Background

Office/Unit/Project Description

The UN Capital Development Fund assists developing countries in the development of their economies by supplementing existing sources of capital assistance by means of grants, loans and guarantees, first and foremost for the least developed among the developing countries.

As a Flagship Catalytic Blended Financing platform of the UN, UNCDF utilizes its unique capability to crowd-in finance for the scaling of development impact where the needs are greatest—a capability rooted in UNCDF’s unique investment mandate—to support the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the realization of the Doha Programme of Action for the least developed countries, 2022–2031.

The Office of Finance and Management Services (FMS) is based in UNCDF Headquarters, New York along with out-posted staff across regional offices and multiple country locations. FMS works to enhance the institutional effectiveness of UNCDF through operational solutions, development of management policies, prescriptive content, and overall management of all operational, resource management and financial aspects of the organization.

FMS oversees policy adherence, safeguarding UNCDF Managing Director’s accountability through the Executive Secretary, while providing advisory, transactional services and support to UNCDF in its core functional areas.

It is comprised of the following functional units:

1. Accounts and Finance Team
2. Human Resources Team
3. Procurement and Administration Team
4. Information Technology Team

The Programme Finance Associate provides cost effective and timely partnering services to UNCDF colleagues at the field and at Headquarters to maintain a sound financial management and responsible resource allocation for its development programme and projects. The Programme Finance Associate provides support to practice team members to ensure appropriate and adequate budgeting for projects, monitoring of budgets to identify gaps against allocations, and financial reporting to promote transparency and informed decision making.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work

Under the overall guidance and supervision of the Programme Finance Specialist, the Programme Finance Associate ensures effective execution of financial services and processes in the field and at Headquarters and transparent utilization of financial resources. The Programme Finance Associate promotes a client-oriented approach consistent with UNDP rules and regulations.

The Programme Finance Associate works in close collaboration with the Programme, Operations, and project staff in the CO and staff in UNCDF HQ, Regional Offices and GSSC to exchange information and resolve finance-related issues.

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

1. Provide effective support to financial analysis & reporting.

• Prepare financial reports and verify accuracy of / Cumulative Project Financial Reports (CPFR).
• Help verify the accuracy of Combined Delivery Reports (CDR) for auditing purpose and resolve discrepancies if any for projects.
• Prepare programme finance updates for corporate management, Executive Board paper and audit (among other financial reporting requests)
• Prepare detailed analysis on financial performance for the Last Mile Trust Fund by donor/project/thematic area/funding window.
• Provide support to external financial reporting activities such as the Chief Executive Board (CEB Financial Statistics), Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office (MPTFO), 1% Coordination Levy (UN Secretariat) and other corporate reporting requests as needed.

2. Provide effective support to financial resources management.

• Maintain Accounts Receivables for UNCDF development projects, follow-up with internal counterparts (such as PPC & Quantum Principal Investigator) and engage with UNDP GSSU Treasury on activities related to deposit management.
• Provide quality assurance of contribution agreements in the ERP (Quantum), including monitoring of approved budgets. correct set-up of cost recovery rates and proper backup of all supporting documents (including Project Documents & Non-cost Extensions).
• Assist with revenue management activities by performing the following tasks (among other activities):
  • Review Contract Details’ and Edit information in Quantum’s Contracts Module and attach a copy of the signed agreement in ERP.
  • Submit Contract for approval to the Programme Finance Specialist including amendments and non-cost extensions.
  • Prepare AR Items (Generate Invoices)
• Ensure adequate control of the supporting documents for revenue management including donor financial reports (CPFR/CDR) and proper document management system including data archiving; especially in light of yea-end closure activities.
• Monitor and follow up on timely Award/Project closure and project deficits. Provide guidance and advice to facilitate and expedite project closure activities, including trust fund closure.

3. Provide accounting and administrative support to finance accounting.

• Reconcile and follow up on revenue related accounts on regular basis, to ensure timely module closure at each quarter and year-end.
• Perform reconciliation between sub-module vs general ledger on regular basis;
• Back up other finance users when needed to prepare payment invoices, journal entries etc.;
• Other accounting tasks as required.

4. Ensure facilitation of building and knowledge sharing.

• Prepare Standard Operations Procedures (SOP)s for programme finance related reports and process. May assist in providing regular training and technical guidance/advice on programme finance, and operations related issues.
• Synthesize lessons learned and best practices in programme finance and provide sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

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:

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.

Required Skills and Experience

Min. Education requirements

• Fully Qualified Accountant, from an internationally accredited institute of accountancy or Full Completion of the UNDP Finance Training and Certification Programme (FTCP). No UNDP Accountancy and Finance Test (AFT) required.
• Candidates with no professional accountancy qualifications, but with degrees that major in accountancy and/or finance must complete UNDP Finance Training and Certification Programme (FTCP), if recruited. However, UNDP Accountancy and Finance Test (AFT) is not required.
• Candidates with no professional accountancy qualifications but with relevant experience must successfully undertake UNDP Accountancy and Finance Test (AFT) before shortlisting, and must complete the UNDP Finance Training and Certification Programme (FTCP), if recruited.

Min. years of relevant work experience

• 7 years (with high school diploma) or 4 years (with bachelor’s degree) of progressively responsible Finance and Accounting experience at the national or international level is required.
• Knowledge of IPSAS and/or IFRS is required.

Required skills

• Experience in the use of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and advanced knowledge of spreadsheets and web-based management systems such as ERP financials and database packages.

Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section

• Ability to analyze large datasets, use business intelligence tools.
• Analytical skills to interpret financial data and identify trends or discrepancies.
• Ability to ensure accuracy in financial reporting and compliance with regulations.

Required Language(s)

• Fluency in both written and spoken English is required.