Overview
The Finance Associate ensures efficient and compliant financial operations by providing accounting, budget administration, cash management, and financial reporting support, adhering to UNOPS financial rules and regulations.
Tasks Summary
- Support the preparation, monitoring and revision of project and office budgets.
- Prepare and maintain financial data and analysis on budget utilization, expenditure trends, and funding gaps.
- Assist in developing cost-recovery models and maintaining an efficient cost allocation system.
- Contribute to the preparation of cost-sharing and trust fund agreements.
- Review and verify payment requests and supporting documents.
- Prepare and process vouchers and execute pay cycles in the ERP system.
- Maintain an internal expenditure control system.
- Process and reconcile accounts receivable and accounts payable.
- Perform monthly and quarterly account reconciliation.
- Support payroll processing.
- Ensure timely month-end and year-end closure of accounts and submission of required financial reports.
- Review and monitor cash positions for local accounts.
- Oversee the daily review of zero-balance accounts, imprest management, and proper recording of receipts and contributions.
- Prepare monthly cash flow forecasts.
- Conduct bank reconciliations.
- Initiate and record bank transfers, replenishments, and foreign exchange transactions.
- Manage petty cash and operational advances.
- Prepare and review financial reports, including interim financial reports (IFRs), donor expenditure statements, and management dashboards.
- Support preparation of variance analyses, cost distribution summaries, and project-level expenditure reconciliations.
- Participate in quarterly and annual financial closure activities.
- Support internal and external audit exercises.
- Maintain accurate records of Value Added Tax (VAT), prepayments, operational advances and other balance sheet accounts.
- Analyze and prepare adjusting entries (GLJEs) and ensure accuracy of financial postings across projects.
- Support the organization, facilitation and delivery of training and learning sessions on finance topics.
- Participate in knowledge-sharing initiatives and Communities of Practice (CoPs).
Experience Requirements
- 6 years of relevant experience with secondary school (or equivalent).
- 2 years of relevant experience with a Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration or other disciplines.
- Relevant experience is work in project financial management, budgeting, cash management and financial reporting, or related areas.
- Demonstrable proficiency in the use of collaboration and productivity tools (e.g. MS Office, G-Suite, etc) and web-based management systems.
- Experience of working in multicultural environments or UN system organizations in a developing country is desired.
- Experience in development or humanitarian contexts is desired.
- Experience with financial systems or ERP software is desired.
Qualification Requirements
- Secondary school (or equivalent).
- Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration or other disciplines.
- Professional certification (e.g. CPA, ACCA, CA, CIMA) is desired.
