Senior Accounting Assistant Travel Accounting

Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at the World Bank provides a unique opportunity for you to join us to help our clients solve their greatest development challenges. The World Bank (WB) is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries; a unique global partnership of five institutions (IBRD, IDA, IFC, MIGA, and ICSID) dedicated to ending extreme poverty, increasing shared prosperity, and promoting sustainable development on a livable planet. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, we work with public and private sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data, research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent global challenges. 

The WB Finance & Accounting (WFA) Vice Presidency is responsible for all aspects of the financial reporting and internal control framework for IBRD and IDA, and the extensive Trust Fund/Partnership portfolio of the WB entities. It supports an appropriate fiduciary control framework and administering disbursements for Bank lending and leads the client service function for the WB’s corporate expenses.

Organizationally, WFA is comprised of three departments: (1) Corporate Accounting and Reporting, (2) Trust Funds and Loans, and (3) Financial Controls. In WFA, our mandate supports both internal and external clients while we focus on delivery, optimization, impact, and people & culture.

Within WFA, Travel Accounting, ensures that the policies related to Operational Travel Expense Reimbursement reflects management objectives; as owner (jointly with GCS) of the institutional Travel system (TravelWeb), maintains the system and ensure it operates in a manner consistent with policy;  develops new tools and enhancements to address the changing needs of travelers and the institution; administers the corporate card program by managing vendor contracts, user policies, processes and systems.  

The Travel Accounting Team is currently seeking Extended Term Temporary (ETT) for its team in Chennai.

How your contributions will help us achieve our goals:

The Extended Term Temporary will support the team in undertaking compliance reviews and supporting the tasks related to the corporate card program, its monitoring, review, and reconciliation. You will collaborate with the internal partners like ITS, GCS, BPS etc., and external partners like Citi bank, Amex, Visa, Airplus and various Travel Management Companies to jointly deliver timely and accurate tasks of WB. 

As an ETT, you will report to the Accounting Officer of the team. 

• Conduct reviews of administrative transactions (travel expenses) to verify accuracy of records, compliance with Bank’s policies and procedures.
• Support Global Travel Card Program by collaborating with regional / country office focal points, travel management companies, CITI, Visa, ITS (Information Technology solutions), GCS (Global Corporate solutions), and HQ counterparts in facilitating smooth rollout of myCard.
• Support processing of invoices, reconciliation, following up for missing information, fixing issues, etc. to ensure prompt payment to vendors.
• Conduct reviews of card spend, communicate, and produce analytics for reporting.
• Extract data from source system (SAP/BI) to develop the data analytics needed to conduct compliance testing.
• Follow-up with the units on appropriate and timely submission of documentation and clarifications for review.
• Identification of problems and areas of improvements and development of constructive recommendations for improvements in effectiveness and efficiency and internal controls over the activities reviewed.
• Perform ad hoc analytics requests.
• Participate in the user testing and implementation of any new systems, applications, tools, and reports for the team, to enhance efficiency, effectiveness, and standardization.

Selection Criteria:

What you will bring:

• A strong compliance mindset, with a good eye for detail. An adaptive learner, who can learn the bigger picture, adapt, ensure that output meets quality standards, and effectively manages time.

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in commerce OR master’s degree in finance/Accounting with at least 3 years of work experience.
• CA or CPA (or an equivalent professional accounting qualification) will be an advantage.

Experience:

• 3 or more years of experience or equivalent combination of education and experience
• Background in financial services industry and familiarity with compliance reviews and travel accounting transactions.

Knowledge and Skills:

• Strong analytical skills  with ability to collate and interpret data, assess issues, develop sound conclusions, formulate remedial measures with diligence and accuracy.
• Experience with SAP enterprise resource planning system, Power BI, Alteryx is desirable, but not required.
• Exposure to other systems like People soft, and proficiency in Microsoft applications viz, Excel, word, power point would be an added advantage. A proven record of critical thinking skills in an automated accounting environment

Source: https://worldbankgroup.csod.com/ats/careersite/JobDetails.aspx?id=27385&site=1