Finance Specialist (General Accounting, Contributions), P-3 At UN Children’s Fund

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, a calling.

We are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do. Promoting the rights of every child is not a job, it’s a calling.

UNICEF’s Global Shared Services Centre (GSSC) provides services to UNICEF offices around the world in the areas of Finance, Master Data Management, Human Resources Administration, Payroll, and IT Customer Care.

Our mission is to be a center of Excellence for the global delivery of efficient services within a culture of customer service, continuous business improvement, knowledge-sharing and innovation to support the effective achievement of UNICEF’s programme results worldwide.

GSSC has won the 2019 Business Services Firm of the Year in Hungary, 26 regional awards announced at the Central and Eastern European Business Services Summit & Awards held in Warsaw, Poland.

How can you make a difference?

The Finance Section of the GSSC oversees global processing of finance and master data management transactions ensuring cost effective and secure operations consistent with the organization’s goals, strategy and objectives. Our finance professionals work in units dedicated to General Accounting (GA), Payments, Invoice Processing, Quality Assurance and Master Data Management.

This position will be responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the Contributions Unit workstream within the General Accounting (GA) stream ensuring high performance delivery, strong team engagement, motivation, management and development within a Service Transactional Environment. This position will also lead and assist delivery of significant process improvement projects to simplify/streamline business processes.

The GA – Contributions Unit handles public partnership grant agreements (approx. 4,500 annually) on behalf of Public Partnership Division in New York Headquarters and other outposted locations. This service is delivered within agreed SLA’s supported by a dedicated team of 7, divided by donor, serving our stakeholders around the globe.

Significant process transitions are underway within this stream, including streamlining of the grants management process. Project initiatives are intended to deliver either reduced burden for end-users, improved financial reporting or reduced financial risk for UNICEF. The delivery of improvement initiatives in a planned and organized manner is an important responsibility of this position.

This will involve:

Leadership and People Management

Provides direction to team to achieve excellence and hold them accountable
Recognize individual contributions and acknowledge team success and
Support an inclusive work environment and a culture of constructive discussions and continuous feedback and performance management
Ensure cross-functional collaboration
Dedicate time and energy to staff well-being and work-life balance

Oversight of Service Delivery

Provide vision and direction, oversee transactional processing and ensure compliance with Standard Operating Procedures and Service Level Agreement.
Regularly review procedures to ensure compliance with DFAM policies and internal controls
Collaborate with stakeholders, sharing knowledge and contributing to best practice

Project Implementation and Innovation

Solicit the views and perspectives of team members and stakeholders in coming up with process improvements
Encourage culture of innovation
Communicate and keep colleagues motivated during times of change
Deliver improvements that support UNICEF’s work and drive value

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

Requirements

Membership in an internationally recognized professional finance body, such as ACCA/ ICAEW/ CIMA/ CIPFA/ CPA.
Advanced university degree (Master’s Degree) in accounting, business administration, economics, financial management or related field.
A first University Degree (Bachelor’s Degree) in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.
Minimum 5 years of relevant experience, including international service context experience, in finance or a directly related technical field
Team leader experience in Advisory/Shared Services/Business support centre.
Proven supervisory and people management experience including developing and maintaining high performing teams
Proven experience leading and implementing at least 2 continuous improvement projects resulting in increased productivity and excellence in service delivery
Demonstrable experience in delivering strong customer service and solutions
Fluency in English both written and spoken.

Other additional consideration:**

Work experience in revenue accounting or contributions management and understanding of related IPSAS standards
Practical experience and knowledge of ERP Systems (i.e. SAP)
Work experience in revenue accounting and contributions management
Work experience with an international organization
Knowledge of an additional UN Language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish)

Remarks:**

Applicants who have applied to this vacancy before do not need to reapply.

The hiring manager may apply other criteria within the context of the job requirement, beyond the minimum requisites for shortlisting.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

International Professional (IP) staff are recruited internationally and serve in duty stations outside their country of nationality. Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service. This position is classified as “rotational” which means the incumbent is expected to rotate to another duty station upon completion of their tour of duty.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability (CRITA) underpin everything we do and how we do it https://uni.cf/UNICEFValues

UNICEF Core Competencies required for this post:

Nurtures, Leads and Manages People (3)
Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (2)
Works Collaboratively with others (2)
Builds and Maintains Partnerships (2)
Innovates and Embraces Change (2)
Thinks and Acts Strategically (2)
Drives to achieve impactful results (2)
Manages ambiguity and complexity (2)

To view our competency framework, please visit: https://uni.cf/Competencies

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, race, sexual orientation, nationality, culture, appearance, socio-economic status, ability, age, religious, and ethnic backgrounds, to apply to become a part of the organization. More information on UNICEF’s commitment to diversity and inclusion: https://uni.cf/InclusiveUNICEF

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.