Finance and Budget Officer at United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Job Description

Responsibilities:

• Project Documentation:
  • Ensure that project proposals are in line with (Global Environment Fund) GEF and UNEP requirements and within resources allocated to the project and its GEF approved budget.  
  • Draft project documents/revisions are coherent and correspond with the agreed format. 
  • Ensure that project documents/revisions are formulated and managed within the UNEP and the UN Financial Regulations and Rules. 
  • Correspond with external executing/collaborating bodies during preparation of project documents/revisions.  
  • Check and clear project documents/revisions before processing them internally and externally, including submission to Programme Approval Group (PAG).   
• Resource Monitoring:
  • Certify availability of funds against financial resources.  
  • Request Finance Section to disburse funds to implementing bodies in line with project requirements.  
  • Solicit financial and progress reports from implementing partners.  
  • Check financial and progress reports and querying discrepancies.  
  • Monitor, check and follow up of project receivable balances.  
  • Check project accounts to ensure commitments/expenditures are correctly reflected and request rectification where necessary.  
  • Draw attention to poor flow or shortfall of resources and request action (formal or informal) of the UNEP/GEF Coordination Office.  
  • Provide input to monthly statistics of trust fund resources to keep track of resources flows.  
• Resource Reporting:
  • Provide reports on income and expenditure against trust fund resources for meetings of GEF Council and Governing Council.  
  • Provide input for submissions to the Committee of Permanent Representatives, the Industry and Economy Division Director’s submissions to the Secretariat, Executive Director or senior management.  
  • Provide responses for fund management aspects of projects to Internal and External Auditors.  
  • Prepare financial statements or respond to queries from UNEP/GEF Coordination Office for submission to GEF Secretariat on use of resources against specific projects.   
• Budget and Policy Evaluation:
  • Analyze GEF project proposals and propose amendments, as necessary.  
  • Draft and/or clear legal agreements with implementing bodies. 
  • Ensure consistency with regard to policies on management of GEF projects and flagging inconsistencies or anomalies in this respect.  
  • Propose solutions to problems based on regulations and established practices.  
• General and Human Resource Administration:
  • Collects and analyzes data to identify trends or patterns and provide insights through graphs, charts, tables and reports using data visualization methods to enable data-driven planning, decision-making, presentation and reporting.  
  • Initiate and coordinate actions covering the entire span of human resource activities.   
  • Act as back-up for other Administrative Officers.  
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Education
Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in business administration, finance, or related field is required. A first level university degree ( Bachelor’s degree or equivalent) in the same fields in combination with two (2) additional years of relevant qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. Successful completion of both degree and non-degree programs in data analytics, business analytics or data science programs is desirable.

Job – Specific Qualification

• Certification as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Chartered Accountant (CA) or equivalent is required.   

Work Experience

• A minimum of five (5) years of progressively responsible experience in finance, accounting, administration or related field is required. Experience with Enterprise Resource Planning Systems such as SAP or other similar systems is required. Experience working with the United Nations or other similar organizations is desirable. Experience with International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) is desirable. Experience with auditing is desirable.