International Finance Consultant

Background

1. Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

Under the overall guidance of the Deputy Director, Financial Management, Financial Management Section, Division of Management and Administration in Headquarters (HQ) and the daily supervision of the Regional Office Finance Specialist, the consultant  is responsible for providing: i) technical dedicated Quantum support to the region; ii) support to the Regional Finance Specialist as well as to all the offices in the Region for budgetary management including direct project costing; iii) partner audit preparation and management focal point in the region; and iv) supporting Regional Finance Specialist for training and certifications and approvals. v) assisting country offices in the Region as necessary to ensure capacity and support of the finance users for better business practices and controls as well as automation; ensuring all finance users are compliant with and trained in the accounting standards, financial regulations and rules, policies and procedures.

The consultant support staff of the ROs and COs Finance Units. The consultant works in close collaboration with Regional Finance Specialist and Financial Management Section/DMA, Programme and Operations colleagues, teams at the country level, UNDP staff and Government officials ensuring high performance and efficiency in Finance.

Duties and Responsibilities

I.Duties and Responsibilities

Provide financial, technical and coordination support in the financial planning, analysis, and provision of services to (Multi) Country Offices (COs) and Regional Offices (RO), CO/MCO/RO in accordance with UN Women internal control framework, rules, regulations, policies, and procedures.

• Recommend and/or implement cost saving and reduction strategies.
• Review and/or verify financial transactions/activities, recording/reporting system, and audit reports. Co-ordinate with Financial Management Section/DMA on suggestions for amendments.
• Review financial business processes and use of Quantum system to ensure accurate and complete reporting of financial transactions by UN Women staff in accordance with the Internal Control Framework and Delegation of Authority and the timely flow of financial information in UN Women for management, monitoring and oversight purposes.
• Assist in the reconciliation of balance sheet accounts and the cleanup of transactions for month-end and

year end closure in coordination with Financial Management Section/DMA.

• Analyze and oversee all financial resources managed by the CO/MCO/RO and provide high-quality professional advice on financial issues to the CO/MCO/RO management, as necessary.
• Coordinate cash management processes, including liquidity management, recommend impress level, risk assessment, security for cash assets on site.
• Assist with financial risk assessment reviews for the RO/MCO/CO, by identifying areas of risk and providing recommendations and action plans for addressing issues raised.

Provide coordination support in the audit processes, including but not limited to External, Internal, Partner audits, EU Verifications in accordance with UN Women rules, regulations, policies, and procedures.

• Coordinate the pre-audit preparations for financial management of the CO/MCO/RO to be audit ready and complete the pre-audit checklist. Travel to the COs as necessary to assist during CO audits.
• Contribute technically to the training in the RO/MCO/CO as part of the training plan or requirement of pre-audit preparations or as otherwise determined by Operations Manager or Deputy Director of Financial Management.
• Write responses to internal and external audit inquiries and other findings related to financial management for review/approval by Operations Manager and Deputy Director of Financial Management and incorporate recommendations in development in policies, procedures, and practices.
• Plan and track expenditures and performance audit of financial resources, including extra-budgetary income.
• Follow up and/or take prompt action to respond to audit and other findings on financial management.

Coordinate the financial planning, analysis, and provision of services to the CO/MCO/RO in accordance with UN

Women internal control framework, rules, regulations, policies, and procedures.

• Recommend and/or implement cost saving and reduction strategies.
• Review and/or verify financial transactions/activities, recording/reporting system, and audit reports. Co-ordinate with Finance Section HQ on suggestions for amendments.
• Review financial business processes and use of Quantum system to ensure accurate and complete reporting of financial transactions by UN Women staff in accordance with the Internal Control Framework and Delegation of Authority and the timely flow of financial information in UN Women for management, monitoring and oversight purposes.
• Analyze and oversee all financial resources managed by the CO/MCO/RO and provide high-quality professional advice on financial issues to the CO/MCO/RO management, as necessary.
• Coordinate cash management processes, including liquidity management, recommend impress level, risk assessment, security for cash assets on site.
• Assist with financial risk assessment reviews for the RO/MCO/CO, by identifying areas of risk and providing recommendations and action plans for addressing issues raised.

Provide coordination support programme/ project and management budgets in accordance with UN Women rules, regulations, policies, and procedures.

• Coordinate all financial resources of programs/ projects through planning, guiding, monitoring, and controlling of the resources.
• Prepare and monitor budgets of management projects.
• Analyze and report on the budget approvals and the delivery situation of management projects.
• Contribute to the proper mechanisms to eliminate deficiencies in budget management, including acting as focal point for Cost Recovery policy and Direct Project Costing (DPC) procedures/guidance for the region in conjunction with Regional Finance Specialist and Budget Section.
• Review and approve advance payments and direct payments for programme implementation and record them in Quantum.
• Provide advice and support to offices in the region in relation to project closure and the transactions cleanup under supervision of Finance specialist.

Support the Regional Finance Specialist in Coordinating financial training and communication for the CO/RO

• Monitor the effectiveness of the services of the finance team on a regular basis to ensure close relationship between Finance Section and Finance Users in RO/MCO/CO and take corrective measures as needed.
• Coordinate development projects to ensure effective finance and communication tools are in place and regularly monitored for improvements.
• Perform the Finance Helpdesk function for RO/MCO/CO to ensure accurate and timely response to issues and advice requested in conjunction with Financial Management Section/DMA.
• Support in the implementation of the approved Training plans (specifically Quantum and IPSAS) in conjunction with Financial Management Section/DMA and Finance specialist in RO on a recurrent basis to ensure competency across all Finance Users at CO/MCO.
• Provide oversight for Finance staff of the RO/MCO/CO and monitor progress and provide guidance and direction to the staff as necessary to ensure goals and objectives are achieved.

Perform Financial tasks, approving and certifying function.

• Oversee that vouchers processed are matched and completed, transactions are correctly recorded and posted in Quantum; payrolls are duly prepared; travel claims, and other entitlements are duly processed. Implement timely corrective actions on unposted vouchers, including the vouchers with budget check errors, matching exceptions, unapproved vouchers.
• Provide timely response to HQ requests to resolve financial data issues.
• Perform delegated approval in some function in Quantum according to Delegation of Authorities and Internal Control Framework policy.

Participate in knowledge management and capacity building.

• Identify, participate in the development and/or recommend enhancement/updates/improvement in Quantum financial modules for better business practices and controls in the RO/MCO/CO.
• Capture, synthesize and/or codify lessons learned and best practices in the RO/MCO/ CO support and financial management and services. Disseminate to Finance Section HQ to share knowledge and build capacity.
• Contribute to the design of learning tools, best practices and innovations in financial business operational practices and management, promote transparency, ease of communications, hosting of financial documents, and all policies and procedures between all UN Women users of the RO/MCO/CO data.
• Ability to travel for mission to country offices in the region to provide the hands-on training to COs finance associate and participate finance & Operations training in Bangkok upon request from finance specialist and clearance by Regional Operation Manager.

II.Expected Deliverables

Competencies

1. Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism
   

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: 

Functional Competencies:

II.Contract period and work location

The consultant will work on a full-time basis (20 days per month). A monthly rate will be paid upon satisfactory completion of tasks and deliverables.

Required Skills and Experience

I.Required qualifications.

Education

• Master’s Degree (or equivalent) in Finance/Accounting, or a Professional accounting qualification from an internationally recognized institute of accountancy, Chartered Accountant, or Certified Public Accountant is required. A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

  Experience

• At least 2 years’ experience in an accounting-specific role with in a large international organization in a regional, multi-country context, or UN system is required.
• Demonstrated financial experience using an ERP financial system, Oracle Cloud, and the usage of office software package (MS Word, Excel) and spreadsheet is required.
• Demonstrated experience in providing financial and budget support to programs/projects is required.
• Demonstrated experience at developing detailed financial reports for senior management is preferable.

Language and report writing skills

• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of another official UN language is desirable.

II.Evaluation

Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis.

• Technical Qualification (100 points) weight; [100%]

Technical qualification evaluation criteria:

The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered as technically qualified candidates who may be contacted for validation interview.

III.Submission of application

• Personal History Form (P11) which can be downloaded

"Kindly note the system will only allow one attachment, please combine below listed submission package into one PDF document."

Or send application email to , not later than 17 Jan 2024 COB (Bangkok time).

1. Payments

Payments for this consultancy will be based on the number of days worked and the achievement of each deliverable and certification that each has been satisfactorily completed.

The statement of diversity and inclusion.

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need. 

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application. 

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination.  All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)