WFACS Finance Officer

Description

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.  For more information, visit www.worldbank.org.

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.

WFACS:

• Within WFA, WFACS – Client Services unit of the Trust Funds and Loan Operations Department is devoted to providing “front-end” client services and related operations to business and external clients and is organized along business lines serving the regions and global practices. The Services within the area of WFACS responsibilities fall under three categories: regional coordination, country focal point assistance, and project-level fiduciary and portfolio management.
• WFACS is currently seeking a highly motivated Finance Officer (FO) for its team in [Beijing and Manila].
• How your contributions will help us achieve our goals

The WFACS FO plays an important role in disbursement related activities during preparation and implementation of a project, including but not limited to the following:

• WFACS country focal point for an assigned country portfolio;
• Review and clear project preparation packages for new World Bank-funded projects;
• Support the disbursements-related aspects of the project implementation; and
• Perform the client relationship management with the various stakeholders that WFACS engages with,
• Innovate and provide solutions that leverage technology to improve impact and operational efficiency,
• support and test improvements to modernize disbursement systems,
• actively engage with stakeholders and build strong partnerships to improve effective collaboration, and,
• perform a variety of broad responsibilities, as needed, while working as part of a global team.
• As FO you will report to the Regional Team Lead in Manila.

What you will do:

Country Focal Point:

• Serve as focal point for internal and external client inquiries at the country level.
• Provide country-related input to the respective WFACS Senior Regional Team Leader (TL) and the Manager to drive conversations with Country Management Units (CMUs) about country coordination within the assigned region.
• Interact with Team Task Leaders (TTLs) to follow up on financing and disbursement-related issues arising in project preparation; contact CMU and borrowers to advise on new financial products, loan instruments that could benefit project preparation and facilitate resolution of portfolio disbursement bottlenecks; facilitate conversation between CMU and Ministry of Finance (MoF) on debt service options (whenever new product or service emerges).
• Participate in regular meetings for TLs/ Finance Officers (FOs)/ Finance Analysts (FNs)/Manager to share insights across countries and promote knowledge-sharing.
• Participate in country team meetings to provide advice on initiatives impacting disbursement-related issues at the portfolio level.

Project Preparation:

• For pipeline projects in assigned portfolio countries, provide support to task teams by reviewing project documents (Concept Notes, Appraisal Documents, Financing Agreements, etc.) and other sources of information, providing timely inputs and raising issues, which may have an impact on disbursement arrangements, or are unclear, and escalate to management any issues that require management action or support.
• Advise the task team on disbursement-related aspects of loans/credits/grants/TFs to ensure they are consistent with Bank policies and procedures and will adequately support project implementation with due regard for economy and efficiency.
• Prepare disbursement and financial information letters (DFIL), loan repayment terms and amortization schedules, and participate in project preparation meetings including technical discussions and negotiations.
• Review and clear project/program documents including, negotiation and board packages, in accordance with WFA standard procedures and applicable Bank policies.
• Setting up of the loan financing terms and loan data in the system (iLAP).
• Carry out the disbursement risk assessment of projects.
• Carry out the disbursement risk assessment of projects.
• Carry out the responsibilities in compliance with WFA’s control framework.
• Design and deliver capacity-building training (e.g. Disbursement Trainings), in coordination with FNs and the TLs.
• Deliver project preparation training and job shadowing initiatives for Finance Analysts (FN) to further develop FN’s ability to serve clients.
• Conduct quality assurance on the work done by FNs and provide input into the performance appraisal of the FNs.

Project Implementation:

• Manage highly complex Level 1 restructurings.
• Advise and resolve complex implementation issues, including those that require coordination with other units such as Integrity (INT), CMUs, Global Practices (GPs), Financial Management (FM) or Procurement.
• Provide advice on financial terms of products or disbursement related issues at country level, for example lapsed loans impacting advances.
• Update the disbursement risk ratings in iLAP for all projects under her/his portfolio, as needed.

Engagement with stakeholders:

• Serve as a solution provider for advice to internal clients and external on preparation and implementation issues in the assigned countries.
• Partner with Legal, Financial Management and Procurement to provide cohesive approach to engaging with TTLs.
• Appropriately handle other tasks that may be assigned by WFATL’s management.
• Coordinate/lead special project/initiative assigned by the management.

Selection Criteria

Education:

• Recognized professional accounting qualification (e.g. Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Chartered Institute of Public Finance Accountants (CIPFA)) is required.
• A bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting or a relevant discipline, is required.
• Master’s degree in a relevant discipline – such as business administration, finance, or accounting is a plus.

Experience:

• Minimum of five (5) years of relevant work experience.
• Experience with a financial institution or an accounting firm is a plus.
• Preferrable: Big Four or equivalent public accounting experience would be advantageous.

Language:

• The ideal candidate should have advanced fluency in both English and [Mandarin or Spanish] with the ability to clearly communicate in both written and spoken forms and to conduct meetings in the referenced languages. Proficiency level will be tested during the recruitment process.

Knowledge and Skills:

• Relevant knowledge and experience with banking operations.
• Relevant knowledge of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), internal controls and financial management.
• Knowledge and application of the World Bank’s Operational Policies and Procedures and how they relate to disbursements and loan portfolio management.
• Ability to exercise professional judgment and appropriately interpret and apply operational policies, as they relate to disbursements and loan portfolio management.
• Willingness to travel and participate in short-term assignments.
• Strong quantitative skills with superior attention to detail and numerical accuracy.
• Ability to manage complex tasks, deal with rapidly shifting priorities, provide professional support to senior staff and deliver against ambitious deadlines.
• Demonstrates good understanding of risks and internal control procedures pertaining to various activities in own functional areas.
• Ability and familiarity working with automated systems, experience with AI, and generative technologies considered a plus.
• Strong client focus including good interpersonal, diplomatic and team building skills required for building and maintaining collaborative relationships.

Source: https://worldbankgroup.csod.com/ats/careersite/JobDetails.aspx?id=29261&site=1