Org. Setting and Reporting

The Department of Operational Support (DOS) was established to provide end-to-end operational support, advisory services and other solutions to operating entities across the Secretariat, including departments, offices away from headquarters, peace operations, and regional commissions. The Regional Service Centre in Entebbe, Uganda (RSCE), was established in July 2010, following the adoption of General Assembly resolution 64/269. The Centre provides efficient, client-oriented and scalable services with the goal of moving transactional, non-location dependent administrative functions to the Centre from its client entities. This includes transactional elements of human resources, finance, multimodal movement and control, personnel and cargo transport and information and communications technology (ICT) support.

In addition to these services, the Office of the Director RSCE and support offices through the Deputy Director RSCE provides overall guidance on the operations of the RSCE including strategic planning, communication, budgeting, human resources management, property management, quality assurance and business intelligence, conference services, record keeping and archive management, and audit response and risk management.

For more information, please visit https://rsce.unmissions.org.

This position is located in the Internal Control Unit at the RSCE under the Department of Operational Support. The Finance Assistant at this level reports to the Service Line Manager and Team Lead.

Responsibilities

Within delegated authority, the Finance Assistant is responsible for the following functions:

• Assists with the processing of non-travel related commercial vendors’ invoices and payments to vendors providing goods or services to all RSCE Client Missions (processing invoices resulting from commitments such as purchase orders, fund commitments, direct expenditures, medical clinic invoices and replenishment of petty cash.
• Assist in the development of the Service Line annual budget development program, particularly with respect to the establishment of major resourcing priorities, and prepare cost estimates and budget proposals, in line with the Service Line’s resourcing requirements. Review and analyse, where necessary, revised data with respect to the finalization of the budget proposals as well as Results Based Budgeting (RBB) inputs.
• Assists the Service Line by supporting Internal Control reviews to Achieve Committee of Sponsoring Organisations (COSO) compliance for each transactional service line and for the Center more broadly. This will include issuance of reports to the Chief RSCE highlighting areas of control concerns with agreed remediation action plans.
• Assists with review of all transactions undertaken by Service Lines and generates formal reports which are shared with senior management and each respective Service Line Manager (SLM); who takes corrective actions where needed. The service line produces 4 monthly reports which include Payroll, Vendor and Open funds commitment monitoring reports.
• Performs bank reconciliations for assigned house banks. This includes communicating with banking institutions, UNHQ Cashier and mission cashier offices for RSCE client entities.
• Prepare advance payment request; Initiate BP requests; Process daily allowances for TCCs /
• PCCs (Troop Contributing Countries and Police Contributing Countries); Process MSA;
• Process final and withheld payments (as well as recoveries); Payment of DHL invoices; Release payroll, and payments for entitlements
• Perform other duties as and when required by the Supervisor.

Competencies

Professionalism – Ability to identify issues, formulate opinions, draw conclusions and recommendations. Shows pride in work and in achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations. Takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work.

Planning & Organizing – Develops clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies; Identifies priority activities and assignments; adjusts priorities as required; Allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for completing work; Foresees risks and allows for contingencies when planning; Monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary; -Uses time efficiently.

Client Orientation – Considers all those to whom services are provided to be “clients” and seeks to see things from clients’ point of view; Establishes and maintains productive partnerships with clients by gaining their trust and respect; Identifies clients’ needs and matches them to appropriate solutions; Monitors ongoing developments inside and outside the clients’ environment to keep informed and anticipate problems; Keeps clients informed of progress or setbacks in projects; Meets timeline for delivery of products or services to client.

Education

High school diploma or equivalent is required.

Job – Specific Qualification

A technical or vocational certificate in finance, accounting, or audit is desirable.

Completion of the Umoja Foundation training and certification or similar training and certification is desirable.

Work Experience

A minimum of five (5) years of progressively responsible experience in financial management, administrative services or related area is required. The minimum years of relevant experience is reduced to three (3) for candidates who possess a first level degree or higher.

Experience in the application of UN Financial Rules and Regulations or other similar international organization in an operational environment is required.

Experience undertaking internal control reviews, in an effort to achieve Committee of Sponsoring Organisations (COSO) compliance, through testing of controls across complex functional areas within the UN or similar international organization is desirable.

Experience performing data analysis for complex data sets using Excel, Access, Power BI, or Umoja BI is desirable.

Experience in performing bank reconciliations using Systems Applications and Products (SAP) or similar Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software is desirable.

Experience in a shared service centre or similar setup is desirable.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the advertised post, fluency in English, oral and written is required.

Assessment

Evaluation of qualified candidates may include an assessment exercise which may be followed by competency-based interview.

Special Notice

This position is funded for an initial period of one year and may be subject to extension.

This position is subject to local recruitment pursuant to staff rule 4.4 of the United Nations Staff Rules. All staff in the General Service and related categories shall be recruited in the country or within commuting distance of each office, irrespective of their nationality and of the length of time they may have been in the country. A staff member subject to local recruitment shall not be eligible for the allowances or benefits exclusively applicable to international recruitment.

The United Nations Secretariat is committed to achieving 50/50 gender balance in its staff. Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply for this position.

Staff Members are subject to the authority of the Secretary-General and to assignment by him or her. In this context, all staff are expected to move periodically to new functions in their careers in accordance with established rules and procedures.

United Nations Considerations

According to article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity. Candidates will not be considered for employment with the United Nations if they have committed violations of international human rights law, violations of international humanitarian law, sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, or sexual harassment, or if there are reasonable grounds to believe that they have been involved in the commission of any of these acts. The term “sexual exploitation” means any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust, for sexual purposes, including, but not limited to, profiting monetarily, socially or politically from the sexual exploitation of another. The term “sexual abuse” means the actual or threatened physical intrusion of a sexual nature, whether by force or under unequal or coercive conditions. The term “sexual harassment” means any unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that might reasonably be expected or be perceived to cause offence or humiliation, when such conduct interferes with work, is made a condition of employment or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment, and when the gravity of the conduct warrants the termination of the perpetrator’s working relationship. Candidates who have committed crimes other than minor traffic offences may not be considered for employment.

Due regard will be paid to the importance of recruiting the staff on as wide a geographical basis as possible. The United Nations places no restrictions on the eligibility of men and women to participate in any capacity and under conditions of equality in its principal and subsidiary organs. The United Nations Secretariat is a non-smoking environment.

Reasonable accommodation may be provided to applicants with disabilities upon request, to support their participation in the recruitment process.

The paramount consideration in the appointment, transfer, or promotion of staff shall be the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity. By accepting an offer of appointment, United Nations staff members are subject to the authority of the Secretary-General and assignment by him or her to any activities or offices of the United Nations in accordance with staff regulation 1.2 (c). In this context, all internationally recruited staff members shall be required to move periodically to discharge new functions within or across duty stations under conditions established by the Secretary-General.

Applicants are urged to follow carefully all instructions available in the online recruitment platform, inspira. For more detailed guidance, applicants may refer to the Manual for the Applicant, which can be accessed by clicking on “Manuals” hyper-link on the upper right side of the inspira account-holder homepage.

The evaluation of applicants will be conducted on the basis of the information submitted in the application according to the evaluation criteria of the job opening and the applicable internal legislations of the United Nations including the Charter of the United Nations, resolutions of the General Assembly, the Staff Regulations and Rules, administrative issuances and guidelines. Applicants must provide complete and accurate information pertaining to their personal profile and qualifications according to the instructions provided in inspira to be considered for the current job opening. No amendment, addition, deletion, revision or modification shall be made to applications that have been submitted. Candidates under serious consideration for selection will be subject to reference checks to verify the information provided in the application.

Job openings advertised on the Careers Portal will be removed at 11:59 p.m. (New York time) on the deadline date.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.