside comfort zone, learn from others and support their learning

Adapt with Agility:
LEVEL 2: Adapt processes/approaches to new situations, involve others in change process

Act with Determination: 
LEVEL 2: Able to persevere and deal with multiple sources of pressure simultaneously

Engage and Partner: 
LEVEL 2: Is facilitator/integrator, bring people together, build/maintain coalitions/partnerships

Enable Diversity and Inclusion:
LEVEL 2: Facilitate conversations to bridge differences, considers in decision making 

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies:

Thematic Area: Name: Definition

Business Management : Customer Satisfaction/Client Management:  Ability to respond timely and appropriately with a sense of urgency, provide consistent solutions, and deliver timely and quality results and/or solutions to fulfil and understand the real customers’ needs. Provide inputs to the development of customer service strategy. Look for ways to add value beyond clients’ immediate requests. Ability to anticipate client’s upcoming needs and concerns

Business Development: Knowledge Generation:  Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need

Business Management : Working with Evidence and Data: Ability to inspect, cleanse, transform and model data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions and supporting decision-making

Finance: Accounting (General): Knowledge of accounting concepts, principles, regulations, policies and ability to apply this to strategic and/or practical situations.

Finance: Budget Management: Ability to support budgetary aspects of work planning process, drawing and management of team budgets 

Finance: Financial Reporting and Analysis: Ability to extract, evaluate financial data, derive relevant findings and present them in a meaningful and coherent manner to facilitate effective decision making and performance monitoring. 

Finance: Audit: Ability to examine and verify accounts and records