Finance Analyst (NOA)

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.

UN Women’s India Country Office, based in New Delhi, works to accelerate the advancement of gender equality and the empowerment of women through the strengthening of strategic partnerships, technical and policy advisory services and advocacy with governmental, inter-governmental and civil society partners. In addition, UN Women CO is charged with leading and coordinating the UN system’s work on gender equality, including through ensuring accountability for results.

Achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment is an essential element of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – the roadmap to a more equal, just, peaceful, and sustainable world.  UN Women India is implementing a donor funded   project titled: ‘Gender Equality Xcelerate: Transformative Pathways towards Gender Justice’ for women’s social, economic, and political equality and empowerment towards achievement of the 2030 agenda. 

The overarching objective of this project is to strengthen women’s leadership in economic, social and political spheres. The project will be implemented in India over a period of four years (2024-2027) in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh. 

The following are the broad intended outcomes of the project:

• UN Women's institutional impact on advancing gender equality is accelerated through outcome-driven advocacy efforts.
• Government and non-government stakeholders prioritize, monitor, and evaluate GEWE investments at the grassroots level.
• Transforming norms, strengthening response mechanisms, and empowering stakeholders for a survivor-centric environment through effectively utilizing the Nirbhaya Funds.

The Finance Analyst will report to the Operations Manager, India Country Office on the operational and financial aspects of the project. The Finance Analyst works in close collaboration with other colleagues of finance, programme and operations colleagues, teams in India Country Office, government officials, and other stakeholders in ensuring high performance and efficiency in Operations and Finance.

Functions:

Coordinate the financial planning, analysis, and provision of services to the India CO in accordance with UN Women internal control framework, rules, regulations, policies and procedures:

• Support in recommending and implementing cost saving and reduction strategies;
• Verify financial transactions/activities, recording/reporting system and audit reports. Co-ordinate with Finance Section HQ on suggestions for amendments;
• Support the 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 all financial resources managed by the India CO and provide high-quality professional advice on financial issues to the India CO management, as necessary;
• Monitor the 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 India CO, by identifying areas of risk and providing recommendations and action plans for addressing issues raised.

Provide support to the monitoring and oversight of financial systems in accordance with UN Women rules, regulations, policies and procedures:

• Monitor financial systems and reports for unusual activities, transactions, investigate anomalies;
• Support in ensuring the India CO timely completion of their Month-end Instructions Checklist and Year-end Instructions Closure Checklist;
• Draft all financial reports in accordance with International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) and ensure continued compliance.  Monitor the India CO for compliance with IPSAS accounting standards by reviewing business processes and systems modules resulting in IPSAS compliant general ledger and financial statements;
• Support with reviewing Implementing Partner advance procedures and test against UN Women policies to ensure compliance.  Investigate and follow up on any anomalies for timely action and resolution, as necessary;
• Support with reviewing all contractual arrangements with suppliers of goods and services to ensure that the financial terms and conditions of all contracts are being adhered to by the suppliers of goods and services;
• Report to Operations Manager any case of non-adherence for timely action and recommendations for actions/decisions, as necessary;
• Respond to questions and provide analysis as requested to the Finance Section HQ.

Provide support to the financial reporting in the India CO in accordance with UN Women rules, regulations, policies and procedures:

• Contribute to drafting timely and accurate automated interim financial reports to governments and donors as required under the donor agreements and other cost-sharing arrangements for submission to Virtual Global Service Centre Finance Specialists;
• Track and report contributions within the resource mobilization efforts, including pipeline, contracted and overdue and future milestones.  Review contributions receivables and provide information to Operations Manager for follow up, as necessary;
• Write ad hoc financial Donor and other reports as requested;
• Support in the follow up and taking prompt action to respond to audit and other findings on financial management.

Support the audit process in accordance with UN Women rules, regulations, policies and procedures:

• Support in coordinating the pre-audit preparations for financial management of the India CO to be audit ready and complete the pre-audit checklist.  Travel to the States in India CO as necessary to assist during CO audits. 
• Contribute technically to the training in the India CO as part of the training plan or requirement of pre-audit preparations or as otherwise determined by Operations Manager or Deputy Representative for Financial Management;
• Support with writing responses to internal and external audit inquiries and other findings related to financial management for review/approval by Operations Manager and Deputy Representative for Financial Management and incorporate recommendations in development in policies, procedures and practices;
• Monitor expenditures and performance audit of financial resources, including extra-budgetary income.

Support programme/ project budgets in accordance with UN Women rules, regulations, policies and procedures:

• Coordinate all financial resources of programmes/ projects through planning, guiding, monitoring and controlling of the resources;
• Support in preparing and monitoring 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; 
• Support in submitting financial information for timely preparation of donor reports;
• Process advance payments and direct payments for programme implementation and record them in QUANTUM;
• Provide assistance to offices in the region in relation to project closure and provide training on a regular basis, in conjunction with Virtual Global Service Centre Finance Specialists.

Contribute to financial training and communication for the India CO:

• 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 India CO and take corrective measures as needed;
• Support development projects to ensure effective finance and communication tools are in place and regularly monitored for improvements;
• Perform the Finance Helpdesk function for India CO to ensure accurate and timely response to issues and advice requested in conjunction with HQ Finance Field Support Unit;
• Support in the implementation of the approved Training plans (specifically QUAMTUM and IPSAS) in conjunction with HQ Finance Field Support Unit and Finance specialist in RO on a recurrent basis to ensure competency across all Finance Users at India CO;
• Provide oversight for Finance staff of the India CO and monitor progress and provide guidance and direction to the staff as necessary to ensure goals and objectives are achieved.

Participate in knowledge management and capacity building:

• Participate in the development and/or recommend enhancement/updates/improvement in Quantum financial modules for better business practices and controls in the India CO;
• Capture, synthesize and/or codify lessons learned and best practices in the India 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 India CO data.

Provide Financial administrative support:

• Ensure 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; 
• Support in implementing 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 function in QUANTUM on a timely basis;
• Review and provide financial clearance of all donor agreements as delegated for compliance with standard agreements on a timely basis. 

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities: The Finance Analyst will supervise one Finance Assistant.

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

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 Values and Competencies Framework: 

Functional Competencies:

• Good knowledge and expertise in financial planning and management.
• Good knowledge of complex financial rules and regulations, preferably UN/UN Women Financial Rules and regulations.
• Good conceptual/strategic skills and success in implementing financial re-engineering, management systems development, and policy design.
• Good knowledge in the application of complex financial systems and modules (such as Oracle-cloud systems).
• Good knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages.
• Ability to provide advice and support.
• Good analytical skills.
• Demonstrated ability to develop detailed financial reports for senior management.

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.

Experience:

• Minimum 1 year experience in an accounting-specific role with in a large international organization preferably in the UN system is required. 
• Demonstrated financial experience using an ERP financial system is required. 
• Demonstrated experience in providing financial and budget support to programmes/projects is required;
• Experience working on development projects is desirable.
• Demonstrated knowledge of IPSAS/IFRS.
• Demonstrated experience in supporting more than one office simultaneously is desirable.
• Demonstrated financial experience of working in a regional or multi-country context is desirable.
• Experience in the usage of office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) is required. 
• Demonstrated experience using a modern web-based management System is desirable.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Working knowledge of Hindi language is desirable (French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish).

Statements :

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

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.)